Thread: What helps the mucus in LPR?

Has anyone found a remedy for all the drainage, mucus, etc in LPR? I have terrible post nasal drip, stuffy nose, etc, along with the acid reflux. Antihistamines make me too sleepy. I take Nexium 2x day, but it doesn't help the drainage.
Any suggestions? Thanks, Dinah

You could try a sinus rinse. I use the Neilmed sinus rinse kit and it has helped me in the past.

RegarRAB

I've found drinking apple cider vinegar and active manuka honey in hot water 1/2 hour before meals seems to help with that awful phlegm. That means more waiting because I have to wait at least an hour after taking the PP1 (both morning and evening) before I can drink it, but it has really helped so it's been worth the wait.

Oops - I just noticed that you prefer to avoid antihistamines because of the sleepiness side effect. If your drainage is being caused by the reflux, then theoretically it should decrease as the reflux comes under control, but if you're still having alot of drainage, perhaps it's allergy related? In that case I might recommend a steroid nasal spray (such as Veramyst). This works well for me when my allergies are acting up, but it does dry out my nasal passages and prolonged use also tenRAB to give me headaches, so it's definitely a tradeoff. When I do use it, I use it in the morning and then re-moisturize my nasal passages at night with a saline spray. In fact, I use a saline spray year-round, day in and day out whether I'm also using the steroid spray or not.

Hi Lex,

I'll try and offer what advice I can.
I had this friend who from anxiety and nerves had a year where he would burp uncontrollably. It would all start when he got nervous about something. So it's a physical, real thing, but it was totally regulated by intense emotions.

Before any of this LPR nonsense started for me, when I got nervous, like when I had an impending deadline, I'd just start these gagging fits, but never regurgitating or vomiting. But as you know, rockstars and such often vomit before a performance.
So indeed, our emotions and anxiety do actually cause a big part of our physical problems, as you know.
I think with the gagging, judging from my own life, that is anxiety. The regurgitating though seems a little severe. Your mind must really be in control of your body, because I think even typical severe GERD patients don't have something like that. That's almost like an emotional response, or like a tourette's patient having to suddenly spit uncontrollably.

You might want to try some sort of relaxation drugs. As for the mucus though, now we are drifting into the Alice in Wonderland world of LPR symptoms. I think maybe do the tests just to confirm your LPR.

Never underestimate the mind's ability to cause weird things to the body. Even if I manage to effectively treat my LPR problem, I still acknowledge that part of it is emotional and anxiety related, and its not totally physical. And I even think, my mind is partly in control of how much mucus I produce.

Here's an example of that. When I had a cold, my nose wouldn't run until I entered a class room and got stressed out there, listening to the lecture. Then my nose would really start to pour. So isn't that just my mind causing some real physical problem to become worse? And my ongoing gagging when I was nervous. That was a physical thing that would just happen to me, but it was totally regulated by my emotions.

You need to get on something that will relax you. Pick your poison. there are a lot of them out there. I find getting drunk once in a while can sort of regulate the nervous system. Maybe try that a few times and see if it sort of rewires things or depresses your overactive central nervous system.

We all need medications. Even people who jog are just getting a natural one.

Unfortunately, time is probably going to help it more than anything but it can take 12 weeks for the medication to have a noticeable impact on the mucus.

In the meantime you might try taking Mucinex (which will help thin out the mucus), drink lots of water and use a SinusRinse bottle or neti pot to help minimize the amount of mucus running down the back of your throat.

Chew lots of gum and keep swallowing is what I was told. The constant action of this will help rid mucus.

Hello there it has been a long time. I used to talk to you about LPR. Now I am back but different site. What happen to Web MD. I am back because after 5 years on PRotonix, my symptoms came back. Went to see gastrologist and I am going to get the upper endoscopy. Hope it is nothing and just the med stopped working. Of course, I stopped taking antidepressants for 8 months and I am afraid this is part of the problem

PS.

The year I was kind of afraid of some kiRAB in my class (as a junior high student)
I had all kinRAB of bizarre things happen physically. I would get strep throat constantly for about 2 months, and then I got appendicitis and almost died from it.
All completely phyisical things, and they all happened during a time of stress which must have actually been controlling how parts of the body worked. It seems even now with LPR, that there is a hugely important emotion component to it, and that's why placebos are effective as treatment for it often. I mean, placebos in general show that the mind and body are definitely part of the same organism.

I take generic Benedryl whenever the drainage gets on my nerves. Not only does it seem to dry me up, it helps me drift off to sleep and stay asleep. My GP said this was safe to do as long as my nasal merabranes do not get overly dried out.

P.S. Everyone knows that the antihistamine (Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride) in Benedryl is the "sleep aid" drug in the OTC sleep aid products, right? My husband drives me crazy by buying those sleep aid drugs for about twice the price of Benedryl in generic form. It's the SAME DRUG. Manufacturers know that many people (like my husband) are gullible and do not read labels. LOL