Acid reflux scarring? is there such a thing help please.

[434Teresa]

Ok I have had asthma all my life, but it was good for years unless I got a chest cold then it would show up. But the last four years it has been bad, but at the same time I was having lots of acid reflux problems,I mean really bad. I was put on reflux meds but it did not help, at night I would wake up with acid comming from my mouth and nose..My breathing just got worse all the the time. So finally I got a doctor to hear me saying that my acid was so bad because they always focused on my breathing for you can here me trying to take air in from across the room, so i had the light ran and was told just how bad my acid was, and that I was having spams to go along with the acid(causes food to feel stuck in your chest wall, hurts), was put on meds to trun the acid pumps off (cost like $500 a month) but it worked, no acid problems now(so far), and they thought my breathing would get better now but it has not...so today I was told that I need to see a ENT because they think I have scarring from the acid comming up at night so bad which is taking up space and keeping air from getting to my lungs and then setting off my asthma, which then takes up more of the air passage way and cause my breathing to be even worse..the doctors think this because the breathing meds for asthma is not helping my breathing all that much, I do inhaulers,singluar, and breathing treatments every day, only to get a small amount of relief and for a short time, where a breathing treatment in the past would work so perfectly(this was when I had a chest cold and made my asthma show up). on predasone now for 2 weeks..sucks for i have lost 27 pounds and dont want to gain it back, buit I have to be able to breath...

anyone have scarring from acid reflux or maybe this same problem that has not been fixed for you yet....they say all to often that when there is asthma or other breathing problems(for years) and acid reflux shows up and breathing gets worse, that doctors over look the fact the acid can make the breathing worse.

[CW&M Mom]

Well to make your breathing worse...IMO it's less of an ENT problem and more of a pulmonologist problem. (won't hurt to have both though LOL)

My son is on oxygen...it was originally believed that he was silent aspirating...and it had caused lung damage. (he actually has a very rare lung disease)...as that was a more common thing that they saw.

This is my suggestion: You have your PPI's. Nexium heals damage the best. Aciphex is supposed to be the strongest PPI. There are also Protonix, prevacid and prilosec. For me personally Protonix works better than the other 2 (prevacid and prilosec). If you take this only once a day...they may need to consider twice a day.

There are also h2 blockers. Zantac, pepcid, and axid also (tagament but not used often now). These cannot be taken the same time as the ppi's but can be used about 2 hours later. They are not as strong as a PPI but sometimes can help with the breakthrough acid.

Your bed: you need to sleep on the highest incline you can. It's easier to reflux at night, while sleeping..and go to bed on an empty stomach. There are wedges that can be purchased...or heck even a lazy boy to sleep in.


Motility: Motility is how long it takes for your stomach to empty the food into the intestines. If this takes a very long time...this can add or even cause the reflux issue. A Gastric Emptying Scan...would help them dx this situation. To treat it...they use erythromyacin, reglan and bethnacol...with reglan being the strongest. Reglan is not always well tolerated..and if it causes side effects it should always be stopped. That being said...it has been a life saver for us...my son would have a feeding tube by now if he had not been put on reglan. In Canada they also have domperidone..that some GI's here will help acquire. For severe issues there are gastric pacemakers..but your situation does not sound severe.

The testing I would suggest first is a endoscopy and bronchoscopy. The endoscopy can show any damage still, strictures, ect...and have them take biopsies. The bronch can show lung damage and they will do a wash of the lungs...and see if in that wash the lungs are growing stomach contents or food basically.

If there are strong suspicions that you have lung damage...I would suggest getting a HRCT of the lungs. This is a high resolution CT Scan of the lungs...the very best picture of the lungs you can get.

What they can do for those that have lung damage from reflux (which can be acid or non acid reflux...both just as bad when in the lungs) is called a Nissen. Nissen fundoplication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia They have pretty reliable results for adults...if you have motility issues though...be extremely cautious with considering one. But for severe reflux, causing lung damage, in an adult..a Nissen can be a life saver.

silent aspiration, (which is basically severe reflux entering the lungs) can cause permanent lung damage. What it can cause is a term called Interstitial Lung Disease. This is what my son has...but he has a form that he was born with. The most common kind, where aspiration is the cause is called Bronchiolitis Obliterans (BO) or Bronchiolitis Obliterans with Organizing Pneumonia (BOOP).

HTH