Hi I have had acid reflux for 2 years and been on Lanzoprazole 30mg once a day as a PPI
I am 42, male and overweight
Recently I have had teh most frightening experience of waking up in teh middle of teh night choking and unable to breathe. It lasts about 60 seconds but feels like 10 minutes
The doctor says I could be inhaling acid whilst asleep.
Has anyone information or experience of this and know what can be done about it - its VERY scary.
Thank you very much
Ive suffered with exactly the same thing, it is scary its more the wispy acid vapours that cause that type of choking for me :huh: but yes from time to time I just choke and cough on the stuff (Stomach acid and Bile?) aswell :?
[quote:b0a6af153e=\"Patient UK Acid Reflux & Oesophagitis Document\"]Bedtime. If symptoms recur most nights, the following may help:
◦ Go to bed with an empty, dry stomach. To do this, don't eat in the last three hours before bedtime, and don't drink in the last two hours before bedtime.
◦ If you are able, try raising the head of the bed by 10-20 cms (for example, with books or bricks under the bed's legs). This helps gravity to keep acid from refluxing into the oesophagus. If you do this do not use additional pillows, because this may increase abdominal pressure.
One small additional tip I can offer is to take 2 Antacid tablets (maybe Rennie) just before you get into bed
Im so glad its not just me - and yes it is very frightening
I have made contact with my GP and asked for consultant referral to see what can be done long term.
It has happened 3 times in 2 months which is far too much for me
Will try more antacids before sleep
Thanks
No chris you arent mental,, Acid Reflux can definately cause this , it must be some sort of automatic response to acid being in a certain area or something :angel:
Hi Chris
I have had severe reflux oesophagitus for a year now. Losing the extra pounds, eating correctly and exercising (I know - how dull) has worked for me. My docs recently reduced my medication to 20mg nexium (had been on 60 in the spring) but then I started waking up with my stomach swirling around my throat. My hubby bought me a slanted pillow and it has worked like a dream. I didn't sleep for the first week as I kept sliding off it and couldn't get used to the elevated position. Now it is part of my life and I couldn't be without it.
Succeeding with this disease takes effort and serious commitment. At xmas I was in hospital on morphine and scared out of my wits with the pain and strangled feeling. Now my BMI is 23, I go the gym 3 times a week (and love it!) and yes I am still uncomfortable and have to be such a food purist, but I am so much better and am improving by the week.
Dr Spock is right. I take gaviscon and manuka honey before a run and before bedtime. It lines the oesophagus nicely. (hey Dr Spock - my teeth are still okay - thanks for the advice previously!)
Try everything and see what works for you - it'll be worth it. Promise!
Suze :P
Dear All, I know how you all feel! I have had oesophagitus and major acid reflux since I was 19 and I am now 44. I have had cameras shoved down my throat more times than I care to mention only to be told that yes I have 'like grade bad' oesophagitus. I am currently on nexium which controls it nicely most of the time although i sometimes have need to double the dose.
I am also awakened in the middle of the night fairly regularily, being unable to breathe nor speak & with terrible pain due to a major gush of pure acid coming up to my throat and burning it to a frazzle. My wife seems to have got used to me hopping around the house in the middle of the night, guzzling milk, water, chewing strange things like brockley stalks (which do help!) in an attempt to get rid of the intence inferno in my throat.
Hi dickyd
How on earth have you managed to put up with this disease for so long? Oh you poor thing - but well done for sounding still positive! Have they never offered you a nissan fundoplication? My doc said this is one option once I have tried everything else and I would love to hear how people have got on. Can you eat any normal \"junk\" stuff or do you have to be perfect like me (one step off my diet and I am thrown weeks back into agony).
Have you had any side effects on the nexium if you have been taking them for so long?
I am due my next endoscopy soon - they need to go into my lower intestines this time - stuff going on too grim to talk about!
Suze :oops:
Hello,
I have been suffering with this for 15 + years. I am a male, 53 now and work a job that prevents me from sleeping and eating in a normal pattern which seriously aggravates this problem. But here is what I have learned. Some meds make it much worse. I occasionally take sleep aids and for some reason things like Xanex almost garentee I will have it. I am not sure about everyone else but I actually get acid and sometimes food particles into my lungs. I have damaged my lungs horribly from this. If you wake and feel the acid or fluid going into your breathing passage, immediately drink antacid, Gaviscon if you like it, I prefer the simple regular strength antacid normally in the blue bottle. Then drink a couple large swigs of Pepto Bismol. I have learned to fight the erg to try to cough it out until after I have drank this cocktail of antacid and coatings. The reason why is if you start trying to cough it out before coating the acid, you can actually just cough more acid right from your stomach. Then do your best to cough out any acid or broke down food that may have made it into your lungs. Unfortunately on me, this happens no matter if I have an empty stomach or have recently ate. If I drink very much water before bed it is much more likely to happen, especially on an empty stomach and that's when it's most dangerous. When it happens on an empty stomach the acid is much more potent or acidic. I have coughed out acid from my lungs that actually burned my skin when it got on it so you can only imagine what it does to my lungs. The good news is, if you dilute the acid with antacid and coat it with Pepto Bismol, the damage will get better fairly quickly. After a bad burn with mostly just acid, I can cough it out and feel better in the next few hours. But it will cause my lungs to make a form if pneumonia that takes weeks and even months to get cleared up. My lungs wheeze, gurgle and make horrific noises until I get the burns healed up and the fluid goes away. One thing that does help is eating dry food for your last meal before sleeping, no matter how long till sleep. Meaning, don't eat soup or fluid foods. I think it gives the acid something to work on. I can tell you in my case, taking antacid pills or pills that stop the acid pumps or production just doesn't help. I just produce WAY too much acid and can't always time my eating and sleeping schedule good enough to prevent this. Pretty much all my family all suffer with GERD. I have spent thousands with docs trying to correct it but it always seems to come back when I least expect it. All I can say is hopefully you work a job that allows you to get in a regular schedule and train your digestive system when to produce acid and when not to. Good Luck.
Interesting. I've currently given up all PPI's in the hope that the Acid / Bile / whatever is paradoxical, that is, being caused by their (PPI's) continued use. The giving up and the trying not to dine after 6 pm is (seemingly) helping somewhat
Benny, I have done the same. I have been perscribed every major PPI and Antacid type med on the market and it ALWAYS comes back WHILE ON THE MEDS. It is the same with or without. So you are 100% correct. I just wish I knew a way to stop it completely. I just had an instance 3 days ago. Only about 3 teaspoons of almost pure acid. I am in the recovery phase where my lungs are full of fluid. And it happend despit my new docs best attempts to prevent it. Good luck with yours if you have it.
Good morning, Oh yes I expeience choking in the night and my coughing is so excessive now it really effects my life. Noisy breathing,gurgling sounds....all very uncomfortable. Eating out is a nightmare for me, as i just want to cough all the time. I sound full of phlegm and I can see people pulling faces as it isn't good. What a nightmare.
I talked to my GP about the vile liquid and they said it's a loose Lower Oesophageal Sphincter (here's some more Lanso's) but I beg to differ, I think the Sphincter opens on cue as part of the Vomiting process, it's something in the liquid that the Sphincter is attuned to, when it detects 'the substance' it just opens, maybe, dunno
I've had acid reflux for 5 years and only last night it aspirated to my lungs. I couldn't breath properly for about 20 minutes and I've had chest pain all day. I've had this a few times before (but didn't know what it was when it first happened), and I know it will take a few days to go away. I have to be careful what and when I eat, and take Gaviscon, although I do forget when I have little or no symptoms, which is not often, and not good, I know!
I was on Omeprazole for 2 years until last May when I weaned myself off of them. I've had an endoscopy (tube down the throat) and a colonoscopy (tube up the backside!?!).
Endoscopy showed mild gastritis (inflamation of stomach), but that was 3 years ago, and colonoscopy showed some narrowing of the bowel, which was 3 months ago, and has helped a little to maybe understanding some of my symptoms, I had constipation pretty bad for the first time in my life.
Now I'm not saying my acid reflux is caused by these findings, although they could well be!....but I wanted to say I have researched my symptoms over the years and as I'm sure most of you, who may have also researched, there are so many things that can cause this reflux, it's hard to explain all I have discovered in a short post!!
What I will say, in the hope that anyone searching for an end to this nightmare, for it is a nightmare, and one I am still trying to end, is:
PPI's or proton pump inhibitors are given to stop acid production, which for some people works very well, and should be taken if they are prescribed for you. I would never recommend for anyone not to take them.
BUT, after they did not work for me and wondering why, I researched and found that they CAN alter the good and bad bacteria in the gut. Stomach acid not only digests food but also kills off bad bacteria in the gut.
When too little acid is produced (remember PPI's stop acid production), there can sometimes be an over-production of bad bacteria in the gut, this causes pressure to build, hence any bloating, and this pressure forces the LES (lower oesophagal sphincter) to open and acid to enter the oesophagus (apparently it only takes a small amount of acid to cause problems).
Obviously, I need a healthy gut to prevent complications of the narrowing, so I feel PPI's are not for me.
I have mentioned this, only for information purposes to anyone interested or still having problems with their PPI's.
For myself, I have read these posts and learned some interesting stuff, which I have seen before, but was not strict about, so I will be: raising my bed, not eating or drinking for 3 hours before bedtime, taking Gaviscon before bed, oh and eating regularly (another research tip, which supposedly helps your system to regulate acid production, as opposed to irregular eating which puts it out of sync!)
Good luck to anyone suffering these awful symptoms and I am always interested to hear anything that has helped anyone, whatever it is.
I had this happen.
I ate some food from a low class grocery store and It was "funny". Not funny Haha, but funny tasting. 20 minutes after eating it, I had acid reflux disease when I have mostly licked now. I was surprised, but I felt light headed too. I went to bed and NEVER woke up during the night.
I did wake up in the morning. I knew something was wrong right away because my lungs were on fire. The damage was long done when I finally woke up. I wondered why I never woke up during what had to be excrusiating pain. All I can say is the food poison must have knocked me out like a doctor did. and the damage was done.
I agree. It is the most painfull thing in the world. The only time I felt similar pain was when I was stabbed in 1973, and had open heart surgery to save my life. They would stick a plastic tube down my breathing tube and into both lungs untill it hit the bottom of my lungs and forced me to cough. That pain (coughing afte having your chest cut open,, sternum cut, and all the muscles in the way cut apart and then sewed bck up again? That is the same pain I felt when I inhaled some stomach acid. Makes me wonder if it happened to me in 1973 when they operated.
In any event, I have been working to get rid of my gerd and dependance on anti-acids. I have succeeded. I take nothing any more I used to take ranitidine all the time but I read that the idea of antiacids is wrong. The problem is not too much stomach acide but too little. If you have too little the body can't digest right and it makes more. If you supress with pills. It works.. but any chance the body get's it trys to crank up the acid to get the digestion back in sync.
I have been doing that and it's working for me. I eat small meals of many different kinds of things. That's part of the trick. The next part is NEVER EVER DO WHAT I DID. I know this. I have learned it the hard way for years. Listen to this.
I was 50-60 lbs overweight. I went on atkins in 2003 and lost 45 of those 55 lbs. It was easy. I had NO heartburn. I had NO stomach acid. I ate (for the first "induction" phase) only meat. I also ate fat. I ate as our fathers have for the last 1 million years. No sugar, not artificial fat (margerine) NO LOW FAT. Fat is required for body to be healthy and contrary to what we have been brainwashed into believeing fat in the diet (butter, meat with fat on it, etc...) does NOT instanly go from teh stomach and add it self to the middls of your stomach. No.. it gest burned for food, though rather inefficiently. I remember atkins book explained that only 13% of calories converted from fat to sugar (for energy to run the body) is available after the conversion process.. Ergo you eat 100 calories of fat and it only gives you 13 calories of sugar. If you keep all intake down and survive on that fat only, your body will melt the fat off magically. I lost exacly .4 lbs per day (point 4.. not four) So every 10 days I lost 4 lbs. in 100 days, I lost exaclty 40 lbs. I was sick of the diet but I kept it off. Still I learned a great deal doing that.
the biggest all time failure for me was (and sometimes still is) to eat something before bed. I found this out by walking my dog for 5 miles a day just before bed. I mean brisk walking. If I rushed it I could alomst do it in 1 hour. Usually 1:05 or 1:10 was average. The trick? Is that at the 45 minute point, I would not think anything, then suddenly I would burp. 2 or 3 times. I did it so many times I ignore dit bye eventually I realized that burp was the esophagus and or teh stomach was digesting it's contents. And I could feel it. I felt better, and I felt like my stomacn was pretty empty. I would then finish my walk, go home and go to bed. I was tired every night.
No antacids. no beta blockers. no PPI's. no noghitn. Just sleep
I have had that burp wait for over 1 hour and sometimes way faster like 25 minutes. In any case the trick is to go to bed on an empty stomach. You know like the old saying? We think just becaue they are old they are not true in this day of computers and everything else. No.. they are still true. Eat as much as you want, but walk for 1 hour, then go to bed. That's the trick. The rest is all window dressling and mis-information by the food industry (which are NOT your friends)
you have to walk fast. Put effort into it. No cheating. If you don't work hard, then you need to do it longer.
Anyone and everyone taking PPI'S (proton pump inhibitors ) to help /reduce stomach acidity /reflux /GERD etc., should seriously read up on WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE TOO LITTLE HCL ACID (stomach acid )....you will be shocked. ...all or most people that suffer with acid reflux /GERD has TOO LITTLE stomach acid, not too much acid.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH STOMACH ACID; 1.) food cannot be broken down properly or absorbed properly without enough stomach acid.
2.) When improperly digested /broken down food sits in your intestinal tract, IT FERMENTS.
3.) Fermentation causes EXCESSIVE GAS.
4.) Gas causes bloating /distention.
5.) Bloating /distention = IAP, which is INTRA ABDOMINAL PRESSURE!
6.) PRESSURE PUT ON THE LES (lower esophageal sphincter, the valve that opens and closes for food to go IN!) causes the valve to malfunction, thus opening when it shouldn't, allowing stomach acid to reflux upwards, where it does not belong. ...
ACID REFLUX IS CAUSED BY TOO LITTLE STOMACH ACID, NOT TOO MUCH!
please pass on this information if you feel so inclined. ..
Tracey. ..I suffered for far too many years with severe GERD. I've just become aware of this information and am going to adjust my life /diet /habits accordingly to get better.
Hi. I am suffering from this now. I am scared to go out and eat, embarrassed I'll cough the whole time. This just started. It's been a wk. I've had no sleep. I cough all night. I've been sitting up sleep, leaning on pillows. Does this stop
OMG..I just woke up and couldn't breathe...I thought I was going to die. I think I asperated mucus because I am still coughing it up out of my lungs. I hope this never happens again...This scares the bejeepers out of you. I take a prilosec every morning and antacids, but I really think it is sinus mucus....Anyone have any suggestions....thank you...
How did you get off the PPI? I have been on them for years and want to get off.
I wonder if perhaps your not accidentally inhaling saliva from the mouth while sleeping? I have a tendency to inhale stomach acid into the lungs and it is not something that goes away in a minute. It burns long & deep, causes awful breathing problems and you can taste the acid in the lungs and it burns like crazy!!! A lot of people have never really considered it or thought about it but most people do have a sense of taste in the bronchical tubes and lungs. To a lesser degree of your tongue but they are there. A good example is having a bad chest cold or lower respiratory infection and often times when it is bad and has been going on a bit one can actually taste how the mucous or production can get stagnet and nasty tasting. I can every time and usually it is worse in the morning because everything has just been sitting in the lungs all night. If a person inhales stomach acid into their lungs there is absolutely no mistaking it, you will have zero doubts! Not only will you taste how nasty it is but like with me the really bad burn sensation goes on for 1.5 to 3 hours. Even after 24 hours I can feel that I took a substantial burn. Also, when you cough and are trying to clear the lungs the pain increases because now that acid is continuing to get stirred around to many airway surfaces. It makes you not want to cough but you know you haft too! The nasty taste also increases as you cough. It is so important that the lungs get cleared asap!!! The longer the acid sits the greater the damage. You can get raw airway surfaces that bacteria can easily enter. There is also the risk of aspiratation pneumonia and this can be deadly! People with risk factors like auto immune diseases, poor health, immuno suppressant therapy, HIV and asplenia (lack of spleen function or those having under gone spleenectomy) are at greater risk of this! People having spleen problems or lacking one are naturally predisposed to contracting a pneumococcal virus anyway and keeping up to date with pneumovax every 5 years is a must! There is a new vaccine recently introduced, if you have not had it you need it at any time, first chance, asap regardless of the duration of the last pneumovax. I myself try and not eat to late and avoid foods that promote GERD problems and try to sleep in a reclined, not all the way flat position if I think I am going to have problems that evening. And of course ant acid medications.
Actually let me back up just a little bit. Perhaps your catching any acid inhalation promptly and with the first little introduction of it. This would explain why the burning only last for approx. a minute. I just don't see how a person could very much at all and not notice that awful, awful, awful, nasty taste! I think with me I have bouts of a reasonable amount of stomach gas leave the stomach and when it does a fair amount of acid comes up with it, basically like when your standing up and burp. Sometimes you can feel the acid come quite a ways up the esophagus. When your laying down and sleeping this problem dramatically worsens. I suspect the longer the lower esophageal sphincter is open or leaking the worse it is, probably tends to worsen with age for most without intervention.