Re: NIGHT TIME CHOKE ATTACKS

[Guest guest]

Penny Levesque

One piece of advice would be to eat your big meal at lunch and very little in the evening -

so if food has a chance to go down then you might have a lesser chance of aspirating.

Another, try Nifedipine ( a blood pressure medicine that works on the lower esophageal

spincter by relaxing it). This is an excellent medication and when I first took it - I had

a wonderful time eating. As your body gets use to it then its potential diminishes. For me

that was about 2 years. It also helps esophageal spasms. I highly recommend it if your MD. approves.

If you are aspirating - then you want your MD to know that as your chances

for pneumonia are greater. They may take your into surgery more quickly if they

know that you are aspirating at night.

Best of luck to you and if you need any more advice please don't hesitate to ask.

This group is great for giving it.

Bobbie

[Guest guest]

Penny - when I experienced this before my Heller, I would wash out my esophagus about 3 hours before bed & then take nothing by mouth until the next AM. I would sleep sitting upright. However, if you can't get fluids down at all, I highly recommend an emergency visit to your GI doctor. If worse comes to worse, they can at least dilate you a bit to "tide you over" to surgery. They did that for me & it helped at night. Cindi in PA

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[Guest guest]

Hi Penny,

I found your post very interesting (I'm a newbie here and learning

more each day), the waking up choking on liquid is THE first really

scarey symptom that I can remember developing. I was having that

problem roughly 4 to 5 mornings per week. It might be completely

unrelated, but I stopped drinking diet soda at night and switched to

fruit juices (mostly natural cranberry) and this particular symptom

has slowed to about once a week. To me, waking up choking on liquid

(drowning really) is the scariest symptom to me (although, the

crushing chest pains, which I have learned here are actually E

spasms, are a close second). By the way, since the morning choking

has ebbed a bit, the night time spasms have become less frequent as

well! Now, I don't know if ANY of this is related to my consumption

of soda at night, but heck, I can live without it!!

Good luck,

Mike

> Hello just need some advise latley i have been having more of the

> choking attacks where i wake up unable to breath beacuse fluids

> coming up from stomach and going into my lungs my bed is on a angle

> i have lots of pillows and the only water i take is little sips

when

> i have the spasms which unfortunatly are getting more often i have

> appointment to see doc in london on june 24 and heaven knows when i

> will get the myotamy and help you could give would be welcomed.

> Thanks Penny

[Guest guest]

Penny, welcome to the group!Are you able to "regurgitate" voluntarily? If so, I would be sure to clear as much as you can from your esophagus before retiring at night. You may also want to set an alarm for the middle of the night, so you can get up and regurge the accumulated saliva and go back to bed w/o having to deal with the coughing/choking and that awful feeling of terror when you wake up not knowing why you can't breathe, etc.

There are numerous things you can do to try to treat the pains -- I'll paste my "info sheet" here for you at the end of my message. Your doctor should be willing to prescribe you something NOW, without you having to wait three weeks for your appt. Please check into it... I hate for people to suffer needlessly!Debbi in Michigan

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Here's some basic info that I've posted in the past -- different things work for different people, so it's basically just an experiment to find what works for your situation.

The official medical term for the "spasm pain" is "NCCP" -- Non Cardiac Chest Pain.

Here are some different coping methods to try:

-- Swallowing something warm or something cold

-- CCB medication (calcium channel blockers) -- I prick the shell of a nifedipine capsule and squirt it under my tongue. It absorbs into the bloodstream under the tongue (this is called a sub-lingual medication, meaning under-tongue) and relaxes smooth muscle tissue (which is what the esophagus is made up of.) unfortunately, it can also lower your blood pressure (usually only a problem if you already have low BP to begin with) and cause a headache afterwards

-- Nitroglycerin medication -- works in much the same way as the CCB mentioned above, and can also be taken sublingually for fast relief.

-- Certain anti-depressant and anti-convulsant medications -- some people don't have NCCPs when on these types of medications, believed to be a function of the medicine's effect on serotonin in the brain (antidepressants such as Nortryptaline, Amitryptaline, Imipramine and Trazodone have been studied; Neurontin is being studied in a similar way for "phantom limb pain" in amputees, etc.)

-- L'Argnine supplements -- some people have found these relieve NCCP symptoms

-- If symptoms are debilitating and none of the methods above help, you may need a narcotic pain reliever, but definitely try all the options above first, b/c if you're on narcotics you can't drive, work, etc., and the vast majority of people can find relief in a way that doesn't involve narcotics

In the last few years I've taken three different drugs that affect serotonin (one of which isn't considered to be an anti-depressant medication, but which does have a serotonin effect nonetheless); any time I was on one of those drugs, my NCCPs have either disappeared entirely, or been all but eliminated. And each time I discontinued a serotonin-effect drug, the NCCPs started up again within a month's time. One member here who was in the E.R. repeatedly for debilitating NCCPs finally had a doctor prescribe a low-dose daily antidepressant; her NCCPs have been eliminated.... no more pain, no more narcotics, no more trips to the hospital.

There are soooooooooooo many things that can be done to reduce NCCPs, but doctors don't even bother to TRY to find a solution for us. I say let THEM curl up in a fetal position making plea-bargain deals with their Maker at 3:00 in the morning just ONCE, and you can bet your booty that they'll find a solution REAL fast!!! :oP

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Hello just need some advise latley i have been having more of the choking attacks where i wake up unable to breath beacuse fluids coming up from stomach and going into my lungs my bed is on a angle i have lots of pillows and the only water i take is little sips when i have the spasms which unfortunatly are getting more often i have appointment to see doc in london on june 24 and heaven knows when i will get the myotamy and help you could give would be welcomed. Thanks Penny