I am having cough, sore throat, and get headaches for many years. Is gastric issue the cause?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have cough and sore throat for many years. Sometimes, I cough after waking up from sleep, and sometimes I have cough randomly. Sometimes, I have itchiness in my throat without pain. Suddenly, I have headaches starting from the back of my head until my shoulder. I have this headache often. It starts randomly without reason. I have gastric issues. Is this cause of my pain?

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

You seem to have two possibilities. You can have chronic GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) with LPR (laryngopharyngeal reflux). Gastric acidic contents cause faulty reflux and this can be the reason for having a feeling of something stuck in your throat or itchy discomfort. Inflammation around the throat causes irritative cough. The other cause can be chronic allergic pharyngitis. It occurs due to exposure to some irritative substance. It irritates the throat causing intermittent cough. Avoid having exposure to irritative substances. Wear an N95 mask. Gastric issues have to be treated efficiently. Avoid having oily, spicy, and cold food. Avoid drinking alcohol and smoking for a month. Eat on time and take a soft digestible diet. Reduce your quantity of meals to half. Increase the frequency of your food intake but avoid overeating. Do not lie down or exercise immediately after taking meals. Keep a gap of atleast two hours. Maintain a left lateral position while lying down or sleeping. You can take syrup containing antacid. Take one tablespoon three times a day before 20 minutes of taking meals for two months. Along with this, you can take a proton pump inhibitor. You can take Pantoprazole 40 mg one tablet once a day before breakfast for a month. Do salt water gargling eight to ten times a day to wash out the irritative substance present in your throat. These measures will help you a lot.