Having Major Reflux and Nasalpharyngeal Issues - is it bad Diet or Lyme?!!!

I am seriously confused and upset. I thought I knew what i was doing, and now I am not so sure. I am asking you guys for some help.

This story isn't too long, promise! After finishing my lyme treatment in 2014, it took about 1.5 years to recover from the overstimulation of my immune system, and I also had to fight Candida along the way. A year ago, at the beginning of the summer, I felt so amazing. I was 100% symptom free for 4 months straight. When September came, I started to do hardcore exercise. I also started to slip on my diet. I had some disturbing symptoms then, and figured it was a lyme flare (hear palpitations, skipped periods, severe Pms, numbness in my arms again.). My mistake was that I didnt do any detoxing. I originially thought it was my bad diet, but now I am thinking it was probably the bad diet in addition to the hardcore exercise that caused this. Anyway, things calmed down and I was better. But honestly, since then, I had a lot of mucus building up in my throat all of the time. Also, when I eat the wrong foods (sugary or full of gluten), my tongue would hurt - in the same spot and I would sneeze.

So time went on, and I continued not to eat properly (partially due to lack of willpower, but mainly due to lack of time to prepare the proper foods). I got a new job and I just couldn't cook so fresh anymore - I was grabbing kind bars on the go, slices of cheese, pretzels, etc.....

So then maybe 2 months ago I started having this lump feeling in my throat, and realized it was as though I was becoming allergic to gluten and sugar. So i started doing research and georgiahunter -another member of this forum - said that lyme could mess with your stomach flora. At this same exact time, my older daughter started having reflux issues. I can't tell you how weird this was, bc when I first got sick, my kids were sick, so why do we both have a stomach problem now?

Anyway, so I went to the ENT, he put a scope down my throat and said I have atypical reflux (acid shooting up into my throat, but without the heartburn effect).

Ok, then about a week following this appt. the food started backing up into my nasal passage. I know this is gross, but this is what is happening now every single time I eat. And now I feel myself getting sick- my ears are clogged, my throat hurts, my glands are swollen etc. probably bc the food is going where it doesnt belong, and possibly not all draining properly.

about a month and a half ago I started taking ABart. I did this to "test" the waters, bc I figured the only way to figure out what's going on is to see how I react to treatment. I had Bartonella in the past, and it really messes with the stomach........Not much happened. Then I treated myself with a week of Diflucan (bc stupid me I forgot to take probiotics while on Abart, and gave myself a yeast infeciton). But even after the diflucan, nothing really changed, so I don't think Candida is at fault here. However, I felt that I really didnt take the Abart for long enough let alone enough drops, so I started it again.

I have absolutely no clue as to if I am on the right path. What if this is diet related and has nothing to do with lyme, but what if it is lyme, or better yet, bartonella, messing with my stomach and my pharynx muscles. Why the heck would I have trouble with my throat muscles out of no where, right? And since all of the rest of the muscles in my body are super strong from exercising them, maybe this is the only place for the lyme/bart to thrive? Or what if it isnt my muscles, and the reflux has become so strong, its just backing up into my nose?

Also, since the fall, my back has been bothering me - smack in the middle of my spine, causing the numbness down my arms again. How do I know I just didn't hurt my back, or if it could be lyme/bart thriving there too, bc there is no way to exercise that part of my body either. I have no idea.......I don't know if I should stop everything and see what happens, but I already started and stopped Abart once, I only want to stop it if I am sure it's unecessary or if its causing harm bc i am taking it unnecessarily. Did the Abart cause this nasal thing, is this my body's way of herxing?

I just don't know. I can't tell. I am not weak, I am not sick like I was when I had lyme, but I also don't know if this has anything to do with it. I don't want to harm myself or create problems, but I also don't want to stop what I am doing if I am doing what is right.

Should I go back to the ENT, or will I be wasting my time and money??

Also, just to add, I am treating my youngest with Abart bc she did indeed show signs of it (bed wetting and the scratch rash), and she has improved tremendously.

any thoughts? and if anyone does have experience with this food going up my nasal passages, any idea how to make it stop!!!??? I am losing weight bc I have no desire to eat bc of this problem. Its aweful!!

THANK YOU!!!

Post Edited (Chapelle) : 6/15/2017 3:06:15 PM (GMT-6)

My LLMD is no longer practicing =(

I am thinking of stopping everything and just going on the anti-acidic diet. What may be happening is that there is so much acid in my stomach that it is backing up all the way into my throat and stopping the food from going down.

my ENT wanted me to go on prilosec, but I am very weary of medications. I feel herbs are safer. LOL
Ive been taking alkaseltzer gold but that hasnt really helped.

Post Edited (Chapelle) : 6/15/2017 2:30:55 PM (GMT-6)

no, but why would something acidic help? i am also going to try apple cider vinegar. But my husband keeps saying that lowering the acid will not help, based on what he is read, but maybe he is wrong

i also started taking digestive enzymes yesterday.

thanks for your help girlie!

thats along the lines of what georgia hunter believes too - he said tomatoes and onions and garlic are not worth giving up bc of their positive properties.

but then i dont know how to stop this current symptom - heck i will try L Limonene!! thx girlie, i will see what others have to say, but that is at the top of my list right now, if it helped astroman!!

No one will really know exactly what is going wrong with your body. It could be one of several things but a couple of red flags popped up reading about your situation. I would try one of several things hoping something would benefit. D-Limonene can be effective but for some people, it isn't enough. Pectasol-C powder is better IMO because it is more refined. They do the same thing which is to reduce intraluminal metal accumulation. Aluminum is often the culprit but it could be a heavy metal as well. The aluminum is usually there because it is attached to a pathogen or multiple pathogens. If I had to guess which one, I'd say candida or E coli but that is just a gut feeling.

The eating situation appears to be a food allergy or food intolerance. Gluten intolerance is becoming much more common and the foods you mentioned would be laden with gluten. This would increase histamine formation which would benefit any biofilm producing pathogen. I would suspect candida is one of those pathogens. Diflucan can't work if it can't get to the candida. You have to try to determine what is causing the issues and eliminate it. I recommend a food log for this charting what you eat and when you feel good or bad in the log. Go back three days from feeling good or bad and examine what you have eaten. Over time, this will often give you what the causative agent will be. A restrictive diet makes this much easier.

Exercise is great and will benefit any treatment plan provided it is done appropriately. Long or endurance style exercises can be detrimental. Working out to the point of muscle soreness can be bad as glycolysis ferments pyruvic acid to lactic acid. Although I haven't found any literature supporting this, my experiments have shown that the immune system is directly related to acid level or pH. I'm not talking about cytokines, we all know they are acidic but the ability of the immune system becomes hampered at a lower pH. Maybe it just has more pathogens to deal with, but whatever the case, an alkaline system is much more conducive to getting better. Exercise becomes acidic fairly rapidly and knowing when to stop is a trial and error thing.

My gut is telling me with your lymph node involvement, you have something viral going on. It could be herpetic like EBV. I'd take a shot in the dark and start eating coconuts or coconut oil. Coconut cream is by far the best. I'd take about 2.5g of monolaurin a day as well. You most likely will get some conversion from the coconuts to lauric acid (the main antiviral/antibacterial agent in breast milk.) Monolaurin is also very effective against candida, giardia, staph, strep, and even some strains of mycobacterium. It can even kill some drug resistant strains. It is not effective on gram negative strains and if you are a big meat eater, it won't help that much unless you have viral or candida involvement. Meat eaters often have higher levels of gram negative anaerobes, more candida, less saccharomyces, and less lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. All of that is bad. Monolaurin and glycyrrhizin have been used to successfully treat many viruses. Glycyrrhizin giabra is what is in licorice root but be warned, it can have mineralcorticoid effects because it can inhibit cortisol metabolism.

This is a direct quote from the literature: "Ingesting monolaurin on a daily basis may be an inexpensive way to both treat and prevent infection from microorganisms."

Look up the linoleic acid amount in the foods you eat. You want to avoid it. It is very pro-inflammatory. Munch on something like Jennies Macaroons and avoid hydrogenated oils.

These are just a few things I would try if I were in your situation.

I just wanted to clarify what I said above about linoleic acid. It is an essential fatty acid which means we must eat it to get it. Our body can't produce enough of it. When I said to avoid it, I meant to reduce consumption, not eliminate it. I don't feel that is a problem for most people trying to eat healthy in America. Dry, scaly, skin is often a sign of linoleic acid deficiency. It's an omega 6 fatty acid and what often happens in sick people like us is we lack the bacteria in the GI tract to adequately convert it to useful isomers. Our omega 3 to omega 6 ratio becomes skewed and eating hydrogenated oils just limits our GI bacteria's ability to function like they should function.

Eating too much linoleic acid is detrimental because it increases carnitine palmitoyltransferase. This enzyme works in the mitochondria to regulate fatty acid metabolism and acyl-CoA. Hyperinsulinemia inhibits carnitine palmtoyltransferase so those of us with cherry angiomas at least have a somewhat plausible reason why they are there. Everything always boils down back to GI flora and our lack of appropriate levels of certain bacteria.

Researching linoleic acid shows many beneficial effects and positives of why we need it. I can not refute that. I am saying we have too much due to our microbiome shift that came from our acquisition of borrelia. Lactobacillus can actually make some linoleic acid and bifidobacterium converts it. We are low on both or we don't have the various strains we need for this to occur.

Coconuts or coconut cream are made of linoleic acid. If we are going to increase it here, we have to drop it somewhere else in the diet.

Post Edited (Georgia Hunter) : 6/17/2017 5:15:27 AM (GMT-6)

ok, got it!! well, I am headed to PA for 2 months shortly. Once I get up there, I will not be doing hardcore exercise like I have been. I think that will tell alot - I will just be bikeriding and playing tennis and such. So I will see if that makes any difference, and then when I come back I will go back to my gym and see how it affects me. I seriously don't want to have to give it up, I feel like it is partly the reason why I am doing so well. But you are right, I need to know when not to go over that "line".

Possible over training and the Immune system.....great points.

Candida seemed to cause some of these symptoms you mentioned? It seems (as tough as it is) when I adhere to that diet.....or at least 90% of the time,these issues fade and coconut oil is great,use it in my coffee,some salads.

Yes coffee......stimulates the Liver.

Chapelle I wish you well.

R

thanks reminder and aphysical wreck -

yes, i read that about all oils actually. bc of their oxidative properties, but I do believe what GH believes that sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks.

its too weird, its as though the muscles in my throat are not functioning properly. no soon as i start to swallow, the food rides up if i am not careful enough. I have started to drink alot of water when i eat to push it down. If i dont do that, the food sort of sits in the middle of my throat. Its just all so odd and uncomfortable. I always get nervous and wonder if the problems that arise will never get resolved. its just how i am - a huge worrybug!!

Chapelle - did you ever have a barium swallow x-ray?

Not sure you'd want one with the radiation anyway...but I am curious.


When I first had symptoms - that was one of them - felt like I had a lump in my throat...in addition to swallowing difficulties.

Mine was fine (apparently) - and then I went to the ENT and he did the camera thingy through my nose - down my throat to see if my throat/vocal cords were irritated from reflux..(they weren't)
I wondered if it didn't go far enough down - and that's why they couldn't see anything.

You said you did go to the ENT Dr. and all was fine.

Girly I'm not sure how far down he Went. I am even wondering if having this test done irritated something because this all started after the exam.

I'm assuming the Chapelle's ENT Doc did the same tests that I had - drinking liquid, and also chewing/swallowing a biscuit - all captured on camera.
This is to see any swallowing issues.
I know the day I had mine done - I was having a good day and wasn't surprised that everything looked fine.

I believe mine were from nerve issues that have now resolved. (Lyme or Bart)

Re- exercising - Are you saying vigorous exercising even after healing is not recommended?
It has been over two years since Chapelle finished treatment...I would think at this point it should be fine..no?

Pirouette said...
Girlie -
is that question for me?

I think Chapelle mentioned approaching the workouts too aggressively or something to that effect. I think it takes a lot longer to return to vigorous exercise. But "trigger" foods plus over-exercising will certainly do it.

-p

But she said she didn't get run-down from the exercise and got a boost of energy from it.

Definitely check out the yeast/fungal issues, Chapelle...and the Nystatin that Pirouette suggests.

I know you don't want to hear this, but I do wonder if it's bartonella causing your symptoms. Maybe it's a relapse and you need to treat it?

This must be so frustrating for you, I'm sorry you're having to deal with this now...but you'll figure it out...