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Is this GERD? Irritation inhaling exhaling

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Posted 4/21/2015 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all.

I have had zero symptoms of Gerd my entire life. I'm 40. No problem swallowing, no pain, no throat symptoms whatsoever. No heartburn. No reflux.

An ENT happened to look down my throat with a nasopharyngeal scope last month though and said "it looks really bad down there". Prescribed me 20mg Prilosec 2x a day for a month.

I didn't fill it immediately but (coincidentally?) two weeks later I started getting this irritation / inflammation in my throat when inhaling and exhaling. No tightness. No phlegm. Totally dry. Clear airflow. But it felt cold. Like the tissue in my airway was inflamed and sensitive to air passing over it. And I would need to cough.

I constantly feel like I am about to develop pneumonia or bronchitis, but it never seems to go there. I cough a lot more when I try to talk to people.

So I started the Prilosec thinking maybe coincidentally I'm developing the "GERD cough". But I'm fine at night. The irritated breathing symptoms go away. But when I'm up and about they come back. It's very hard to describe.

Feels like hollow breathing right down the center of my throat into center chest. Feels inflamed / irritated as I inhale / exhale. And it has now been going on for over a month. I don't have to cough but
coughing is a natural reaction because I want to cough something up and clear it. But it's completely dry.

I went on the Prilosec. In fact it was AFTER starting it that I began to have GERD symptoms!!! And the breathing / coughing issue did not go away when I started it. I fear this stupid drug is screwing all kinds of other things up that weren't broken in the first place and I'll be dependent on it forever now.

Does this strange inflamed inhaling/exhaling sensation in the very center of the upper throat (right around the indentation and just below) sound familiar to anyone with GERD ? I've tried steroid inhaler and it hasn't helped.

Post Edited (HealingBurger) : 4/21/2015 8:21:28 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/21/2015 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
I had an irritated throat and an odd dry cough when my GERD symptoms first started up. For me those symptoms have decreased after taking PPIs for a few months.

Not sure I recognize the irritated breathing specifically though. Bring it up with your doctor!
Posted 4/21/2015 9:36 PM (GMT 0)
Yes most definitely does sound very familiar to me. My gerd cough started out as a very dry irritated cough, I thought I was juts getting a virus but it persisted for months and months along with chest pain globes and throat clearing. For the first few weeks my cough was like yours very dry and nothing would be coughed up. Everything set my cough off cold air, warm air, laughing, anything slightly scented, smoking, eating cold food you name it it would make me cough and exactly the same as you just taking a breath would set me off. I kept trying to describe it the doctors and could only describe that everything in my upper chest felt swollen and irritated and like I was really having to force to get air in it out. I got really down about it and like you had a steroid inhaler which took the edge off it after a few weeks but still left with persistent cough. I had the nissen performed and the cough decreased by about another 20% but now my cough and chest feel like I have a small amount of mucus not like when you have infection... It's different its terrible in the morning. cut a long story short I'm waiting for a redo nissen and hoping that it diets it out this time if it doesn't it's back to the resiratory consultant. Please keep us posted it helps to hear from others who have the same set of symptoms. Hope you find some relief soon.
Posted 6/15/2015 7:08 AM (GMT 0)
Just wanted to update on this. Since it was requested. I guess I should clarify, I didn't really have to cough. It was just an inflamed tickle. I finally found a discussion about it online. Everybody was describing it as kind of a "cold" menthol sensation when you inhale. Others called it a peppermint sensation. If that's all it was, it would be no big deal. But it tends to feel like a serious chest infection after some time. It can really wear you down and make you feel like you're sick even if you're not.

So I started taking 40 mg Prilosec and that knocked it out immediately. Unfortunately Prilosec also knocks out the natural mucus production that protects your stomach and esophagus. This resulted in some extremely uncomfortable side effects for me. Including horribly dry eyes. I also immediately started getting severe muscle cramps because the stuff does not allow you to digest important minerals that your body needs like magnesium and potassium. So I began tapering my dose extremely slowly. Dropping from 40 mg to 20 mg. And then slowing down much more. If you're going to come off of Prilosec, you have to do it very slowly.

I have found that I had to drop it by no more than 5 mg every two or three weeks. Or else I would get a reflex increase in acid production. After two solid months I am now down to 13 mg and will continue that for three weeks before I consider dropping to 10 mg. I hate this drug, and I hate what it does to the body. But there really is no other recourse for healing the esophagus.
Posted 6/17/2017 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
Healing burger..i feel I have something similar. Does this sound like what you had? Basically right above my chest in my throat (below my Adams apple in the indentation) it just feels irritated with every single breath. Sometimes it's so irritated it triggers a cough involuntarily, other times it just feels.like a strong urge to cough. Sometimes I feel it down into my chest. It seems worse after meals and goes away totally at night. It does feel like there's some mucus or something there too and does feel a littl3 "cold" as you put it. I know you described your situation above but just wanted to see if what I'm saying also rings a bell. It's basically every single breath I feel it (and it seems to be ok In the morning for abit). How long did it take for the prilosec to work, and does my situation sound similar? Anything you can add would be great.
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