Severe shortness of breath with GERD?

Elle Jay:

Did the inhalers seem to help you at all?

I do have asthma, get bronchitis often and have some scaring on my lungs as a result of a couple of episode of pneumonia years ago. After being rushed to the ER in Stridor a couple of weeks ago I was also diagnosed with LPR. There is a big difference between the shortness of breath that experience from my asthma or bronchitis and the LPR. The inhalers do help when it's a lung issue but obviously don't do didley squat if its LPR related.

Hi, I recently went to the hospital in November because of my shortness of breath and later went to see my doctor and she said I had an early stage of a stomach ulcer. She prescribed me with ranitidine for 2 months and the time is almost up and I still have horrible shortness of breath. I eliminated all acids, fats, caffeine and even dairy and it has helped with the acidity in my stomach but it's still a problem along with the breathing. I've noticed that drinking a lot of water helps (makes you burp) which helps. Also I used to have sleep apnea, randomly waking up because I felt like I wasn't breathing which was really scary for me. I started doing some research and that's how I stumbled upon this website. I really wish there is a cure for this shortness of breath because I can't even pay attention in my classes without breathing funny and panicking. I am only 20 yrs old I have no health issues except for this, I don't understand how GERD even starts. I'm just tired of being sick and I just want to go back to my normal routines. The only thing that has been helping is eating right but with small portions and eating all the time. All I have been drinking is water and soy milk which has also helped but if you guys have any other tips it would be greatly appreciated.

My lungs are clear at this time and I don't need to use my inhaler but I do get the Stridor. On the advice of my ENT I have temporarily given up alcohol, chocolate, carbonated beverages and caffeine and no longer eat 2 hours prior to bed time. He put me on omeprazole twice a day and on Friday I added DGL Licorice. I am also strongly considering trying Iberogast. I refuse to take the PPIs long term. I have enough problems with absorption due to Crohns, so there is no way I'm going to let long term PPI use screw up my body even more. I also don't think that living the rest of my life with this radical diet change is an option that I can be happy with. I just don't feel like western medicine offers good long term solutions for the treatment of GERD and LPR.

Yeah diet and exercise has helped a lot, along with relaxing when you feel out of breath.

Hi. I'm new here. I'm hoping for some relief from GERD/throat spasms. I had food poisoning over the summer (we think) for one night. But continued to vomit a few times a week. It gradually spaced out but was still vomiting a month later. When I ate it felt like food just sitting there. I had two stool tests and blood tests, and ultrasound with everything looking great. When my doctor returned to the country a month and a half after I began vomiting , he put me on Nexium and that cleared it up. I weaned off the Nexium but always had a post nasal drip. I got a cold and the congestion never went away, and I developed throat spasms where I couldn't swallow, breathe or talk for a few seconds. Scary. A little while later, doc put me back on Nexium and when that wasn't helping, Prevacid tablets which made my gut a mess and gave me diarrhea. I stopped them cold turkey a week and a half-two weeks ago. Bad move. I've been progressively getting worse to the point where two nights ago I was up all night. I'm a teacher and had to take off this week! I just would wake up unable to breathe when I would relax and fall asleep. Last night I was on my hands and knees praying after it happened again and when I went to bed, my stomach seemed to open up or something and I could sleep waking up every hour or so. I sleep sitting up, hardly eat anything, weigh 118 lbs, found cooked carrots and quinoa to be OK to eat and almond butter but not much else. I use Manuka honey and dgl, don't eat near bedtime, have an appt with a gastroenterologist in two days and still have trouble breathing from spasms in my throat sometimes (mostly when I eat), and also feel like an elephant is on my chest. I'm also drinking mag/cal citrate mixed with papaya juice. Any relief ideas would be great. Breathing is the biggest concern and the feeling of something in my throat which occasionally I feel leaving and I think it's phlegm.

The shortness of breath is probably the most frustrating side effect I had with GERD. I can deal with my throat burning and chest pain and all the other junk but dang it a person needs to breathe!

My inhalers (a fast acting one and a steroid) were helpful for a while but ended up not being very beneficial. There were many times I thought I had a lung infection that turned out to be acid getting into my lungs causing them to try to fight off the "infection" that didn't exist. Inhalers do nothing for those situations... though I think I was able to breathe a little easier when I used them just because I thought it helped.

Good luck.

Sorry about typos. My phone covers my message as I type and I can't proofread easily.

I saw an allergist who told me the LES muscle wasn't working correctly. He took me off the Flonase that the ENT put me on and put me on Dymista, corticosteroid AND antihistamine spray. I slept last night! The throat spasms happened maybe once today and yesterday as opposed to throughout the day. YAY! I'm taking Nexium 2x a day. He said that won't help the reflux but it will help the overall problem I guess. My throat is enflamed and I have a tremendous amount of phlegm he said and the ENT also said. So, hopefully in time and with lots of prayers, everything will work again properly. Maybe Dymista can help you guys?

Hi I have been going through this stuff for so long but this episode has been the worst!
First off I have GERD and I have a sliding hiatal hernia and a long history of h-pylori which never wants to leave. I get serious bloating and acid and horrible palpitations and chest pain. The bloating gets to the point of me looking pregnant. about 2 years ago the bloating was so bad it was causing severe shortness of breath and palpitations. I was sent to a cardiologist and they did the whole work up stress test, echo and even a heart cath...all was normal, then sent to a gastroenterologist who did a endoscopy and stomach emptying test also that breathing test to see if i had small intestine bacteria overgrowth (which was positve). My stomach emptied normal but did have h-pylori AGAIN and he said i also had a large hiatal hernia...but said to take gas pills and prilosec and that's it. The symptoms went away about a week later. This time for the past week the shortness of breath and chest pains are ridiculous, went to urgent care since i had just had leg surgery was nervous maybe had a blood clot or was scared i was having a heart attack. Nobody unless it happens to them can understand the fear you get when you start having chest pain, but I had ekg, troponin levels checked, dopple ultrasound of my legs a chest ct scan and a ton of other blood work...all normal. So here i am still with the chest pain and shortness of breath, can this all really be GERD? Has anyone else had the chest pain for like 10 days? Does anybody have any ideas or similar stories that might calm me down :( any help would be amazing!

I am experiencing the same problems. Can anyone tell me if your symptoms have been resolved.

Ok, I am new and have been reading all of these posts. As you have all said, it is so good to not be alone with this problem. I am writing for my hubby, who is at this minute taking a nap. He has always had heartburn issues, and last year started taking prilosec, daily. Several months ago, he started loosing his voice, and developed a severe cough and breathing problem. He is an asthmatic, so he figured that was the breathing problem. He has been living on OTC meds this whole time trying to guess what he can do to make this all stop. My husband refuses to go to a doctor. It has been 35 years!! Finally,he felt so bad that we actually went to an urgent care. They took his temp, bp, and chest xray and said he has walking pneumonia. They gave him an inhaler, prednisone and another pill to clear up the pneumonia. Now, his cough is getting better. but his voice is totally gone, he cannot sleep at night and he is in pain around his shoulders. I figured the pain is from coughing for 10 months.

He really does not want to go to another doctor, and we have no insurance, so I appreciate all you are sharing. You think a GI doc would be the best? He was pretty sick as a kid with asthma, so he does not like doctors.

If anyone could give me some help, it would be deeply appreciated. I am not sure how this posting works, but if someone could email me that would be great. [email protected]

Sandy