Help! Is this acid reflux or something else ?

[indieray]

For the last week I've had on/off pain when swallowing, dry cough, constant throat clearing & an awful metallic taste in the mouth!

I need a dentist check up as it's been a year or two due to depression and I think I've got some bleeding gums too and an odd colour to my tongue but my oral hygiene isn't terrible!
I've had my throat checked and been told it's clear by a medic in the family!

I'm jus not sure what's wrong on ! Can anyone advise or recommend anything ? Thankyou xx

Sounds like reflux. You can't actually check the throat where reflux can be seen by looking in the mouth (you can only see as far as the back of the mouth, not the throat), you have to have a nasendoscopy or base it on symptoms. Try gaviscon advance.

Metallic taste would be the blood from your gums bleeding. It can cause problems with your throat especially if your teeth aren't in great condition.
I would see the dentist first and rule out anything. I have acid reflux and it's more of a sick taste.

I get all of these with reflux - metallic taste is also a common symptom. If Gaviscon doesn't sort you out, you can buy medication in the pharmacy that you can try for 2 weeks; if it persists, do see your GP.

I've been taking lansoprazole which I was prescribed a while ago and it's helped a little but I just expect my throat to feel so swollen and painful!

@ShatParp do you mean omzeprazole or lansoprazole?

@indieray yes those are the ones. How long have you been taking them? It really can take a while for your throat to settle down even with the tablets. The acid basically damages the throat and oesophagus and it takes a while to repair itself! Drink lots of water and the best thing I find if you are ok with the taste is liquorice tea. Don't drink it if you have high blood pressure though! lots and its of fluids and time and it will heal. You can double up the dose as well if required.

@indieray you can also try taking the lansoprazole in the morning and then gaviscon at night right before bed. It does get better, I promise! Take care not to eat anything with chilli in and no chocolate or coffee if you can. Bland foods! I sympathise as it can be SO painful.

@ShatParp thanks so much for the advice ! Yes I was taking the lansoprazole 30mg in the morning but only for last few days ! So i understand it can take a while! Il try the gaviscon in the evenings too !
I had to take pain killers earlier it wasn't pleasant!
I will miss chocolate , I love wine too 😩 & tea but will switch to decaf for now! Did you ever get a sour taste or metallic taste from it ? X x

Def reflux - I get the metallic taste sometimes but I have been following a strict diet (mostly!) and I’ve just swapped from omeprazole to lansaprozole. Take the tablets first thing and wait half an hour to eat.
sometimes I take gaviscon advance before bed but it doesn’t do much for me.
don’t drink any tea/coffee - decaf still has caffeine in it sadly.

@indieray I do get the horrible metallic taste with it too! And mucus, I guess that's what causes the taste?
I took omeprazole for years but not only did it stop working but (tmi!) it turned my poo beige!! Now on pantoprazole and all fine. When the pain was bad I'd take one in the morning and one in the evening 30 mins before dinner. Sometimes it will take a while for the throat pain to go but sometimes only a week - honestly the best thing I've found has been the liquorice tea! So soothing. Mine is by yogi teas.
No chocolate is a bummer! Whatever you do, don't try cacao, it may be healthier but it's worse for reflux! I found decaf tea still set me off but redbush was absolutely fine and once I got used to the taste, I now prefer it, it's worth sticking with!

Thankyou @ShatParp & @JustDanceAddict
I went out last night and had 2 wines and this morning omg the pain from swallowing food or water !! Also the dryness in my mouth and throat js horrendous! My tonsils look red too!
Do you ever get this from drinking alcohol?? I think I better lay off the alcohol for a week or two ☹️ I do love my weekend wine! My voice has become quite hoarse too !
Should I go to the doctors ? I will
Continue taking the lansoprazole and gaviscon! I don't get the burning heartburn however ! Was this any of your symptoms apart from what I have dry cough, constant throat clearing, & pain when swallowing,

I hate to tell you this, but I can't touch alcohol now! However I know people who can after the PPIs have kicked in! I rarely get heartburn. Like you I get the dry cough, pain swallowing, hoarse voice, I get swollen tissue at the back of my throat behind where the tonsils are, it's the actual back wall of the throat? It's still tonsillar tissue though. Really painful swollen neck glands too. Oh and the dry mouth and throat is awful! I find constantly having water to hand helps and I got some mint type lozenges from boots for dry mouth!
How old are you as if you're over 40 GPs like to check these things out!
I had it since my 20s and only in my 40s did they suddenly decide to send me to have the camera crew in... they hadn't been concerned the previous 20 years!
The camera man said I had a loose sphincter (rude!) and a large hernia! The latter is caused by me being fat, though!
Mine comes and goes, sonetimes I get nothing for months, you might find you have one episode of it and it never comes back, occasionally my partner has it for a couple of weeks then it disappears completely!

Reflux gaviscon and omoperozole from the dr. X

lansoprazole didn't help me had to have ompeprozole x

Sorry for the drip feed. Also can't touch alcohol it's not worth the agony. X

Thankyou all who reply & @ShatParp I'm 35 and haven't been to the docs yet I'm going to give alcohol m, caffeine and chocolate 🍫 a test for a week (all the best things! 😩) and see if anything improves! I am a few stone overweight too so that doesn't really help much! When did you start seeing an improvement with meds ? Thankyou xx

@indieray - I’m afraid I don’t drink either at the moment. I only drink water, Pat milk, camomile tea, chicory or coconut water. I’ll vvvvv rarely have a decaf black coffee if there’s nothing else. Very, very boring.
you will need to massively overhaul your diet - but I also find too much fibre hard to digest as I get bad wind.
you def need to speak to the GP.
it takes a good couple of weeks to see any difference on meds. I’m trialling lanzoprazole now - given up on omeprazole!

Ps: mucous is my main symptom now. It started w a scratchy throat, a couple of bad heartburn episodes, bit of hoarseness. Camera showed nothing!

I've got a big hernia, I just take gaviscon advance occasionally now and use my iqoro regularly.
My gp put me on the two week cancer pathway for my endoscopy as I'd lost loads of weight I could ill afford to lose, through not eating due to the symptons.