The term laryngopharyngeal reflux, or acid reflux, refers to the back up of stomach acids and partly digested food into the esophagus and up as high as the throat and mouth. Some people never notice symptoms and other experience symptoms ranging from burning in the chest to bloating, belching and pain in the throat. Additionally, symptoms like a chronic cough, throat clearing, sore throat and dulled vocal cords can accompany other reflux symptoms. Cough and throat problems are an especially annoying and potentially serious side effect of acid reflux.
Common Symptoms
Some of the chemicals and enzymes that back up into the esophagus and throat can do great damage to the tissues of the throat and cause long-term problems for acid reflux sufferers, according to the NYU Voice Center. Some of the early symptoms that are quite common to this condition include chronic cough accompanied by hoarseness, throat clearing, a feeling of a lump in the throat, choking spells, rawness and pain in the throat with difficulty breathing. In addition, there may be wheezing, a coating of mucus on the vocal chords, deepening and sluggishness of the voice and the sensation of a postnasal drip. Symptoms are often worse at night when the person is lying down.
Serious Symptoms
If Laryngopharyngeal Reflux, or LPR, is allowed to go untreated, additional damage to the tissue of the esophagus and throat can occur leading to more serious coughing episodes, which may trigger spasmodic coughing and choking that might set of serious asthma attacks. Ongoing disorders that may develop include ulcers of the esophagus and throat, granuloma of the larynx, vocal chord scarring and pneumonia, according to the University of Michigan Health System. Coughing is concomitant to many of these conditions, and in the case of pneumonia, may develop into chronic bronchitis, emphysema and in some cases, cancer.
The University of Maryland Medical Center explains that there may be persistent nausea that lasts for months with no known cause, and vomiting that may occur several times a day which is aggravated by a chronic cough and other respiratory symptoms.
Pediatric Symptoms
The University of Michigan Health System adds that symptoms of acid reflux with coughing and throat involvement are somewhat different in children. In addition to chronic coughing, throat clearing and hemming, children may experience persistent vomiting, esophageal bleeding, difficulty swallowing, asthma, difficulty breathing, recurrent episodes of pneumonia and bronchitis, anemia, coughing with accompanying choking spells, fussiness and crying. Coughing and choking may be one of the first symptoms noticed in children suffering from acid reflux.
