I have Barrett's, and have had symptoms for 30+ years. I take Omeprazole for my Barrett's and it typically controls my heartburn. I have had two strange things occur over the last 4-5 days that are causing me concern. I woke up suddenly at 2 am last night and was completely unable to breath through my nose and had severe heartburn even though I had taken my Omeprazole. I have not had a cold or sinus problems to speak of recently so having my nose plugged was unexpected and unusual. I have a great deal of stress if I cannot breathe through my nose and I use Afrin to open it ASAP. So I used the spray and took two Maalox. My nose opens and my heartburn is soothed nearly immediately but I had trouble getting a good deep breathe for about 5-10 minutes and my chest felt very tight. I eventually get my breath, all seems well and I went back to sleep without waking again. This morning however my chest is very tight and actually painful if I take a deep breathe. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is thee second time in the last couple of days this has occurred however the pain I feel this morning did not occur the first time.

Has anyone else had this problem and should I be concerned?

I have Barrett's, and have had symptoms for 30+ years. I take Omeprazole for my Barrett's and it typically controls my heartburn. I have had two strange things occur over the last 4-5 days that are causing me concern. I woke up suddenly at 2 am last night and was completely unable to breath through my nose and had severe heartburn even though I had taken my Omeprazole. I have not had a cold or sinus problems to speak of recently so having my nose plugged was unexpected and unusual. I have a great deal of stress if I cannot breathe through my nose and I use Afrin to open it ASAP. So I used the spray and took two Maalox. My nose opens and my heartburn is soothed nearly immediately but I had trouble getting a good deep breathe for about 5-10 minutes and my chest felt very tight. I eventually get my breath, all seems well and I went back to sleep without waking again. This morning however my chest is very tight and actually painful if I take a deep breathe. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is thee second time in the last couple of days this has occurred however the pain I feel this morning did not occur the first time.

Has anyone else had this problem and should I be concerned?

I don't know if this is the same exact thing, but a few times I've woken up choking on my own acid that I've breathed in and my chest was on fire for the next day or so. Maybe you breathed in some acid and some got into your sinuses?

The doc isn't 100 percent certain yet what I have but thinks I may have a touch of reflux. I have shortness of breathe. Especially at night. Hope you feel better soon. My prayers are with you.

God bless!

yeah and when you lay down does it sometimes make shortness of breath worse. mine does some.

Do not use Afrin on a regular basis as you can become addicted to it quite easily. Try saline spray. I know I use Afrin on occassion but never 2 days in a row. it is a very real addiction which is very hard to break. Acid can cause a lot of coughing and choking.

I've had the shortness of breathe also, with chest aching upon taking a deep breath. It is now gone, but that was only a few weeks ago.

I have had shortness of breath with chest pressure. Cannot seem to get satisfied with a large gulp of air. I believe I have it narrowed down to two things....allergies (dogs, cats, molds level 3 out of 4).....or acid reflux. I was told by a pulmonoligist that I had acid reflux and gave me Aciphex. I do not always take it. I just completed a nine day cruise where I ate starting at 8pm and finished up at 10 pm (not a good thing with acid reflux). I also did not take my aciphex...had no chest problems or breathing problems of any kind. Does that sound right to you out there. It would appear that if I had acid reflux that I should have gone bananas within those nine days. I am concluding that it is the allergies, what do you think. I do not have heart burn but do have the dry cough. People told me that allergies can cause that dry cough also. Confused. I really don't want to start all those allergy shots if in fact it is acid reflux. I need to pin it down better....any ideas outthere. I am open to any suggestions. Is there a definitive test to positively identify acid reflux.

Alex, why don't you try one of the allergy meds like Zrtex(sp) and see if that helps. Yes, a dry cough is very often allergies. As someone that has life long allergies to pollens, dogs and cats(and always had till now) I can sympathize. I think the easiest way to try the meds. They specifically advertise Zrtec for allergies to animals. At my age I don't want to take shots but they have improved them so much now than when I took them 50 years ago. Good luck. I would have thought you would have had a problem on the cruise also as cruise eating is usually pretty rich.