Has anyone been told they had COPD,only to find out they have GERD instead?

WendiC · 10-21-2006, 02:38 AM

I have read many of the posts here, and I am happy to have found this place. Last May I went to the Dr. complaining of a cough. Doc treated me for GERD for three days on prilosec 1x day. Cough still here. So he does a breathing test on me and decides that I have COPD. sigh

I took his meds for 4 months for COPD and didn't feel any different. I haven't taken these meds now for a month, and still don't feel any different. With one exception.

On 9/13/06 I had a hysterectomy. Since my operation, I feel some better in that my cough has subcided quite a bit. My theory is that my enlarged fibroid filled uterus was pushing things up creating acids to go into my lungs.

I have no doubt that the stuff is in my lungs due to the mucouse the morning after a glass of wine is purple!

I am seriously starting to question whether or not I have COPD, and what I do have is underdiagnosed GERD. Anyone ever go through this? Thank you. ~Wendi

yvonne49 · 10-21-2006, 11:02 PM

Hi WendiC

I cannot answer your question but it has made me wonder if gerd can actually cause COPD ?

yvonne49 · 10-21-2006, 11:03 PM

Hi WendiC

I cannot answer your question but it has made me wonder if gerd can actually cause COPD ?

NancyH · 10-22-2006, 12:03 AM

There is a connection! 2002 I had a beathing test that was deamed very low air volume COPD! I was also having horrible acid reflux that we couldn't get under control. My breathing test showed 61! Then in 2004 I had another breathing test and my acid reflux was not real bad but still there. My breathing test increased to 74. The tech said he didn't know what was going on back in 2002 but it had to be the acid reflux, a breathing test does not improve if it is COPD or emphysema, asthma and the like. I was where I should be at my age of 59 and a history of smoking in the past. I've been reading where acid reflux can excerbate asthma and the like and it can bring on asthma. Acid reflux when real bad scars the lung tissue, thus producing breathing difficulties.

yvonne49 · 10-22-2006, 04:29 AM

My dad died 2 years ago age 72. All his adult life despite being a sports player and gardenr he had a largish belly , lifelong 'indigestion' and pain under his right ribs on and off. Dad also had a persistent dry cough attributed to bronchitis as a child. My dad smoked a short while as a young man but not very much. A lot of his life he took inhalers and ventolin but his 'asthma' was never classic or what I would describe as such having been a nurse and his cough gnerally seemed to happen when he was sitting down rather than active. In his mid sixties he had 'grit in his bile duct' from gallstones which made him very poorly and he was in hospital for 2 weeks. Not long after he had a mild haert attack which he survied.
It came as an enormous surprise and shock to us that he suddenly acquired COPD in his late sixties and became progressively wasted and disorientated - still active until last few weeks but refusing food. Baffled consultants argued about the final diagnosis but even MND was mentioned however after he died they put COPD on the death certificate. As he died in hospital a PM was done and they found scars on his liver which could not have been alcohol related and he did not have hepatitis. There was some deterioration of the brain stem tissue which was not explained.
Dad's most significant complaint all his life was indigestion and rib pain and I cant understand why nobody ever considered giving him PPI's as he obviously had indigestion. I think the gases from his stomach may even have made his lungs deteriorate over a many years? What do others think?
I now have chronic GERD, pot belly, IBS, breathing distress lying down and gallstones diagnosed on HIDA scan. I dont mind taking the PPI's if I remain well in other ways but is there a more natural way of controliing GERD? Like dad I am very active and no obvious structural lung disease but gas from my stomach is affecting my breathing and giving me terrible pains in my ear neck and head. At he hospital they say my IBS is not related to GERD but my GP is amazed as she thought they had to be connected. It seems to me that these experts need to get together a bit more !