Why do I feel dryness, white spots and a lump in my throat?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have had weird throat symptoms for months now. My throat does not hurt or bother me too much. It just feels like I need to swallow a lot and after swallowing a lot sometimes it feels like a lump in my throat. I also feel dryness sometimes. I looked at my throat in the mirror last night and saw a couple of white spots at the back of my throat and at the top of the esophagus. I have been looking at different things and came across LPR. I have always had acid reflux. I have also been pretty stressed in the past four years. I just want to get an opinion on what it could be. I went to an ENT also sometime back but he did not find anything concerning. I have been taking multivitamins and herbal remedies on and off for the past several months.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I do not find anything serious here. It is just chronic pharyngitis, probably due to the problem of acid reflux for a long duration. There is something called globus pharyngeus. It is a sensation that something is present in the throat when actually nothing is there. Whenever there is acid reflux (symptomatic or silent acid reflux), the reflux contents can cause some swelling or edema over the arytenoids (bony structures at the back of the voice box, which gives the feeling of the presence of a lump in the throat). These chronic conditions can also cause dryness in the throat. LPR (laryngopharyngeal reflux), silent LPR (laryngopharyngeal reflux), and globus pharyngeus occur due to acid reflux and sometimes because of allergic pharyngitis, smoking, and post-nasal drip also.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

The above-mentioned conditions are related to lifestyle and day-to-day exposure to irritants (acid is an irritant as well). The key in treating these conditions is decreasing or avoiding exposure to the irritants. I would recommend avoiding things that increase acid reflux such as smoking, alcohol, stress, oily or spicy food, excess tea, coffee, fizzy drinks, etc. I would also advise you to keep a gap of two hours between the meals and nap. The ulcers, swelling, or lumpy feeling would go away with these measures but you also need to stop thinking or worrying about it. Hope this helps.