Can GERD cause trouble breathing? Burps getting stuck?

Very similar to me, I have reflux and bloating issues, have been on Omeprazole on and off for when it's extreme, but mostly I find Gaviscon Advance is the most helpful medication. I had an endoscopy which showed borderline esophagitis too, although I don't have heartburn that much, but strangely my tongue and mouth gets burnt pretty badly daily. But, like you, I had similar worries with bloating. It became so intense that there was too much gas being forced out when burping, it felt as if I was choking and unable to breathe.

The only thing that helped with this was massage. Sometimes it was obvious where the build up of gas was coming from, whereas other times it took a little longer to find the right area to press on / massage.

Obviously it's a viscous cycle as it's hard to stay calm when it happens, which just makes breathing more difficult, but I did find forcing myself to relax more helped when it happened, knowing that as unpleasant as it was, it would pass once I was able to force the gas out.

If you haven't used any massage before to help with this, there's probably not any specific rule to how to do it. You don't need to press too forcefully, just try and get some movement into different areas of the esophagus (and / or abdomen too). Also, I have always found it helpful to keep my fingers pushed down for a moment, once I found the area where the build up of gas was affecting me, and relax my throat to let it come out naturally.

My severe choking episodes lasted around a few weeks, and I was probably more worried because I had also like you already been suffering with reflux for a few years without experiencing this. I still have occasional instances, but I'm 99% sure that the massage helped improve it for me, so just thought I'd share that with you.

Forgot to say... I don't have personal experience with Lanzopeazole, but I do know that some medications make bloating worse. I've tried some before which do this, although I can't remember names right now. This wasn't what caused my choking episodes to start, but as you've recently changed meds, it could be what started it for you.

Well, all I can say is; my symptoms are also very specifically left sided, and I know that reflux is what is causing them as I have visual evidence from the burns on my tongue, along with the only triggers for worsening of those other symptoms being dietary ones (what I eat and when I eat), or lying down. So, can reflux cause symptoms like yours? Yes. Have I found any doctor that will investigate why my symptoms are specifically left sided, or what the underlying cause would be for this to happen? Or why am I experiencing symptoms such as breathing difficulties, when reflux is only normally associated with esophageal problems, or more central bowel issues? No. It's been 3 and a half years since I became severely ill with reflux, so I don't hold out any hope that I will find one. Even with the breathing issues... I developed bruise-like markings and telangiectasia on my chest around the outline of my lungs, because of how much damage was being done, but this still wasn't enough to convince anyone of links to reflux.

Of course, for you it could be simply a build up of gas and there being too much getting pushed out with your burps that makes it hard to breathe. Bloating can involve a LOT of trapped gas, and the esophagus is a small space. And again, it could be your recent change of meds, as I've had some that gave me insane amounts of bloating. But, if you're worried about having breathing issues when this isn't happening... have you read anything about LPR? Admittedly, it's more to do with throat symptoms, which you haven't mentioned, and I don't have either... but it does talk about how reflux can be aspirated into the airways. The reasons why reflux causes damage in the esophagus is because it doesn't have the protective lining as the stomach does. This damage is intensified even more in other areas. Even if it's a smaller amount of reflux, as being aspirated means that it's being changed from any kind of liquid form that comes up from the stomach. If it gets into airways and who knows where else, it can lead to devastating effects on those parts of the body.

Without the medics themselves having the knowledge, it can be so hard to work anything out. But as I said at the beginning, I know that I have a reflux disorder and that my symptoms are a cause of this reflux, and my symptoms like yours are also in strange places.