[Anonymous]

#1020386

Just wondered if anyone else with Graves is having chronic trouble with swallowing and acid reflux. I’ve started wondering if the throat muscles and sphincter muscles in the esophagus could also be muscles that are affected by Graves.
I had a barium swallow a few years back that they felt was normal, but my throat muscles didn’t feel like they wanted to work right when they had me swallow the liquid. Chronic sinus infections and post nasal drip could be part of the problem. Just curious if anyone knew of a link between the conditions and Graves or was having trouble with this too.
I read the posts often. So many echoes of what I’ve lived with for nearly 20 years. It makes me feel as I’m not alone. Thanks for your website and caring.

Kate

[Anonymous]

#1076998

Kate

I’ve never heard that complaint before. But I would think that those muscles could be effected.

If this continues to be a problem you should focus on that until the doctors are able to find the cause of the problem. So many times we find ourselves blaming Graves Disease and that it is not the problem but something totally unrelated to Graves Disease. You don’t want to miss a problem that is starting in your body.

Diane B On-Line Facilitator

[Anonymous]

#1076999

I’ve also had lots of problems with swallowing and acid reflux. I use Pepsid on a daily basis.

For the swallowing problems, I had lumps in my thyroid. I understand that the thyroid swells when hyper, so it could be restricting your esophagus. When I used Prednisone, it helped, because it brought the inflammation down.

I imagine there are symptoms that aren’t listed anywhere. Everywhere I went, it said I should have been losing weight rapidly. Instead, I was gaining weight rapidly. I hadn’t seen allergy symptoms anywhere except on this site, either, It makes sense, though, because it is antibodies attacking, which is what happens when you have environmental allergies, too. They’re just attacking something different.

[Anonymous]

#1077000

Thanks for the input on trouble swallowing/acid reflux. It could have nothing to do with Graves as you said, Diane. So many symptoms of Graves involve muscles from different systems that it seemed a possible explanation.
I’ve been on Prevacid for a long time for the acid reflux. My new doctor upped my dose to two a day, which seems to be helping some.
My ultrasound showed there was no significant change in the thyroid nodule that they drained some fluid from in December. The radiologist told me that the position of the nodule could have been affecting my swallowing but it’s about a third smaller now from the aspiration and is very deep, he said.
The trouble swallowing has been a problem for around four years. That’s when we also discovered my thyroid had grown back to half its size from a little piece left after my surgery in 1988. Hard to say what’s going on. Guess it’s also possible the backwash from the reflux into my throat could be causing problems. I’ll keep watching it.

[Anonymous]

#1077001

That is good that your doctor put you on Prevacid. I have taken that for yearsFacilitator. but my problem is different then yours. When I seem to have more problems the doctor will up the dose. Then he will lower it again when things have settled down.

I had tried the other popular 2 meds and for that the Prevacid worked best for me. If it doesn’t help you there are others you could ask to try.

Diane B Online-Facilitator

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