Can acid reflux feel like this or what is this?

Hi all,

Just wanted to share some weird symptoms I’ve been having and wondering if anyone else has gone through the same. As some background I’m an otherwise healthy 27 year old guy who is slim and tries to get regular exercise. I’ve been suffering for the past few months with what I think is acid reflux but I have some unusual symptoms that don’t seem typical of it that are really bothering me. I’ll try to describe them.

I get the usual burning behind my breastbone, chest pain etc. I’ve gotten the feeling of cold rushing up my chest minutes after drinking cold water which is pretty obvious some kind of reflux happening. I’ve even been diagnosed with reflux when I was 18 with a barium swallow they could see it flow back up.

However what really bothers me is sometimes in addition to these occasional symptoms I’ll get a very odd sensation and probably the most uncomfortable out of the above. I find it really hard to describe but it’s closest to a persistent feeling of being “out of breath” or a feeling that I’m not getting enough oxygen similar to how you’d feel uneasy in your chest if you hyperventilate in a way. I can only localize it to somewhere in my chest area. It’s very uncomfortable. It’s not quite pain.

I actually have an oxymeter for curiosity and my oxygen is always 97 - 99 (normal) when feeling this so I’m not actually low on oxygen and I’m not visibly winded or anything just a sensation of “lack of oxygen”. I don’t know it’s very weird does anyone feel something similar to this with acid reflux? Maybe my brain is playing tricks on me with how it perceives acid irritation?

Thanks for any feedback :).

I’ hoping so as I have exactly the same feeling. I’ve had what they thought was GERD but turns out it’s LPR on and off for 20 years. Most of those years symptom free with occasion flare-ups. But in the last 2 weeks I have the shortness of breath you mentioned.
My theory is it’s one of 2 things - it’s the reflux (which can cause it apparently- look up pseudo dyspnea, hanna saadah has a good website to read through for the symptoms).
Or 2 it’s just anxiety, which ironically brings on reflux, or vice versa. In these weird times I wouldn’t be surprised if the amount of anxiety sufferers had gone through the roof.
Hope that helps? As for self-treatment, nose breathing in for 2 with pursed lips out for a few mins can help, or sometimes a slug of gaviscon double action helps.

Hope that helps?

I could have written this myself because I also have an oxymeter which I use when I get this feeling and it's also always between 97-99. I know the strange feeling of shortness of breath, it sometimes feels like a strange hollow feeling. I usually drink a warm chamomile tea with sugar and that seems to help.