I am a 27 yr old female. I have severe pain upon swallowing and feel as though I have a lump in my throat. Can GERD have no other symptoms but throat symptoms? I never have burning in my stomach or chest. I've had a sore throat for over a month now and about three days ago, I developed a feeling of something lodged in my throat. It makes swallowing extremely difficult and I'm really scared. My doctor wants me to experiment with a GERD medicine and an allergy medicine. She believes that the sore throat is from post nasal drip though I feel nothing running down the back of my throat and feels the lump sensation is from GERD, though that's my only symptom and nothing else. Any help would be appreciated. I cant sleep because I'm so anxious about what it could possibly be. Should I seek a second opinion? I'm afraid that if i take the medicines and they don't work that i'll be wasting precious time in finding out what's really wrong, possibly to the point of not being able to "fix" the problem.
Q: Can someone have GERD and their ONLY symptom be a lump in throat feeling with severe sore throat?
A trial run of GERD medicines is a very common way to confirm a diagnosis. If you get better than the assumption is that the your symptoms are indeed due to GERD.
Yes, a sore throat and the feeling of a lump can be the only symptom which can be very misleading. Last year my daughter was being treated unsuccessfully with asthma meds for a chronic cough. When we started her back on reflux meds (she's 10 had been on meds from a baby until 4) the cough went away.
Does it mean that your lump feeling and sore throat are definitely GERD. No not at all. But, once you take the meds you will be able to see if there's a difference and go from there. You generally need a few weeks of the meds to see a true difference though when your symptoms are due to irritation. Once the meds are able to decrease the acidity then your throat needs time to heal.
Since you've already seen a doctor, she's been able to rule out other more concerning things at this point. Following her suggestion for a few weeks will enable you to determine if the meds will help and then you should go back to see her to determine how it went. If at that point you don't feel like you are getting the answers you need a second opinion would be warranted.
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Thank you so much for your input. That's what I really needed to hear. Today is day one on Kapidex so I'm hoping for the best. The reason I was so scared was that my throat felt swollen and I felt that i wasn't getting enough air...like the lump was blocking my airway. The doctor gave me an inhaler to take and said that it'll help with the swelling in my throat so that I can breathe easier. I tried it for the first time today as well and did notice that my throat wasn't as tight but it made my hands shake horribly and my heart pound in my chest. It'll all be worth it though to get a full on diagnosis and know for sure what to do so that I never have to feel this way again. Thank you again for your response. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight ; )