GERD and Aspiration- help! (Be warned TMI)

I feel like I am the only person who has ever dealt with this-

I have a hernia (hyadial sp?) and some nasty acid reflux. Its not just the burning, but I feel like I am being attacked by my own body anymore!

I had another episode last night- This has happened 6 or seven times in the past 8 months or so. I am dead asleep (often without any kind of heartburn ) and I have this rush of stomach acid and fluids rush up my esophagus and into my throat. It yanks me up out of bed and then I instantly start almost choking. I actually breathe this crap into my lungs. It BURNS and it is scary. I feel like I am drowning, my body starts to try to vomit, but can't, I am violently coughing and gagging and this mucus/slime is running out of my mouth eyes and nose. And the Burn is unbelievable. every time I DO manage a breath- it feels like I am going to die. ( not at all dramatized) And I get this foamy / frothy gunk that I cough up with pieces of vomit in it. (i know it is gross- I am so sorry)

It is violent and it is not a quick thing- The worst of it is over in about 5-7 minutes (where I can manage to start breathing normally) but then I sit at the toilet for 30-40 minutes and just spit up and cough up slime.

Then I sleep sitting up, trying to ignore the burning throat , the awful taste in my mouth and labored breathing.

This scare the crap outta me- and frankly I am sick of it. Is this something that will hold me back from the surgery??? I am PRAYING that it will help it. Has anyone else had something like this????

I am also trying to decide if I should go to the doc and get this documented...

ABSOLUTELY get this documented but get it treated as well!!!  You can be doing permanent damage to your esophagus as well as to your lungs with GERD.  I also suffered the same symptoms you described before surgery.  It went on for years.  Finally I mentioned it to my doctor and he prescribed Acifex, a proton pump inhibitor, and that took care of the problem.  This is definitely one of the co-morbidities that we suffer from when we are morbidly obese.  It is life-threatening and it needs to be treated.  It will not hurt your chances for having surgery, rather, it will enhance them.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and surgery will take care of this in all likelihood!

Unfortunately, I had to delete this post due to privacy concerns.

Thank you both- I will call my doc today- I just so use to dealing with these things...

I definately dont want  pneumonia!

Something else to consider.

I also had a hiatal hernia and GERD.  But the root of my nighttime episodes was sleep apnea.  I got my CPAP back in March.  Since then I've not had this problem.    I would wake up gasping for air with that foul tasting burning action going on.

I just want to caution you about something else .  Be sure to brush your teeth no matter how you feel after one of these fits because the stomach acid will destroy your teeth from the backside and you will end up with lots and lots of high dollar dental work after all is said and done. 

Leslie

Oh absolutely!!! I try anything to get that awful taste out of my mouth!!!

I have gone through the same thing for years and finally got enough treatment to resolve the worst of it about 5 months before my surgery. I aspirated acid reflux in the middle of the night suddenly sometimes several times a week and would often develop bronchitis as a result Even worse it turns out I gave myself asthma. I had a chronic cough that just got worse and worse all the time even when I wasn't sick in any other way. I did use OTC medications that helped but they were never strong enough to consistantly do the trick for me. My PCP her in NC tried a variety of things to get to the bottom of my cough and finally sent me to an astma/allergy doctor. He diagnosed me with asthma and since I have been treated for that and with two Rx meds (xantex and nexium) I had a lot of relief and had only one bad episode that unfortunately resulted in brochitis and a postponment of my surgery. But I still eventually got my surgery and now I am here on the other side with no gerd and off those meds entirely. I still have asthma and take the meds for that but it is well controlled with a minimum of help and there is nearly no coughing ever.
It will not stop you from having surgery but getting it proerly controlled before surgery is very important so you can have it safely.