Hey,

I am Gerrit and I have started Refluxgate!

I Had Big Silent Reflux Issues Myself

My guess is that I had LPR for about 10 years – without knowing it.

I had seen quite a lot of doctors and ENTs because of the symptoms. All of them told me it was an allergy – indeed, I had allergies on top. But I also had hoarseness all over the year and wherever I was.

I even moved to the Caribbean as there is no pollen there that I am allergic to. The weird thing was: the symptoms did not become better – only worse! So they definitely could not stem from an allergy. That told me that there must be something on top of the allergy. When the symptoms suddenly got much worse, I doubled down on finding the cause.

It still took me a while. Only by accident, I found an ENT who finally told me what I have - reflux!

First I was like: reflux? That can’t be the reason, my stomach is fine. I do not even have heartburn! Then I started to investigate - and wow!- the described symptoms for silent reflux totally matched my problems!

It Was Incredibly Hard to Find Professional Assistance

I was lucky to have found a doctor who recognized what I have.

However, finding someone who knew how to treat it was even harder. I could not find a doctor who really knew how to deal with silent reflux!

I only got the standard advice – avoid fat, sleep with your head elevated, do not eat before lying down. These all might make sense and my symptoms did get a little better after following them.

But once you have silent reflux, it is a vicious circle. You need to attack with a bulldozer to make them go away completely.

Also, practically every doctor wanted to prescribe me PPIs even though I had already tried them, and they did not help. Looking back, this is no wonder - today I know that studies show: PPI do not work any better against LPR than placebo.

I Took My Problems in My Own Hands

At the least, I had some luck: I work in the health sector myself.

To be more precise: I work in eHealth. I am helping start-ups and doctors bring medical services into the digital age. My formal background is in qualitative research. So I know how to dig out data and investigate how to treat LPR most effectively.

With my existing experience, I started searching for every kind of information that I was able to find: studies, articles and research about new treatments for silent reflux. Also, I got in touch with leading experts in the field.

I made crazy discoveries about how the current treatment of silent reflux is mostly useless – which is even proven by studies. Most doctors are not up to date. They simply do not have the time to dig into new developments.

Through My Research, I Was Able to Efficiently Fight Silent Reflux

Every piece of information I got on silent reflux was like a piece of a puzzle – the picture started to make more and more sense. With my new knowledge, I was able to understand how I got and why I have silent reflux.

Understanding your problem is the foundation for fighting it. Importantly, a diet that is perfectly targeted on reducing silent reflux turned out to be crucial.

After a while, I got asked more and more often by other patients about how I am treating my disease. I realized how many people deal with the same problem that I dealt with: lack of information.

That is why I started sharing my knowledge here on Refluxgate – to help people like us.

Best wishes,
Gerrit

P.S.: As you are already here: have you calculated your reflux symptom index (RSI)? It gives you a good indication whether your symptoms stem from LPR. Click here to do the test!