reflux and asthma breathing problems

By Pam Wednesday, January 21, 2009

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I hope someone can help me. For the last year and a half I have had this horrible silent reflux, asthma vocal cord problem. I started right after my twin sister and her daughter died. I have a terrible time breathing - it is triggered (daily) by food, or exertion, and sometimes it just comes suddenly, for reasons I can't idientify.

I have had xrays, endoscopy, colonoscopy. "up the nose down the throat" test, barium swallow tests and all looik fine. They say I have a reflux and that it is aggravated by grief, anxiety etc. It is better than it was but I am still plagued every day. I can sleep fine, and althhough I have trouble breathing well enough to get to sleep, I am fine once I get there.

Almost as soon as I put food in my mouth I will start to wheeze. and it is difficult to enjoy eating.

Has anyone ever had this problem? I have tried Zigerid, Prylosec,Zantac and others and while it helps sometimes, other times it makes it worse. I heard that at my age (64) it is more likely you have less acid than you need and to take Betaine (hydrochloric acid) . have tried that and it helps sometimes. It all boils down to making the right guess at what the breathing problem is at that moment and if I guess wrong it is worse.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Comments (3) | Add comment

Kathi MacNaughton, Health Pro

2/ 1/09 2:19pm

Hi Pam... I'm not clear from what you wrote if anyone has told you that reflux and asthma are closely related, and each can make the other worse. It sounds as though you are being treated for the reflux, but maybe not the asthma. If the GERD treatment alone is not controlling your breathing problems, then you may also need to take asthma medication.

But first, you need to get an asthma diagnosis, if you don't have one. So, talk with your doctor and ask about the feasibility of seeing a pulmonologist, a respiratory specialist.

To your health,

Kathi

Tiffany

5/11/09 3:34am

hello

i have suffered with the same problems for the last 8 years and unfortunately it has not gotten better sometimes i fear it is getting worse. i have acid reflux badly and take 2 tablets of losec each day and i also suffer from severe asthma and i am only 24 years old. i currently take symbicort 250mg 2 puffs 2 times daily atrivent and salbutamol, and it is still not under contol i understand what you mean when you say you dont enjoy eating i have the same problem, it is a struggle to eat sleep or be awake for me, and i have been to numerous doctors and the firestone clinic for respiratory health in hamilton ontario and still have not been able to get it under control. I have also suffered from a deviated septum and could not smell or breathe out of my nose for 5 years, 2 years ago i had surgery to have it corrected because the doctors thought that might have contirbuted to my breathing problems, well unfortunately although it did help with my breathing in and out of my nose and smelling and tasting things it did nothing to improve my asthma. So unfortunately I cannot really offer you and cures or suggestions but i can hopefully give you comfort in knowing that there is someone else out there who knows just how you feel and can sympathize with you, I am still looking for something to help me and wish you the best in finding something to help you, and should i find anything or hear of any information that may be benefitial to you i will let you know take care, all the best.

sincerely : sympathetic asthma suffer.

Anonymous

8/ 2/09 5:05am

this is for the original poster and the other person suffering .I also have had similar problems ,the asma only comes when the reflux or digestion is bad or it may trigger the ashma ,i have just taken betain hcl which is meant to help reflux ,maybe i took too much and my breathing is not so good after .i think its the acid ,or too much of it .try to eat alkaline foods rather than acid forming foods ,you can find charts on the net ,keep the acid down as much as poss ,also the greif ,anger stress etc make s more acid ,organic apple cider vinigar can help also .diluted is probably best i take it staight.keep away from coffeee and tea exept herbals etc ,as far as emotional stress try to do some meditation ,things like that to deal with greif etc very important ,i had a scan recently and they found a hatial hernia which apparently is common ,at least its helping me to get to the bottom of all these symtoms .Good luck ,any other ideas please post

reflux and asthma breathing problems

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