Constant Shortness of Breath!! - Acid Reflux / GERD Message Board

ssharm04 · 06-10-2008, 10:03 AM

I am an 18 year old female. I have never had any stomach problems until now and i had asthma as a child but I assumed it went away. Its been 4 months now that i have been extremely short of breath. I mean as I sit here i am gasping for air and nothing feels like it relieves this. My chest xrays and pulmonary tests came back good, same with blood tests.

My doctor offcourse assumed its anxiety and gave me meds which really just calmed me down but didn't do anything for the shortness of breath. Then i realized this all started after i had a throat infection for several weeks and ever since i have had post nasal drip into my throat. But it doesn't go down into my throat as i cough it up. Now i am starting to get severe heart burn and rumbling in my stomach constantly as well. I am also burping every 3 to 5minutues and can smell the acid. So my doctor finally said i have GERD, but he said that does not cause shortness of breath. There is clearly a connection because as soon as it started was the same time i had the post nasal drip. However, nobody in my family has ANY health issues and i think because i have a lot of stress that it maybe of contributed to all of this.

My shortness of breath is too severe, I can't imagine doing this everyday for the rest of my life. Is GERD a chronic condition? And has ANYBODY had these symptoms that found relief. I am taking Gaviscon and Nexium now. But the thing is i never felt it got worse after eating something. Eating would actually help because i don't feel the breathing problem as i eat. Usually i have one good day (even though the breathlessness is always there) and the next day is horrible & this pattern has continued. My doctor says that nobody ever had any symtoms like this so that it cannot be GERD. I feel so alone and helpless

. Everyday is literally a struggle and i don't think i can go back to University.

soupermom · 06-10-2008, 03:25 PM

If it helps, I understand what you are feeling and even though it feels like you have something really wrong, it is a symptom of anxiety as are the stomach problems. What helped me is to read and research anxiety, the more I read the more I realized everything I was feeling could be accounted for by anxiety symptoms. Once I came to accept this I found the shortness of breath and stomach problems (even the post nasal drip) lessened substantially. I am always playing psychological warfare with my body, it tells me something is wrong and I fight back; most of the time I win.

ssharm04 · 06-10-2008, 07:08 PM

Thanks for the post supermom.

Honestly I was hoping and praying it was anxiety. Since i have never had any stomach problems before and all of a sudden i am developing everything. But i never knew post nasal drip could be anxiety related. The strange thing is, the GERD started when i read other posts of people who have GERD and breathing problems for years. I know there are people who have been living with the two things for years now so now i am starting to think there is something the doctors cannot figure out. As soon as i thought, oh i hope i dont have GERD, the next day i had heart burn and acid. But can you please tell me why the anxiety medication i took didnt help and also where does it say that Post nasal drip can be caused by anxiety?

Please let me know.

Victor123 · 06-10-2008, 07:16 PM

How's your sleep at night?..Do u breath ok at night?

ssharm04 · 06-10-2008, 08:34 PM

Victor, i sleep well at night and my breathing must be fine because it doesn't wake me up. Actually i am sleeping really well right now better than ever because i feel like its my only time to escape what im going through

Also, Soupermom, i really have a hard time accepting that this could be anxiety because i only feel anxious because of these symtoms. Not only that but i have already tried ativan and it did nothing for my breathing. How could i wake up with this problem and it be anxiety?