Is this GERD? / Persistent cough

Ish

HI !
Let us know how the ACV works for you if you are brave enough to continue it.

As far as the cough, I can just get a small sniff of any vinegar and it makes me cough. I am too much of a chicken to try drinking it.

The best of luck to you.

Ish

unruhe

Thanks Ish,

I see where I may have gone wrong. The vinegar I initially used was white distilled, and I did not mix with water, I just took a swig.

Last night and this morning I used Bragg's Organic, which was recommended by just about everyone online.

So far so good. No miserable hacking at least.

Not sure how long it takes to "work."

P.S. - It tastes pretty decent too.

aswaer

unruhe,

I developed LPR when I was 28, and have dealt with it for 4 years. I was completely miserable for the first 8 months, and was then given a double dose of Nexium, which I've taken for the last 3.5 years. It was truly a miracle. For LPR (the chronic cough) if it is LPR, you will need a double dose of a PPI daily. I recommend Nexium, then Aciphex. There are others - Prevacid, PRilosec, Protonix, but I don't recommend them for LPR.

I had been taking a single dose of Nexium for 3 months before a new doctor increased it to the double dose. I can only describe the difference as going from an F- every day to a sudden solid A. I felt like myself again.

unruhe

aswander,

thanks for the response. i am trying to stay away from any medications as they seem to hurt more than help, in my case at least. i can certianly understand someone taking them for the pain of LPR or GERD, but i have no pain, no stomach upset, virtually no problems. the only problems i encountered were chest pressure and burning and that was only when i was on prevacid.

really, the only problem is the coughing..

Mom2PDD

Unruhe-- I was misdiagnosed with Severe Asthma and Allergies (to everything) for almost 10 years. I had a chronic cough for as long as I had known my husband with no signs of reflux. After many medications and several specialists I finally got the right diagnosis. I was pregnant with my third and my cough go so bad the allergist thought they were going to have to hospitalize me. They wanted to give me IV steroid treatments for three days-- it turned into 5. And it did nothing! I went to a pulmonologist which said-- YOU DONT HAVE ASTHMA! Went to another specialist where I was diagnosed with GERD. Believe it or not-- I had fundo surgery three years ago and I haven't coughed or been sick since-- other than the slight cold. But, nothing like it used to be.
My son, the one I was pregnant with, diagnosed with all the same things. He ended up having fundo surgery a year ago and hasn't been sick since either.
It is definitely something to look into- but after all the years of misdiagnosis, I am positive the GERD is what was causing it all along. Good luck to you- Michele

unruhe

UPDATE:

It has been almost a week since I started with the AC Vinegar (Bragg's with the mother) and I have seen noticeable improvement. I'd say it's on par with the week's trial dose of Prevacid in terms or controlling my cough with the exceptions: AC Vinegar is 1) cheaper 2) not causing hearburn 3) actually correcting the problem, not making it worse.

This is how I think my problems began:
- repeated infections treated with antibiotics (6 rounds over a period of 6 months!)
- antibiotics kill good bacteria along with bad
- lack of good bacteria leads to too much yeast
- too much yeast reduces production of stomach acid
- lack of stomach acid can also cause heartburn and GERD symptoms
- PPI drugs cut down even more on stomach acid production, thus creating my heartburn, which only started up after a couple days on Prevacid.

This is what I figured out with a little research on the web. If anything is blatantly wrong, please feel free to correct me. I tried to verify this stuff at reputable medical websites.

So, I'm pretty pleased. I'm sleeping better at night (probably because I'm not coughing). I haven't had to take cough meds or allegra-d during the week.(note: the allegra-d helped the coughing, not because it is allergy related, but I think because my esoph/throat would get congested from the mucus production and allegra-a is geared towards decongestion regardless of where it is. At least, this is how I understand it.)

A couple day's into the ACV, I stopped getting the prevacid-induced heartburn.

I can even consume trigger foods now without coughing like mad afterwards (coffee, chocolate, diet coke, alcohol in modest amounts).

I'm just not sure how long I should be taking the ACV. I don't want to fix the problem and then create a whole new problem by having too much acid.

Note: dosage was 2 tblsp ACV in water with bfast, lunch and dinner. And raw garlic a couple times a day.

Hope this helps someone!