ASTHMA AND ACID REFLUX.

[AsthmaParent]

I am a Father of a daughter and she suffers with Asthma and acid reflux I am a very worrid Father.

Keith Cyril Goodall.

[HungryHufflepuff]

Has your daughter tried Slippery Elm? It’s a natural remedy for acid reflux. You can get capsules or a powder but I get the capsules. They do help. Also sleeping upright will help to lessen the problem. If she doesn’t already, she can get a GERD pillow (wedge pillow) or just a stack of pillows. You’re a great dad to be worrying about your daughter. Wishing you both all the best.

[Hidden]

There are things she can do to help with this:

1). Certain foods are known to cause problems with acid reflux: anything with caffeine in it (and that includes chocolate - sorry), anything spicy, anything very fatty, citrus fruits, pineapple, mint, and tomatoes are all common triggers, though inevitably food triggers do differ from sufferer to sufferer.

2). Eating little and often is better than three large meals a day.

3). Do not bend over, crouch down or do anything that might put pressure on the stomach for at least an hour after eating and avoid going to bed for at least three hours after eating an evening meal.

4). As has already been suggested raising the head end of your body when going to bed is a good idea. The easiest way of doing this is to raise the head end of the bed by about five inches. I have tried pillows, but found that I tended to slip of them during the night.

Hope some of this helps, but it might be an idea if she sees a doctor as well. Persistent heartburn can cause other problems if it is allowed to continue for too long.

[strongmouse in reply to Hidden]

Depends on the age of your daughter. If she is still growing then you need to be careful when changing a diet. Keeping a food and activity diary might help to gain an overall pattern of her health and any triggers. Some food triggers can be delayed. Finding out about allergies may be useful if they are suspected for either asthma or acid reflux or both. General doctors aren't always well informed about allergies but you can be referred if there is good reason for suspecting this.

For the asthma make sure that she has an Allergy Plan so that you know what to do if her asthma gets worse.

Asthma UK website is useful and Allergy UK has a section on allergies (I have both and suffer from GORD (gastro oesophageal reflux). It is possible to manage both, depends on the severity. Asthma UK have a telephone helpline run by trained asthma nurses.

[Hidden in reply to strongmouse]

True, though most of the triggers I mentioned can be missed without a huge impact nutritionally - even for a youngster:-). Food doesn’t have to be spicy to be nutritionally valuable, or very fatty and a daily caffeine fix is not essential. There are other sources of vitamin C as well, though admitted citrus fruits are easily one of the best. Not sure about pineapple and mint.

As I stated, she should really see a doctor and, if deemed necessary, a referral to a gastroenterologist. Severe reflux can result in a lot of weight loss (as happened with me and with one of my sons when he was a baby - both of my sons actually had reflux issues as babies, but one very badly); persistent severe reflux over a period of time can result in damage to the oesophagus and that really should be avoided.

[Debd]

I am a brittle asthmatic and have had 4 to 6 hospital admissions a year for the last 10 years. I also have acid reflux. I am on medication for the reflux - esomeprazole, ranitidine, prucalopride & Sucralfate. I had already made all the changes as MaggieHP had suggested then in October last year I took out all of the foods in MaggieHP’s list along with garlic, onions, tea, milk and of course cheese, all fatty foods, including high fat meats and all rich food including gravy, roasts, carbonated drinks. I now eat bread, boiled vegetables and lean chicken, turkey and fish which is not high in oil and drink water. One month later and my asthma has gone and not come back. I have not used a Nebuliser since the 11th November. In me, not all people, the reflux was causing my lungs to be very inflamed and then when I came into contact with a trigger my lungs were already inflamed so my asthma attack became very severe very quickly. It took a month on this diet for my lungs to return to normal.

I do eat a cave man diet which is extremely limited but it is worth it. A side note is that I have lost 9kgs from the new diet.

Reflux can cause breathlessness and coughing especially after meals.

Hope this helps. It’s always worth trying everything

[ChrissieMons]

Talk it over with the GP. Take your daughter with you to make sure you both understand what to do. Especially explain why you are so worried.

[pffft2017]

I reckon my acid reflux caused my asthma as I didn't develop it until 2010. Lots of good tips from other answers here. Is she on proton pump inhibitors? Personally I prefer Ranitidine and 48 tablets of Rennies a week. tell her not to sleep on her back and prop the bed up etc. I use a ball in a sock pinned to the back of my PJs to stop me sleeping on my back. Certain foods will trigger it, she'll soon discover her own personal triggers, but I've never had problems with chocolate. Onions, grapes, cucumber and citrus are my Kryptonite.

[Hidden in reply to pffft2017]

Lucky you being able to eat chocolate; I started to have problems with that five years ago:-(. Even now, when things have improved greatly, the only chocolate I know won’t cause any problems is white chocolate (no caffeine). Otherwise I have to be careful. Coffee and tea are both a definite no.

[pffft2017 in reply to Hidden]

So sorry to hear that, but at least you can tolerate Milky Bars etc; I had no idea choc had caffeine in it as I have the same problems with some brands of tea, but strangely not Tesco's value coffee, maybe it's not really coffee at all haha.

[Hidden in reply to pffft2017]

I have managed to eat Smarties in small amounts in recent months. But then there’s not a huge amount of chocolate in them and what there is is almost certainly not high quality chocolate containing a high percentage of cocoa solids (which contains the caffeine).