Medical Alert: Silent Reflux can often go misdiagnosed

NEW YORK (WABC) -- It's a silent danger and can be mistaken for allergies, sore throat and hoarseness.

But those symptoms could actually be warning signs for a potentially silent killer that doctors don't always diagnose Silent Reflux.

"They thought it was allergies so they sent me to an allergist," said Tara Hantman.

But Hantman didn't have allergies, the sore throat , coughing and hoarse voice were all caused by acid reflux. It's where acid comes up from the stomach.

"I just had symptoms but never felt the quote unquote heartburn that most people feel," she said.

And that's why it's often called silent reflux, or throat reflux. You can see the swollen acid injured vocal cords on the right.

"That generally indicates inflammation way below where the vocal cords are," said Jonathan Aviv at ENT & Allergy Associates.

As a voice and swallowing specialist and author of a new book on acid reflux , Dr. Aviv says throat reflux is almost always misdiagnosed.

"90% of the patients that come into to see me are not complaining of heartburn. They're complaining of lump like sensation in the throat, chronic cough, hoarseness, frequent throat clearing," he said.

If those clues and warning signs last for several weeks-- get it checked out.

You should get it checked out to feel better, but also because acid reflux raises your risk of cancer.

That's because long term acid exposure damages cells.

But it only takes a few minutes for doctors to look inside with a camera.

And if you catch it early, there are solutions-- medication and diet changes- avoiding acidic foods -- like coffee, cocktails, citrus and processed foods.

"Changing the way i was eating and eliminating foods from my diet has really helped me control my acid," adds Tara Hantman.