Woke Up Choking On Reflux - Really Frightened

[BNCfan]

Sorry folks it's me again. Does anyone else wake up choking on reflux? Just as I was beginning to think my chronic anxiety symptoms of the last six months - all gastric problems; acid reflux, tenderness in diaphragm area, constant nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhoea/IBS (which trigger off terrible hours of floating anxiety attacks) - were settling down a bit, I woke up suddenly early this morning choking on reflux which had 'gone the wrong way', it even seemed to be coming down my nose. It wasn't 'acid' because I've been taking a Proton Pump Inhibitor, Lansoprazole, since November, but it's really scared me. I was choking. For ages I was afraid to go to bed at all, even propped up on several pillows and slept sitting in a chair, but during the last couple of weeks really thought things were settling down and was going to bed and sleeping much better - previously the anxiety symptoms, if not the reflux, had been constantly waking me up and I couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time without waking up in another panic. My life consisted of hours of extreme panic and brief snatches of sleep, only to be woken up by another bout of panic symptoms. I know I'm VERY 'over-sensitised' due to stress and this morning's episode has really set me back. I won't dare go to bed again for ages. I'm so afraid of coping with all this on my own - I'm not really coping, I just take the next breath and sometimes wish I had the guts to end it all, because there's no point to a life like this. I never have a moment's peace from the anxiety. It hasn't always been this bad, but I've battled with anxiety and phobias since I was a kid. It's such a waste of a life.

[Nechtan]

There is a bug doing the rounds in there parts and it could be something like that. My wife has no anxiety related problems and the other night she was really coughing and choking and could not get a breath. It really gave her a fright.

When we are dealing with anxiety though it is all the worse and that episode this morning will no doubt have given you a fright. The chances are though that it was a one off. Its very easy for me to say that you need to try not too worry about it but that is impossible- I know from experience. If it persists then you should make an appointment tomorrow with you GP to set your mind at rest with an explanation of why this is happening. In an ideal world I would say call NHS24 now but they are sometimes not the best people to talk to when you have health anxieties.

All the best

Nechtan

[jannnne]

Hellooo, Poor you, what is it like when choking on reflux?? (apart from the obvious choking feeling)....Why don't you just sleep siting for a bit and see how you go. It must have been so frightening to wake up like that. Can you up the dose of your Omerparozole??? When mine is bad I take 60mg, 20 in the morning and 40 at night then after a day or two I go back down to 40mg you never know might even make 20 one day. Usually I start to feel a bit better and am so please and happy to feel better have too much coffee and choc and then feel crap again, takes a week to feel right and so on....What about having a chat to your GP again and maybe talk about your anxiety, I find if my anxiety is low my symptoms seem a little better, I had a row with my hubby last night and am feeling rotten today, drowned my sorrows in a bar of dark Green and Blacks and two expresso too.

I hate to here you sound so down please PM me if you need to chat not sure how much use I am but am happy to listen. Sending you lots of love and please have a chat with your GP. All the love Jane x

[BNCfan]

Nechtan, it's not a bug, I've had gastritis for months and I'm on meds for it. But thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. Jane I'm so over-sensitized at the moment I know I over-react to everything. It was frightening, waking up in the dark alone and choking, hearing myself gasping for breath, it pressed all my panic buttons. Any sensible person would have got up, sipped a glass of water, maybe taken a Rennie or some Gaviscon and gone back to bed, but I went rocketing into panic mode. I know I tend to 'catastrophise' everything because of the constant stress. For ages I was afraid to go to bed because of the reflux and slept in a chair, but recently I'd been feeling a bit better and had started going to bed propped up on several pillows, but I'd even been able to reduce the number of pillows and was starting to sleep much better. The PPIs don't really agree with me, they give me 'the runs' etc - I was originally on Lansoprazole 30mg - can't take Omeprazole as it has some effect on Diazepam absorbtion - but it made me feel so awful I asked to reduce it to 15 and hadn't been doing too badly. I can't eat chocolate, fizzy drinks, tomatoes etc, but my confidence was slowly building again and I was re-introducing things back into my diet. Last night after at first deciding to go back to sleeping in the chair, I forced myself to go to bed around 4:30 this morning and slept OK for a few hours. Thanks for the support. The medical people couldn't give a damn, they add to my problems in a lot of ways. Have you had any more tests etc? Are they offering Ultra Sound or something like that? Keep in touch. Hugs, Helen

[ladybird64]

Hi Helen

Just wanted to give you some reassurance that you're not alone with this particular problem.
It doesn't happen to me very often but I have had times when I have been very suddenly yanked from sleep with a mouthful of acid burning my gullet.
I know how terrifying it is as you just can't breathe and the burning in the throat is awful, very scary. I am on Lansaprazole as well but sometimes it just doesn't hold the acid at bay.
I know it is not recommended but I usually dive for a glass of milk, bicarb of soda, anything that will get rid of the burn. I do the same as you, prop myself up on some pillows and wait for it to recede..it usually does.
I do understand how scared you are even though I don't have HA, I have read all your posts and understand why you're so frightened.
All I can say is that sometimes these things just happen (the reflux), they shouldn't, but they do. Although it is horrible, it doesn't seem to have any lasting effect apart from a sore throat the next day.
This probably hasn't been much help but just wanted you to know you're not alone. :flowers:

[BNCfan]

Thanks ladybird, your post was very reassuring as you too are taking Lansoprazole and still getting the odd attack of reflux waking you from sleep. I don't like having to take the Lansoprazole, it affects my IBS quite badly, but I reckon getting by on 15mgs once in 24 hours is really pretty good. At first, before I started the Lansoprazole, my gastric symptoms were so bad I was almost too afraid to eat anything and lost a lot of weight, but I've gradually started introducing more protein etc back into my diet. My staple diet used to be tomatoes with everything - on their own, in salads, sardines in tomato sauce, occasional pizzas, baked beans etc and now I can't touch tomatoes at all. So I've had to completely re-think what to eat. I hate food at the best of times as I'm agoraphobic and eating means trips to the supermarket! Thanks again for the reassurance. Helen

[Phill2]

Hi BCN
I used to get it all the time until the Dr put me on ranitide 300.
I take 1 every morning and a dose of Eno (maybe Alka Seltzer or similar over there) at bedtime and all is fine.
I really don't think your sleeping position makes much difference.
Phill :shades:

[jannnne]

Hello Helen, Hope you are feeling a little better, I have to go for a barium swallow on the 16 of Feb....he said he would do the endoscopy under a general but we would start with this first. I was doing ok but last night I had to go out for dinner and then at bedtime coughed up some blood urghh. So anxious now been awake since 4am, this really dosent help things ever decreasing circles again xxx Lots of love to you.

[lijale]

Its really scarey to wake up with your stomach contents in your nose or clogging your windpipe. I have had it to happen a lot.
I can tell you several things you can try.
Take old pillows and raise the head of your mattress to about a 45 degree angle. Mine is actually higher. Then continue to sleep propped up on pillows.
Dont eat anything after 5pm. Maybe just a few crackers if you get hungry. I have my evening meal about 430 pm.And not a lot of fluids.
Diazapam or Valium is a benzodiazapine. It relaxes the sphincter muscle where the esophagus enters the stomach. That allows the contents of your stomach to come back into the esophagus.
I know that its strange for it to do that if you are propped up so high but it dies. I still have a problem at times but not as much now.
It seems that i will slide down on my pillows and then thats when it happens.