Indigestion

[Lynne1955]

Am I imagining this, but have some of you found that you get indigestion with COPD? I have never suffered from it before, but have had it about once a week for about 4 weeks and its quite painful.

I take health salts, burp a lot and it goes off. It's horrible.

Lynne xx

[libby7827]

I get it when I'm taking steroids, but only occasionally otherwise. Libby

[Hidden]

I have emphysema. I know acid reflux can affect the lungs. I think you should seek advice to be on the safe side.

Auntymary xx

[dall05]

I have certainly suffered more with indigestion since getting my Fibrosis and find that it can make quite a differrence to my breathing. I guess that if your stomach gets pushed into your diaphram and the lungs then its bound to effect your breathing. The GP has put me on Lansoprazole recently to help and it seems to have done the trick. Auntymary has a good point because you don't want stomach acid getting into the lungs so its worth taking it quite seriously.

[Hidden]

Before diagnosis I really struggled with it. I'm on omeprazole now and it's completely disappeared. Hope you get some respite from it Lynne.

Mx

[Hidden]

Hi

I was diagnosed with COPD 3 years ago. I get acid indigestion every now and then (not nice), which I never suffered from before. I don't think its due to the type of food but I don't eat very large meals anymore, more snacking, this seems to help deal with it.

I read somewhere that there are a couple of explanations for this

with copd our lungs get bigger so press on our stomach which makes acid reflux more likely

and that the type of muscle that is damaged/inflamed in copd (smooth muscle) is the same type of muscle that is in the stomach .... no idea if that is right or not but I do know that acid indigestion or acid reflux (called GERD too I think) is common with copd....I don't think any medics etc really know yet

Bolilly

[Gordon57]

I get it regularly, usually like a bubbly feeling just under the bottom of the rib cage. As though I've been drinking fizzy pop. I get a lot of wind, in both directions, and occasional GERD, My stomach goes tight too.

I have Lansoprazole for it, which takes it off, but I take those in the morning and by bedtime it's back

It gets worse if I'm taking steroids, the uncoated white prednisolone set me off, so I always ask for the red coated ones now. There's an argument about cost, where the red ones cost nearly 8 times as much as the white ones, but you can still get the coated ones if you've had an adverse reaction to the uncoated. It is documented on a few NHS websites.

[Hidden in reply to Gordon57]

hi Gordon why don't you have the lapsoprazole one hour before you have your evening meal at least you might get a good nights sleep without acid burn.

go on give it a try.

all the best.

redmod

[Hidden]

I get indigestion loads. I find it helps to drink milk. But if its more severe your doctor can prescribe something better.

Bev x

[Hidden]

I started to suffer with that,was put on nexium,found it to be marvellous for a while.However finally diagnosed with GERD,and was operated on, they told me my stomach was pushing up to the lungs,and everything out of proportion.This was 10 years ago,and no further trouble since.Was amazed at the time, how much easier my breathing became! However my copd was not as bad as it is now!!

Please do check it out though,as it can be serious.

Hugs Wendells xxx

[PollyP]

Hi, I was diagnosed with GERD last year, and at times the pain was so severe (at 04.00 hrs!) thought I was having a heart attack! Probably due to the medication like Phyllocontin which relaxes the oesophageal valve and allows stomach acid to flow back from the stomach to the oesophagus

Now take Gaviscon Advance every night before bed and have raised the bed head by using blocks and things are better. Yay!

Good luck with managing yours x

[hufferpuffer]

everydayhealth.com/health-r...

I was prescribed Omeprazole, luckily no side effects, and its so good never having to reach for the Rennies! See your Doctor,lots of info for you, Carol xxx

[Hidden]

My husband suffers with it in bouts and it is dreadful. He had a really bad bout of it all last week and as mysteriously as it arrived, it has disappeared. He finds liver salts help but not much else. If it carried on I will take him to the Doctor! Good Luck - hope it subsides. PS My sister tells me it is a side effect from taking steroids. TAD xx