Inhaling acid whilst asleep - Acid Reflux

What a relief to finally find I'm not the only one suffering from this. It's bloody terrifying. I thought I was a goner last night.

I am sorry to hear you have this too, but I am also suffering with these same symptoms. I wake up all of a sudden with horrible burning in my throat& sternum area, my lungs & throat feel like they are on FIRE, and because of whatever has happened I am wheezing horribly. Nothing seems to stop the burning in my throat! I gargle and rinse my mouth and drink milk, even have tried leaning my head back so the milk can get it to the burning , but it doesn't help! How DO you deal with this hell? Mine is still pretty rare, only once every few months, but the horrible burning last for at least an hour if not longer each time ! I have notice that after one of these episodes, my lungs hurt and coughing sounds very rattling for at least a few days, sometimes to the point I feel I need to go to the doctor . Are your symptoms that bad? What do you do to stop the BURNING??? Please help if possible !

Anyone and everyone taking PPI'S (proton pump inhibitors ) to help /reduce stomach acidity /reflux /GERD etc., should seriously read up on WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE TOO LITTLE HCL ACID (stomach acid )....you will be shocked. ...all or most people that suffer with acid reflux /GERD has TOO LITTLE stomach acid, not too much acid.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH STOMACH ACID; 1.) food cannot be broken down properly or absorbed properly without enough stomach acid.

2.) When improperly digested /broken down food sits in your intestinal tract, IT FERMENTS.

3.) Fermentation causes EXCESSIVE GAS.

4.) Gas causes bloating /distention.

5.) Bloating /distention = IAP, which is INTRA ABDOMINAL PRESSURE!

6.) PRESSURE PUT ON THE LES (lower esophageal sphincter, the valve that opens and closes for food to go IN!) causes the valve to malfunction, thus opening when it shouldn't, allowing stomach acid to reflux upwards, where it does not belong. ...

ACID REFLUX IS CAUSED BY TOO LITTLE STOMACH ACID, NOT TOO MUCH!

please pass on this information if you feel so inclined. ..

Tracey. ..I suffered for far too many years with severe GERD. I've just become aware of this information and am going to adjust my life /diet /habits accordingly to 

Yes, my symptoms are that bad too! So sorry, Dorinda. I hope you are getting some help. I'm up now at 12:30 am and on this forum because of a severe attack tonight. I've been suffering for a few years with the severe occasional reflux at night that feels like fire brands in my throat and lungs. I know how you feel. The pain goes on without relief. My theory is that the "fumes" travel when I cough suddenly. After that cough, I'm doomed. The only relief for my throat is raw honey. I will suck on big globs and let it slowly melt down my throat. It does work. However , I've found no relief for the burning in my lungs that also travels into my ears at times. It's horrible! Oh, and tonight I had a spot under my front teeth that burned like crazy. The acid is obviously not supposed to be there bevause it does so much damage when it is. I appreciate all the comments here. It helps to know I'm not alone.

Marigoldem, I am 31 and have been suffering with this exact same thing for several years. I was doing all the things I was told to do, i.e. No food for three hours before bed, elevate, no soda, no spicy food, taking medication...everything, however I was still having these horrible attacks at night, usually in the early am like 4 am or 5 am I could tell one was going to happen the very second I woke up, I could feel it, and mine were so bad all I had time to do was run to the bathroom, I would sit in there and struggle to breath in between vomiting out pure stomach bile, it was absolutely horrible and it would last for over an hour or two every time... eventually I switched medication, I went form taking Ranitidine to Famotidine and that helped, but only for a time.. then it all started happening again, several nights a week, I finally decided that I believed it was actually the medication causing the problem so I went off everything for the reflux all together and shockingly I now have less heartburn than I ever did before... now here is the part you need... the reason your lungs, throat, neck and ears burn is because you have actually aspirated the bile....it is in your lungs... and just trying to mask the awful taste in your mouth and breath through it WILL NOT HELP.. in fact it will cause the bile to settle in and cause actual damage over the course of several days, as another commenter replied she gets such a bad cough she feels the need to go to the doctor, what you need to do is first, stock yogurt in your fridge at all times, if you wake up in the middle of the night and feel this burning awful pain immediately go to your kitchen and get one of the yogurts, and a spoon of course, and take it into the bathroom, you have got to get the bile out of your lungs, so you need to forcefully cough as if you are trying to clear your throat and when I say forcefully I mean forcefully, after you cough up the bile spit it into the sink then immediately put a spoonful of yogurt in your mouth and chew a few times then swallow ( the yogurt helps to neutralize the acidity of the bile and also helps to keep you from uncontrollably vomiting to the point where you cannot breath as bile tastes horrible and triggers your gag reflex ) you need to keep doing this, coughing up the bile and taking a bite of yogurt in between each productive cough until the burning subsides... with this method I have been able to lessen the burning from one to two hours and damaging my lungs for the next several days, Down to an attack only burning for about 10 to 15 minutes... usually after I finish this I go in and drink a tall glass of milk and then I am actually even able to go back to bed and I'm fine..I know it's not the perfect answer and that we all just want it to NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN... but until someone has that answer I hope this one helps at least some of you out, Marigoldem give it a try and let me know how it works for you

I also get this, just as you have described. I also cough up whiteish phlem when it's bad. The only thing that soothes it is drinking baking soda desolved in water. I usually go through about 4 tablespoons in maybe 600mls of water before it eases. It usually goes away in less than half an hour drinking this. I just down a cupful, wait, down another and do this till it's gone. I hope this helps you too. It's so very horrible I'm contemplating going back to my surgeon to re discuss an operation to fix my hiatus hernia!

Well here I AM just like all of you with the very same issue. In fact, that i why I am up tonight. I have tried every single approach you have tried. From Pills, to inhaling high mint vapor for the lung relief .. Now I wanted to share this information because I have heard of a solution which I have not taken.

This was from a gastro-surgeon who told me that their is a surgery they can perform that will force the sphincter to not allow any gases to exit the stomach area. Not there is a draw back to the surgery and that is that with this surgery it will make it almost impossible to vomit if you ever have to as it can cause severe pain due to the fact of the surgery not allowing the sphincter to open from the inside out, it will open from outside in, but not the other way.  

Now even though we might think that would be a blessing, I never went for it because I could not imagine not being able to get rid of something in my stomach that needed to get out.. as in, if you over indulge or if you eat some bad food.. so for now.. I suffer with the rest of you and it is what it is.. 

Now I have made it to where I have almost no GERD in the past but I like to eat and that is my main issue as probably it is yours as well.  It takes eating a certain way and a lot of discipline to accomplish it.. for the moment.. I LOVE TO EAT.. so I will suffer.. 

Hope you will get the releif you need.. 

Johnny

 

Yes ,there will be damage if you don;t get this taken care of . What will happen is ,there will be esophogeal  burning and scaring , also stomach ulcers . These all will bleed and cause you you problems . You will have to be scoped and these ulcers in the esophogus will  have to be cauterized to stop bleeding ,much like alcoholics .So don't play around with this , Stop eating at least 6 hours before you go to bed , take the antacids ,prescribed  by your DR ,and the gaviscon . You have to get this under control .

OMG YOUVE JUST DESCRIBED WHAT HAPPENED TO ME JUST NOW AGAIN FOR THE 5TH TIME IN MY LIFE.... IM SCARED TO DEATH

GOING FOR A SCOPE ON 22ND HOPING ITS NOT DAMAGED MY ESOPHAGUS

THANKS FOR POST

So sorry Dorinda,as that happened to me last night.I woke with burning reflux from throat down into bronchials,every breath hurt&wheezed. Nonstop coughing &spitting out phlegm. The wheezing qued me to get 2puffs of rescue inhaler,then bronchials weren't squeezing. For burning throat I grabbed a cherry Halls lozenge, &success!Cough was easier,spit more stuff out,&got back to sleep. As I write this a.m. chest feels irritated,but no wheezing. Culprit was evening cocktails &munchies with potato chips. I've got hiatal hernia to boot,so I really need to avoid food,drink triggers, especially in evening, before bed. Happy 2018 of better health with positive attitude &always gratitude 😊

Oh marla09264 I am so sorry that you are dealing with this too. For me the acid comes up while I'm sleeping, wakes me right up and is burning my throat so badly that I cannot breathe. It's incredibly scary! Sometimes the only way to get relief is to throw up as weird as it sounds it must get rid of the acid or something because then my throat feels fine. Also sometimes it will go into my sinuses and I have to do the sinus rinse. I'm on medication but it doesn't always work and I've tried a few. Quite frankly I'm tired of sleeping sitting up. I wish there was less complicated surgery to fix that vaulve.

Hi there, I too have this.  I wake with choking acid/sick/plegm in my throat - I dive to the loo and put my finger down my throat and up it comes with lots of sticky plegm and then I feel ok and go back to sleep - but do suck on a Tums to soothe any irritation.  I sleep on raised bed so if I did not goodness knows how bad I would be.  Awful dealing with this - you all have my sympathy.

Hi dorinda,

I know you may have heard this before, but I notice that quite a few people resort to gargling or drinking milk to try and relieve the pain, while this may be a temporary solution it actually makes the situation a lot worse, not only does milk have a lot of fat, but calcium also stimulates acid production. So all in all drinking milk is a very bad idea, I too suffer from acid reflux and have done a lot of research trying to find the best way to relieve the pain. The best trick so far has been aloe Vera products, specifically gel form. It helps the burning! Another great temporary relief is to just drink cold water, the water will help flush acid down and it will also dilute it, meaning a reduction in damage caused. However the best and most effective method is having a low fat and low sugar diet, making sure to not overeat and regular exercise. I have combined all these things and managed to come off the PPI I was prescribed.

Hope this helps!

Hi josh - you are right about milk.  I keep seeing suggestions to drink milk and I know it is wrong.  It certainly does soothe but the fat in it makes it worse after an hour or two.  I  love semi skimmed but am careful.  If I want a glass at night before bed, I have either skimmed or almond.  My hubs loves full fat and when he has heartburn he has some, although I do tell him you are not helping it, and guaranteed an hour later he has massive burning that makes him feel sick.

I did use aloe vera juice but found it hurt me but noted it did have some form of acid in it so I need to try the natural jell.

The water works for me also, but never cold, always warm and I read to never drink it down in one go or it will bring acid up, it needs to be sipped and it will neutralise the acid.

We can only all keep trying each others tips.  Thanks.

G.

I accept my reply is very late and this may even be a non-issue now? Do not, drink milk in a bid to "neutralise the stomach acid". It does not work like that: milk is alkaline, the stomach has buffers which constantly try and maintain acidity in the gut. Introducing more alkaline wil result in excess acid production, the very opposite of what you want in such situations. Take solutions like Gaviscone, don't eat at least 2 hours before bed and elevate pillows. Ultimately, the long term solution for most people is weight loss, exercise and adjustments to diet. 

Thanks for telling us about yogurt.  I just had an episode of reflux due to a neurontin capsule I took at bedtime.  Actually, I took it after I was in bed.  I think I did not drink enough water with it and it was stuck in the esophagus and caused the reflux.  I have had reflux for years but have it in check by taking omeprozole 20 mg.  Tonight was the worst as I know I aspirated this  horrible stuff into my lungs.  I am asthmatic and am allergic to dairy products so I was a little afraid to do the yogurt...but I did.  It really has helped the burning and to this point, has not made my asthma worse.  Thank you for your post.

Something like this happened to me yesterday afternoon. Yesterday morning I ate a scrambled egg sandwich. I decided to take an afternoon nap, something I do not do often because I am an insomniac that takes meds to make me sleep, and usually I will just lay there listening to everything around me ..lol

Well about 1 1/2 hours in, I am jumping up from sleep do to burning in my throat so badly it felt like someone literally lit me on fire from the inside out. I breathed in fast to try to cool my throat and I breathed in stomach acid in to my lungs. I started coughing so hard that I had tears pouring down my face. I kept coughing sitting on the side of the bed just trying to breathe. My husband was freaking out wanting to take me to the hospital because I kept saying, "It's burning, my throat is burning..." then coughing. I literally p****d on myself and I had to run to the bathroom.. embarrassing! I coughed up white thick phlegm stuff for more than 2 hours. I had coughed so hard that my throat actually started to bleed. 

I have been coughing up stuff since yesterday, everything tastes and smells weird. So I decided to look up my symptoms.... and here I am. 

I am also a diabetic that takes Trulicity once a week and I have no Gallbladder. I am thinking that I am developing GERD since I have less bile due to the no Gallbladder, and the Trulicity slows down the digestion of food so your blood sugars do not spike after eating. Trulicity gives me such horrible sulphur burps it is unreal. I could probably clear out a theater...lol

Well, I ended up taking a liquid Antacid, a few swigs of Pepto, chewed on some Tums and used Chloraseptic Spray on my throat. I will be calling the Doctor in the morning to be seen. I never felt so panicked in my life! I have a fear of drowning and when I couldn't breathe... holy heck.... It was surreal. 

Thank you TracyLiz7! I read your post and immediately stopped taking my PIP and only take,Pelvis before bed and I haven't had any bile inhalation since!! i have Achlasia and understood at GERD is quite common but thanks to your post it hasn't been as bad! I don't miss that burning at,all