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Gerd symptoms - hoarse voice

I have had GERD all my life (70+) and have been taking GERD medicines a long time.  I have had a chronic cough that has interfered with my choir singing so my dr had prescribed asthma meds for years.  

A few years ago I was in the hospital for a Pulmonary Embolism and have had a hoarse voice ever since then. I went to a lung Dr and he said I Did NOT have asthma – eventually it was pointed to the Gerd that I have always had.

Recently I was taking Pantoprazole – 40mg  twice a day and then took a test that monitored to see if any acid was coming up.  They had me stay on the Meds during the 2 day test.  My stomach was so neutral that no acid came up even though I was burping fluids.

If I am still burping, but no ACID is coming up – does that mean that my vocal cords are not being irritated by acid?  I still have a very hoarse voice.  Will ANY fluids that I burp up irritate my vocal chords?
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I am not sure if you are still on this message board? Not even sure if it is still active but I will try to give you some insight incase you can see that I responded.

First, do you clear your throat and have a lot of mucous?  If you do then this info might  be of some help.  I have researched this subject and found out that every time we clear our throats our vocal cords bang together. When we do that, our bodies respond to the clearing by producing mucous to coat/protect the cords. Which then causes the lump feeling and the need to clear our throats again. Thus causing our voices to get hoarse and raspy. You had asked if the fluids could irritate your throat, I would think that even if your stomach is not acidic, it still could irritate your vocal cords.

There is a valve that is called the LES, if you have no stomach acid, that will allow that valve (sphincter) to stay open and acid/food can travel up and splash on your esophagus and vocal cords. So you do need to address your low acid stomach.

Getting back to your throat...there are ways you can avoid the clearing. Sipping water is a way to stop the feel to desire to clear it. If you go on YT you will be able to find videos to show you exercises to strengthen your throat. I remember one way was humming while blowing into a straw. I also know there are products that you can buy that coat your throat. Singers tend to use them.


Since it is your voice you are concerned about, then I would probably try to make an appt with a speech pathologist/therapist and have them examine you and see if they can find a reason for your hoarseness.

Any, I hope you are well and have rectified the problem already.
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1 Comments
HI there thanks for this great info!
15695260 tn?1549593113
Hello, sorry for the late reply to your question.  Can you provide any update?  Is the medication working for your GERD and is the hoarseness getting any better?  

Here's an article related to this topic. https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/864864-overview  And this article is about treating reflux laryngitis. https://www.medicinenet.com/reflux_laryngitis/article.htm


Let us know how you are doing.
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