Is this really Acid Reflux i'm experiencing?

Posted , 101 users are following.

Hi, for the past 4 months I have been suffering daily severe symptoms with breathlessness, burning and pressure sensation in my back and chest, pressure in my throat which makes me want to cough, burping and most recently tiredness. These don't necessarily occur after food, i have the breathless and pressure feeling all day every day.

I went to a private hospital for tests under my medical insurance as my NHS GP couldn't give me all the tests i wanted for peace of mind as i'm an extreme worrier and after Googling my symptoms i was in tears! So 2 weeks ago i had blood tests, allergy tests, a CT scan on my heart and lungs, a lung function test and an Echocardiogram. I had the results last week which thankfully shows my heart is absolutely fine but i have mildly inflamed airways in my lungs and the doctor advised the most likely cause is Acid Reflux and this is causing the breathless feeling. The doctor has advised i take Lanzoprasole 30mg daily and a steroid asthma inhaler to reduce the inflammation for 3 months.

To be honest, i'm concerned that this isn't caused by acid only because most of the threads i have read on here are from people who only experience symptoms from food. As soon as i get out of bed and start walking around i start to get the pressure feeling in my chest and i've just had enough of it. Does anyone else have symptoms like me? I'm constantly thinking about what i could have wrong or if it is acid, what damage it is doing to me! I know it's only been a couple of days on the medication so shouldn't expect it to work straight away but can anyone tell me of any other self help medications that i could take to make it go away quicker? I'm really at my wits end and it's all i think about.

Thank you

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256 Replies

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  • Posted

    Hi Daisiedoo, i do get the lightheaded feeling on occasions, feel like I'm just floating around. A colleague at work is now suffering from the burning chest feeling and is getting dizzy frequently so it sounds like this is a common problem. I don't have the sinus issue (yet). I haven't been suffering with it as long as you have so cant imagine how awful it is for all that time, I've had enough just for the short time I've had it! The burning shoulder blades really make me feel ill especially tired. I just hope these Lanzoprasole tablets keep it at bay although I've changed my diet too and take probiotics to help. Do you find food triggers it or does it happen at random times like me?
  • Posted

    Hi tinkerbell thanks for replying, yer that's the feeling I try an explain to my family like your floating around in a daze.

    The sinus issues seem to happen when acid has hit the throat , I've been to many ENT doctors with the dizzy feeling thinking it was my ears etc, one doc even booked me in for sinus surgery, but has time has gone by I can no honestly say that these feelings only occur when my stomach is bad so there is a connection,

    Yes the burning is enough to make you want to crawl back into bed an along with all that I find you can become very tired, muscle aches etc. it's a horrible thing to deal with. to others we look so well on the outside so they don't understand are pain.

    I have tried lansoprazole and opeprozole, they are ok at keeping the reflux at bay but carry lots of side effects, my daughter is currently taking them but feels ok on them were I did not.

    I find that foods can trigger it especially greasy food dairy products etc, but I can also be on the blandest diet an still get symptoms.

    Have u ever had an endoscopy or been tested for h-pylor tinkerbell as that can produce all the symptoms we both have, I have been treated 3 times for it. Just a simple blood test will tell you if you have it or not.

    • Posted

      Hi Daiseydoo

      I know it's a long time since your post but I was just wondering how your doing, you said at the time your had reflux 15 years, are you still suffering, are you taking medication every day, can you let me know what you are talking, I'm suffering daily symptoms of acid reflux and am very worried about taking ppi every day, I'm on them two years now with very little relief, worst part is chest pain and burning, would like to hear back tks

  • Posted

    I found Omeprazole didn't do anything for me. The Lanzoprasole seem to be working at the moment although I'm finding that for the last few days my voice is horsey although i don't have a cold or sore throat. Not sure if that's because I've coughed a lot previously from the lump in throat feeling or wether I've damaged my voice box.

    I had an Endoscopy last year as i was getting stomach pain, even before all these other symptoms started, but it was clear, same with the h -pylor, this was negative too.

    if i eat food that's too hot, heat wise, that definitely starts it off between the shoulder blades. I'm trying to re-train myself to eat slowly too because my boyfriend eats so quickly and i got into a bad habit of trying to keep up!

    The worst symptom for me is the pressure feeling in my chest. Everyone kept saying i was having panic attacks but i knew it wasn't! As you say people think you look well but inside you're struggling. I totally understand how u feel.

  • Posted

    Yes I often get the horsey feeling this is either because the acid is touching the vocal cords mainly happens at night while sleeping which u probably won't notice, or can be from the throat clearing if you get a lot of postnasal drip mucus etc, (caused by reflux) this gives that lump feeling ur experiencing ypthe doctor calls it globes feeling, so u probably haven't damaged your voice box this is common feeling with most suffers.

    Well that's good u have out ruled any other problem via endoscopy, it most definetley sounds like ur suffering bad acid reflux

    I was told by gastro doctor to eat little but often but that doesn't seem to help I get the burn even of a small slice of toast at breakfast.

    I understand totally about the chest pressure it happens quite often with me, and yes the people used to say exactly the same to me ,I knew mine wasn't panic attacks either, although having that feeling when out and about etc can make you panic and think your having a heart attack, but trying to reassure yourself its just acid heartburn is hard isn't it

    I have today bought some aloe Vera juice and coconut water hoping it will help

    I forgot to mention I suffer a lot of migraines due to all of this also

  • Posted

    Hi, I'm so relieved to come across this website, my life is made a misery by acid reflux

    I'm a slim health conscious person but every minute of the day I suffer with this terrible

    Condition it's so uncomfortable and some of the sensations are frightening. I have a terrible

    Hoarse voice earache pressure around my chest and between shoulder blades, that become

    Painful has the day goes on. I have given up work now, the only relieve I get is if I lie down.

    Sitting bending just makes me feel worse. I feel ok in the morning then as soon as I start

    Everyday activities that's it. I have had all the tests done and everything's normal. I try so hard

    Not to let it rule my life but I'm suffering in silence I don't know what it's like to feel normal. I look

    At people and wonder what it must be like to be symptom free. So sorry to come across so negative

    If anyone is out there who has the same problem please post

    • Posted

      Hi just seen this post. I've been thinking I'm going mad. I was diagnosed with gastritis in February. Had all the omoprozoles pansoprozole etc. but have dreadful side effects. I have pressure where my bra fits and pressure between my ribs. This is frightening because I don't understand it. Dr just says it's gastritis. I also have dizzy spells where I feel not in my own body. I hope you are feeling better now. 
    • Posted

      just read your post and wondering what your status is. i have had  a sore throat for 9 months now. i have been on ppis for a month. i havent noticed any improvement but will stay on them for a few months cause the ENT said it takes a while to get better. I have had lots of tests including pepsin and barium and endoscopes of which all came out normal. my throat is tight occasionally but my main complaint now is its always sore along with the roof of my mouth and the back of my tongue. I do need to spit often to clear my throat. 

      As much as this disease is nasty, I guess its better than cancer

    • Posted

      Hope you are feeling better now,l seeing as you said this 9 months ago.Without hope we have nothing. Have similar symptoms to you but not as bad thankfully, hope you are ok soon.
    • Posted

      I'm the same as you Sourtongue-I'm usually OK in morning and then as my body awakens, I feel burning tingling  in my chest at the lower sternum area. I've had two endos,barium swallow, ct scan. Gasto doctor says I have some erosion but not too bad for 63 year old man. Belching and burping all day. Use to have sore throats but they've kind of went away. Taking  Prevacid and zantac. Day after day of this is trying. Take care-Boxerman5
    • Posted

      You possibly know how your sore throats went away?

      ​I've seen on so many forms (starting from the year 2003) that people have problems with the burping. But on none of them the people say how it is going after al these years. Or are these people burping for 12 years now? Has anybody got a clue about this burping and how to end this, because that's my only problem, but I have sore throats each day, all day.

      ​The only thing I can figure out at this moment is that it started in sep 2014 with regurgitation. I got PPI's for this straight away. And it worked but in apil this year I started to burp after each drink and meal. Could it be because of the PPI? And does anybody know I good plan to quit with PPI?

    • Posted

      I've had burping and belching off and on for years. I'm currently tapering off Klonopin. Don't know if this has made it worse or not. If people are baking benzos they can do a lot of things to your body. Anything I drink even water makes me burp and belch right now. I'm at a loss for sure. Right now I'm taking omeprazole 20 mg. which the doctor just upped to 40. Why the sore throats went away is a mystery. They just stopped. I can think of nothing that I changed in my lifestyle that would make them leave. I stopped the ppi and went to 600 mg of zantac but there was no change. The sore throats nagged me for about four years. They ended (knock on wood) in 2013. I have had regurigitation at times and the classic heartburn symptoms. My stomach has been a mess for twenty years. I'm going to start taking digestive enzymes and betaine when they come in the mail in a few days. I will keep you posted. Take care-

      James

    • Posted

      Thanks for the info. Do you might have heard from others that they suffer from burping/belching? And were the causes for them? And how they solved it?

      ​Weird that the sore throats stopped. I hope they will at my case. Because I don't have te regurgitation and classic heartburn symptoms I don't see why I should take this 40mg PPI for almost 1 year now. Maybe it helps against burping, but it anyhow isn't good for you health this longterm usage.

      ​I'm taking digestive enzymes and Aloe Vera digestive supports for a couple of days now. I have the feeling that it helps a bit.

      ​Keep you posted 2!

    • Posted

      Thanks for your reply tbier. When I get the digestive supplements I'll let you know how they work for me. I'll keep you posted too-James
    • Posted

      hi there jayne, im currently goin through this at the moment and i too are having dizzy spells like im not in my own body, did u find out if this was the meds or the reflux? did anything help u? colleen
    • Posted

      hi jayne, do u think the tablets caused your dizzy spells and feeling that youre not in your own body? im currently taking lansaprozole and that how i feel, dizzy, pressure in head, ears needing to pop, feeling like not in own body, scared i have a brain tumour or something eh. colleen
    • Posted

      I feel the same. Symptoms are slightly different. I've had it for 4 months now and I've felt horrible. I feel like I can't enjoy things anymore and I'm in contact worry rolleyes feel better.

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