# Aspiration and GERD



## 20285 (May 31, 2005)

Hello everybody. I was wondering if anybody here has ever experienced aspiration of stomach acid or food into their lungs during the night while sleeping? I have had it happen a few times in the past, but I had a particularly bad episode last night and my lungs feel irritated today. By irritated I mean slightly asthmatic and congested. I had some gurgling this morning in my lungs, but that seems to have cleared up. It has always gotten better in the past and I assume it's going to get better this time. However, I want to know if this is unusual for people suffering with GERD (and in my case sleep apnea). Am I alone with this particular issue (aspiration)? Is there anything I can do to help heal the damage that has been done after this episode? Any insight and support would be greatly appreciated.Thanks,Armen


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## 19272 (May 13, 2005)

Hi Armen, good to know someone is the same as me. I have had a cough for three months now, because the acid is getting into my lungs. I wake up choking sometimes, cos of it. I am waiting for another endoscopy at the moment. I had two, two years ago and have been taking 30 mgs of zoton (lanzoprazole)since then. Now its stopped working so they upped my dose by 15 mgs, but my G.P. said thats too much med. I also get sore throats because of the acid and my sinuses get full of acid, which makes my nose run. Does anyone else get these symptoms? My brother died at 33 years old with oesophagus cancer, so I am really worried about the future. Vanessa.


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## 20285 (May 31, 2005)

Vanessa, I'm so sorry to hear that you're going through so much. As you know from your family history, it is CRITICAL to keep the acid erosion from the reflux down. do you sleep with a wedge underneath your bed? do you have any other aggravating conditions like sleep apnea? I found that my reflux varies directly with the level of my sleep apnea. Also, are you overweight? I am and that is about 90% of my problem. By all circumstances, take care to eliminate all of the other variables that may be making your situation worse (i.e. weight, apnea, time of your last meal relative to your sleeping time, portion size of all of your meals, position that you sleep in at night, etc). See if any of these work before increasing meds. Best of luck to you. Armen


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

Armen,Have you tried out a CPAP? I combined apnea, GERD, D, overweight, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In 1998 I began to take control over my health problems. Flavonoid supplementation stopped the GERD, D, and cholesterol problems, CPAP and vitamin therapy stopped the apnea and related exhaustion. Free of these problems I was able to take on weight with diet and exercise which has led to normalization of my bp.At no point did any of this involve sleeping positions, severe dietary changes, or meds. I have now turned 60 and am looking forward to my last years, as opposed to thinking life was almost over.Mark


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## 20285 (May 31, 2005)

Wow Mark!!! Thank you so much for the post. My weight is at the root of EVERYTHING. I am on my way to getting that under control with dietary changes and exercise. I will look into flavenoids... any resources on the web or in books that could shed some more light on the topic?I have a CPAP and have tried it twice with poor results because the mask was uncomfortable. I just bought a new mask that my friend uses with great reviews and will be giving the CPAP another shot.As far as the aspiration goes, have you ever experienced it before... i.e. waking up in the night with the feeling that you just inhaled some stomach acid and then coughing and irritation to follow? I feel like I'm alone on this and I just want some confirmation that others have had similar experiences.Thanks again!!!


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

http://ibsgroup.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/76110261/m/42310453That pretty well sums up what happened to me and what I have been able to determine about why.As far as aspiration, no, fortunately. I was on the beginning edge of developing reflux-- mostly it was just day long indigestion at that point--when I lucked into the flavonoid supplementation. In the end, the fact that that burning stomach disappeared and I have never had another case of reflux points to the success of this for me.If you think you would like to give it a try or learn about some useful tools for weightloss, drop me an e-mail.Best of luck with all of this. I know it can be beaten.Markmsprague2002###yahoo.ca


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## 19272 (May 13, 2005)

Hi Armen. Thanks for your concern and advice. I am a stone oveweight and in the past my weight did seem to make gerd worse. I have just lost over one stone but it hasnt made any difference. I do all the things you suggested. i.e. bed raised, small meals etc. Nothing seems to help. I find it impossible to eat a big meal, it makes me vomit. I tried to do without my second tablet last night, I was up half the night coughing. I havenever heard of this flavanoid thing some of you have mentioned. Where do you get it what form does it come in. I live in England. Vanessa


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

Hi Vanessa,The Provex is made by a customer marketed company that does have offices in Manchester. If you write me I can send you the phone number and a way to test it out for a couple of months with a money-back guarantee. Since there is no clinical work on Provex and GERD, this ability to get your money back at least makes trying it less problematical. (Since this is very important, around here, I will not make any commission from this as you are not in North America.)Mark


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