anti-depressent's and gerd - Acid Reflux / GERD Message Board

spider37 · 12-07-2005, 08:42 PM

just wondering how many of us were on anti-depressent's and developed gerd. i will start with me i was and i did never had heartburn in my life until i took Xanax. took me a long time to put the 2 togehter but you do end up with alot of thinking time when you are sick.

mike-2005 · 12-07-2005, 09:28 PM

Hey

Same here. Two months of antidepressants and heartburn started. I think two other people on this board had the same problem. I believe one was blasterboy if I am not mistaken and a lady, I forgot her screen name.

cazajacks · 12-08-2005, 04:10 AM

Hello, i dont know much about gerd but i do know that i am suffering now, i have been on low antidepressants for about a yr and been fine. Now my dad is terminally ill i have upped the strength of the A-Ds and i am now suffering some heartburn ( but not a lot) but i am coughing all night everysingle night week in week out, teribble lack of sleep, also some trouble with my breathing when i lay down to go to sleep. Dr gave me one month of ant acid tablets and says this is my stomach acid comging up and spilling into my chest and it is aggrivating my air sacs, thats why its hard to breath. I have never had heartburn nor idigestion in 41 yrs of my life, so why suddenly now.

aswander · 12-08-2005, 09:49 AM

I was unwillingly taking about 1-2 mg of Xanax a day for about 3 months, then I developed Laryngeal reflux. It came on very quickly. One day I was fine, and the next day I was coughing my lungs up.

I think there may be a link between Xanax and GERD/LPR. Xanax is not one of the drugs known to have anti-cholergenic properties (one of which is loosening of the esophageal spinchter muscles), but there is a group of antidepressants that do.

I too would like to know why I developed this problem. Most physicians have never heard of LPR - which means that it must be relatively new. And interestingly, I have 3 friends all my age (female, early 30s) who have developed it in the last 3 years. I think there could very well be a link between LPR/GERD and common pharmaceuticals.

aswander · 12-08-2005, 09:56 AM

Cazajackes,

See all the messages regarding LPR and laryngeal reflux. Sounds like you have a classic case of it. Minimal heartburn, lots of coughing, because the acid is actually rising so far up the esophageous that it is hitting your larynx, which causes the cough. Treatment is 2 doses of a PPI (proton pump inhibitor) a day. Not 1 - 1 will not work at all. For instance, you could take 2 Nexium pills per day.

1st, you need to book an appointment with an ENT. Then ENT will scope you (through the nose) and determine if your larynx is irritated. If it is, you have laryngeal reflux. The scope is an easy and fairly painless procedure. You inhale a numbing nasal spray, and then they stick a small camera on a thin wire up through your nose and down your throat. Sounds much worse than it is.

Many people have extremely rapid and successful recovery with 2 PPIs per day. Most doctos don't know about this condition, so print out this article, and take it along with you - it states that 2x daily dosing is the standard of treatment for LPR.

I was coughing and miserable for 6 hellish months. The day I started on 2 pills a day, I recovered that same day and stopped 95% of the coughing. Also, I'd recommend that you try Nexium first - it is the most expensive BUT read the reviews on this board - it seems that the vast majority of posters use Nexium, though there are alternatives. My doctor also swears by it, though a few patients have had to experiment with other brands.