Bentleys - Sorry for being so long winded. Unfortunately this is the second time around for me. First time was heart-stopping heartburn - stayed away from the esophagus. Tried everything up to prilosec and then finally nexium (4 years ago). 40mg took 30+ days and started working days before my endoscopy. Of course the doctor saw gerd but everything was fine. I was able to switch back to prilosec (thankfully for cost) and lasted up to now. This time, after trying to cut back (advice of GP) to 20 mg just before last Thanksgiving, I had a couple small breakthrough episodes that antaciRAB took care of but caught what I thought was the same bug as others I work with. Woke up heaving and had a day of 102 fever. From that point on I started having the sore throat (left side and felt burning when breathing), swollen throat and would switch to the feeling of lump in the back - you would feel when swallowing. At this point it was mild but I had increased back to 40mg. I screwed up by trying to switch to prevacid because I was afraid the prilosec had stopped working... big mistake. Now a month later and having my GP get the original heartburn back in control with Kapidex (20 days of samples - bid dollars for prescription), it got most of the throat soreness and swelling down to a low level that would increase and decrease day to day, he suggested going back to nexium since it was tested to be most effective, and sent me back to the specialist. I was also doing antaciRAB after meals and when waking at night to keep the burning down. I've been back on Nexium for a week and have another endoscopy scheduled for next week. Specialist walked in, asked a couple questions, muttered "it should have gone away right away", and scheduled the test.
I'm convinced it all started with the heaving while I was sick. I've also found I need to sleep in my lazyboy, sitting mostly upright since when I lay down, my throat goes sore instantly (I really miss my bed). Doing this I wake with the slight soreness and go through many days without the soreness and only the slight swelling - but I do have days where it gets worse. So yes, similar to yours, it seems like it is getting better then I have a real bad day. I also found leaning to the right helps prevent the soreness on the left, which is opposite of what is said for heartburn. Another thing that has helped is once I start feeling the soreness increase, take a hit form the antaciRAB (generic tums and or generic prevacid). Taking mylanta (generic again to keep cost down - Walmart is great) just before bed helps keep a layer of protection (simethicone?) on top and limit burning at night. I now keep my larger meal in the middle of the day and stick to bannanas, pears, celery, apples... all known to keep acid down, at night. Also, pepto bismal tablets are a staple when I start getting gas since that seems to push the acid up into my throat and start things burning. I'm able to keep it to a small roar and more of an irritant now and hope the endoscopy will at least send the doctor on a direction. I'm also hoping the nexium will at least start working better better over time as it did the first time. On the positive side, I had a large dinner at a restaurant, spicy ribs and all the fixings, last night. Took my mylanta before bed. I expected to wake in agony, but I slept like a baby and woke with only a slight sore/swelling throat.
If you can get things at least under control, it seems like you can enjoy eating many of the things you use to. I had a very spicy Mexican meal the other day and I'd swear it actually better that afternoon, but that seems like playing with fire... had the antaciRAB very close. I've been reading about IPR and hoping once I get the endoscopy that it may be something as simple as that, and that eventually like the first time the nexium works better over time. good luck.
