I am a male in his 40s that has had awful acid reflux for about 10 years now. I've had all of the symptoms described in this theead with pain in the chest, shortness of breath, raspiness, stuffiness, etc. I have used most of the available drugs and tried all the holistic supplements, books, and therapies (AC vinegar, lemon water, probiotics, etc). I've also had all of the tests and gone to the ER multiple times thinking I was having a heart attack, shortness of breath, etc..
This can be a scary condition because many times we don't know what's happening and the tests come back negative and the doctors say it's just stress and diet. Easy fix right? Nothing to be worried about? Great! Wrong. It's very hard to relieve the symptoms if you have it bad and you have to try a lot of things until you find what works for you. I've found doctors have a limited toolbox and don't seem to connect the dots or fully understand the sometimes brutal difficulties of this condition.
After a lot of trial and error working with my Gastro Interologist, what works for me is to raise the top of my bed 4-6 inches with wooden 2 x 4s (Home Depot). Those with breathing issues should notice relief within days. I also take OTC famotodine (Zantac, Pepcid family- usually one before breakfast) and omeprazole (Nexium, Prilosec family- 40 mg daily) The Zantac/ Pepcid is fast acting for immediate relief while the Nexium/Prilosec is slower acting and works all day. I also take Tums whenever symptoms come on and a daily probiotic (be careful as some can aggravate your reflux). Diet is also extremely important. For good results quit coffee/hot chocolate, and soda (any brown liquid). Also limit alcohol (particularly wine) and stop smoking. Limit or stop eating chocolate, citrus (lemons, oranges, etc). tomatoes (sauce, salsa, etc), and spicy food. Limit sugar and carbs. These are the main contributors to reflux for me. Within a month of taking these steps (including raising my bed) I felt a lot better, it was literally night and day and worth it. I can breath better, have far less raspiness, sinus and ear stuffiness, and chest pain. I'm also at a point in my healing where I am slowly reintroducing some of the foods I've given up but have to keep a careful watch over any flare-ups or return symptoms. It's been incredibly challenging but if I can feel better so can you.
To nikki683, when you have asthma, you don't necessarily have heartburn. I have asthma and sometimes it's just tough to breath and I have a slight cough, yet other times it seems as though I can't get the breath in and I start wheezing and I have a "walrus" cough. On rare occasions my chest starts to burn, but only after running. I don't have too terribly strong of an asthma problem, but I do know the feeling.
Oh, and if you found out whether or not it was acid reflux, I do hope you get better. : )
I have the same thing and was told to take Zantac by my allergist and it really seemed to help. Another kinda quirky trick that I've tried is try rolling your belly/belly wave like a belly dancer, like ten or more times, for some reason this helps me. It's weird I know, but for some reason it helps.
john46281 and others I'm going through it too. Shortness of breath for over 6 weeks now. Tried natural, DGL, Apple Cider, none helped. Had CT scans of neck, chest, stomach. Saw ENT doc who diagnosed LPR. GI doc put me on 40 mg
Omeprazole for a week, then up it to 80mg (40 2 x day). Globus sensation, hoarse voice, and chest tightness improved but I cant shake these asthma symptoms. Still get short of breath after meals, if I talk too much.... Hopefully we an share what helps to help others because doctors seem to be grasping straws.
Charron, hopefullly by now you are better. What I do not see mentioned here is LPR , layrngealpharyngeal reflux. It goes by other names as well. You can have GERD and LPR . The difference is that LPR is silent. The reflux pain is not presented in symptoms. Maybe 20% of those with LPR present the reflux. The major symptoms are more like a sinus issue. Constant clearing of the throat, sore throat, hoarseness, sinus pain and pain that radiates to the ear , usually the right ear. Blocking ear with pressure in the face. Globus..Feeling like something is stuck in your throat and sometimes in the center of your chest. Most people think they have a sinus infection. The acid shoots up from the upper part of your esophagus which makes it way into your sinus tract and into your ear or ears. Anxiety comes from the feeling of having difficulty breathing. Most people with GERD and LPR have respiratory issues like bronchitis or asthma..I have had this on and off for over 10 yrs. I have both but the predominent one is LPR. The coughing to dislodge the mucous in your throat can cause you to have a bronchospasm. You gag and can vomit. It creates SOB of course cause you can not get enough air into your lungs. I was on Prilosec and Zantac for over 4 yrs. I finally went off them as the side effects like low magnesium and low B12, weakens your bones. I thought as well that I was getting rebound effect from the meds. That will happen if you are on medication long enough. You get what you are trying to get rid of from the medication. I have recently started again with this. It can be very depressing and cause a lot of anxiety. Exercise and not eating after a certain time does help. Keeping your weight down and not laying down after a meal helps. I also found that taking Melatonin 2mg at night helps to close the lower esophageal spincter which allows it to stay closed and not have acid shooting up your throat. There are so many other symptoms to this condition ...Normally GI docs do not even treat it. I worked with a GI doc and they never heard of it. Strange. Usually an ENT will identify what it is before a GI will. Follow the LPR boards and you will see you are not alone. It can get better for sure. I had it bad the first time for about 1 mo or so. Then it went away for several yr. Came with with a vengence and had it for 4 yrs...That was the worst cause it created other issues for me with anxiety and panic attacks. You are on the corrrect meds. I also use a mucous thinner when its really bad and that helps. If you ever hear a crackling when you are laying down and breathing that is the mucous that is stuck in your throat. That constant need to clear your throat creates all this other stuff. I hope you have found wellness since you wrote your post. This is just another option if no one has brought it up that it could possibly be.
I notice that laying down on my stomach in general helps. I tend to get very bloated, can't breathe and my anxiety climbs. Laying on my stomach pushes my bloated belly in and I get the sensation of it moving in and out back. Without lying on my stomach I get no belly movement because it is just bloated. Sometimes I can just push against my bloated stomach with my hands when standing or sitting and breath to get a normal sensation without laying down.
Hi just my 2 cents but it makes sense that your gerd got worse after 10 day fast because your detoxying your body and symptoms get worse before they get better.... Lots of stuff losening and coming out of your system.... Don't stop juicing it gets better all the best
I'm going through the same thing as I write this..I have had gird for some time now. Last Friday while going up 2 flights of stairs I notice I was a lot winded once I reached the top. I also notice this on Saturday as well. On Monday I felt like I was coming down with a cold, stuffy nose, sore throat and sneezing. The next day I notice that walking from my car to my office I could barley catch my breath. The next day I went to the doctor and he really didn't know what was going on. He prescribe cipro,medrol pack and some cough syrup, took blood work check oxygen level and sent me for chest Xrays. On Friday I went to urgent care because I still could not breath after taken about 10 steps. While waiting to see the doctor my regular Dr calls and said that all of my test came back normal but the chest Xrays shows a slightly enlarge heart and to call him on Tuesday for more testing. In the mean time I still can't breath. So I see the Dr and he does another chest xrays and say that he sees nothing. He tell me to keep taking the meds my Dr gave and he gave me a pump to help with the breathing because he said I have a bad case of bronchitis. As of today reading this article I am still a Lil short if breath but only on excertion. I took one of my wanted 300 mg because yesterday I felt my acid reflux build up.bi should be taking it every day. Moving forward I will be taking it every day.... the pump did help open the airways and clear the some chest congestion. I'm still coughing a Lil so I'm also taking mucinex for chest congestion as well.
Hi. I am also a male in my 40's and suffer with acid reflux. I take 40mg pantoprazole once daily and it helps but lately I have been having difficulty while sleeping... Actually it's more like difficulty going to sleep. I beleive my breathing becomes very shallow and I wake up needing to take a deep breath followed by the need to swallow. Sometimes I can't swallow for a moment and it makes me panick. This can happen 50 or more times and eventually I do somehow fall alseep and can stay asleep for the night. I have researched various types of sleep apnea and their causes but it's hard to make a connection to acid reflux except that it can cause shallow breathing. The fact that although lately it's been every damn night that I go through this, I have found that it's worse when I'm feeling heartburn or have a tight chest. I have seen a few doctors and they tell me my heart is fine. Has anyone had these types of sleep issues?
I am also a GERD patient for 4-5 years I think and I always go back to my Gastro doctor many times in a year. I have experienced all the symptoms related to this disease and have taken different kinds of medicine such as Omeprazole, Pariet, Dexilant from once a day to 2x a day. That's on and off depending on the occurrence of my GERD. Sometimes I also experience panic attacks and tingling in my left arm or right arm. My gastro said that it's because of anxiety. It makes sense because whenever my GERD flares up, I panic and think of a lot of things like having a serious disease or if this doesn't have any cure at all, stuffs like that. I got tired actually and recently I realized that this disease is mainly triggered by STRESS!! I'll stress that out, it's all about Stress friends. I realized that back last December 2017, when my GERD flared up for a couple of months and I was about to do a PH test procedure (research it online )which will cost me a large amount of money. It was suggested by my Gastro since the medicines are not working for me. Since there was no available equipment yet that time, I had to wait and I had the opportunity to go out of town with some friends. We stayed there for 3 days and it was literally relaxing and enjoying. I got nothing to think about. My GERD did not flare up that time. Then when we went back home and got to work, my GERD flared up again. I have food restrictions and I follow it mind you. I do not eat spicy food, anything with tomato, dairy or with wheat. I noticed that the difference was that I was stressed at work.
Whenever I feel stressed, symptoms of acid reflux and belching occurs. As I mentioned, GERD can also cause panic attacks due to anxiety. My gastro suggested to get a small brown bag, put the opening in front of your mouth while holding it and start breathing in and out. The air should not come out as you need to breathe in the carbon dioxide. After noticing a few days, I also decided to check for yoga exercises online to calm my body and do some breathing exercises together with it. And it was EFFECTIVE! I noticed that when I calm myself and do some simple yoga and breathing exercises (deep breathe in and breath out a couple of times), the GERD symptoms go away. It was amazing. Since then, I did not have GERD symptoms anymore and I'm not taking any medicine for it. Thank God!
Try it and notice the difference. Do some breathing exercise (you may use the brown bag exercise) until you are finally calm and your symptoms will go away.
PS. Continue to avoid food restrictions like spicy food and milk and tomato.
I hope that this helps you somehow. Let me know if it works for you too.
Please let us know how you are doing and if there are any more lessons learned. Any luck with one ppi or h2 inhibitor over another. Seems like folks are liking dexilant for LPR. Any luck with aloe or Manuka honey? My story:
I had cold/flu 3 months ago. Afterwards i had shortness of breath, chest tightness, raw/irritated feeling in the chest, hoarse voice, throat clearing for months. I tried all the asthma medicine, two different antibiotics, two rounds of prednisone treatment, blood work for various pulmonary issues, various respirometry studies, chest x-ray, chest CT, chest CT angiogram (for blood clots), ekg, echocardiogram. I worked with my GP and a pulmonologist. All tests were negative. My blood oxygen was always normal. My shortness of breath kept getting worst and was so bad that I ended up going to ER. At that point my chest was also burning. The nurse practioner and the ER doctor said I have GERD. I was told to take 40 mg of protonix in the morning and 40 mg pepcid ac in the evening and follow the diet and life style change. Right after ER i went to see an ENT because i read about LPR but the ENT said he didn’t see any damage of reflux (from the endoscopy) and said go to a gastro. He was surprised that i was there to see him due to shortness of breath. Shouldn’t he have done a Pepcid test on my salvia? After 2 weeks on the PPIs and H2 blockers i felt a little better, the hoarse voice and cough went away. Chest irritation/raw feeling/chest burning went away. Breathing improve 30-40%, throat clearing perisited. But I also started feeling slight heartburn, and acid taste i mouth and in back of throat. I went to a gastro at UCLA. But gastro was not sure, didn’t agree with GERD diagnoses from ER since i didn’t have GERD before and GERD is chronic and doesn’t just creep up. She said it was possible that i inflamed my asaphogus but would need endoscopy and ph bravo test to study me. She said assuming it was my asophugus, it would take 6-8 weeks to heal under the medication. To do the endoscopy i would have to be off the medicine for one week so I just scheduled it for a month from now. I have been on the meds for 4 weeks now and my breathing is 50-60% better but hoarse voice came back, have sore/irritated throat and stuffy nose for 4 days now, throat clearing still there, occasional choking for no reason. If my asophogus was inflamed why would I be clearing my throat, have a sore throat and have a hoarse voice? Shouldn’t this be from the Pepcin as my stomach acid should be neutralized by 4 weeks of PPIs and H2 blockers? Wondering if I need to increase or change PPIs or see an ENT that knows more about LPR? Any input would be appreciated.
Charron, I hope they were able to properly diagnose you. I, too have been dealing with VERY similar issues and it's very scary!! Please keep us posted!
Hi dean, I suffer with similar symptoms and have been diagnosed with silent reflux from my GP. I have been prescription omerperozle and take 2 a day. Just a quick question how long did it take you to get rid of the symptoms and do you have any hints and tips to help the shortness of breath because it’s worrying me. Thanks
I started having problems with shortness of breath a month ago. It was mild to begin with but then became so bad that I couldn't do anything except sit or lie down. I went on a strict acid reflux diet and am taking Gaviscon at night before bed. For the past two days I feel that my breathing is normal again and I'm able to be physically active once more. However, I wouldn't say that my acid reflux is cured. I still have the sinus issues and notice in the morning that I wake some days with a slightly burning sensation at the back of my throat. I'm still waiting for my ENT appointment and will know more then about how bad things are.
Hi Alan, sorry to here about your breathing difficulties. It’s really hard to live a normal life. I am doing somewhat better maybe 60 to 70% better from my low. My endoscopy and biopsy came back negative so I was ready to check in to the psiachiatric ward . But my 4 day Bravo pH test came back positive (too much acid pH<4 in esophugus). So my gastro increased my ppi dose to 40 mg 2xday and we switched to nexium. I also went to see an ENT/Larygologist specialist (only two like this at UCLA) because I did not understand why i could not breath. If it was asthma then I should have got relief from steroids and inhalers and should of failed resporometry and had low blood oxygen but never did. He said that I had Vocal Cord Disfunction likely caused by GERD. He saw no LPR evidence. The only treatment for that is voice therapy (beside treating for GERD) which I am scheduled for in 4 weeks (very hard to get in). I looked up exercises on you tube and found purses lips exercises that help a little. Last week my gastro also prescribed medication for hypersensitivity,
low dose desipramine as she believed that is causing my issues since i am on such a high dose of PPIs. I understand this is consistent how dr Kaufman treats breathing issues with LPR. So I am doing a little better now not sure if it is the double dose of PPIs, the breathing exercises or the desiprsmine.
I am in Ventura County California just north of LA. I am glad asthma medicine is helping you. I would think you are also taking PPIs twice per day and H2 blockers once per day for LPR. Non of the inhailers or steroids did anything for me. I found that most doctors including ENTs and Pulminologist do not know much about LPR and the symptoms including Asthma and VCD. My pulmonologist has no clue about silent reflux or forgot until i told him, Lol. That’s why I ended up going to UCLA.