Acid Reflux and CPAP

Everyone,

I saw a new doctor to get help with my sleep hypopnea. He told me that my CPAP machine could cause acid reflux. He said the acid reflux in turn could be causing me to lose my voice. I have been losing my voice which is not good because I teach school. The doctor's couldn't agree on why I was losing my voice. Two days ago after seeing the new doctor I started taking an OTC med. My voice is not totally back but it is considerably better!!!

kb5sxr

kb5sxr wrote:Everyone,

I saw a new doctor to get help with my sleep hypopnea. He told me that my CPAP machine could cause acid reflux. He said the acid reflux in turn could be causing me to lose my voice. I have been losing my voice which is not good because I teach school. The doctor's couldn't agree on why I was losing my voice. Two days ago after seeing the new doctor I started taking an OTC med. My voice is not totally back but it is considerably better!!!

kb5sxr

Untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea and acid reflux seem to often go hand-in-hand.
If a person with OSA were not using CPAP, the diaphragm/abdomen muscles at work during the struggle to get air during sleep could compress the stomach and cause acid to get pushed upward, I'd think.

I doubt that using CPAP would cause acid reflux. More likely the acid reflux problem was there before CPAP. There's such a thing as "Silent GERD." A person could have acid reflux problems for years and not be aware of it.

Glad to hear the OTC med for acid reflux is working for you, kb. Hope the CPAP is, too!

Reflux is acid traveling up the esophagus. My guess is that the pressure produced by the CPAP forces the acid back down.

I used to have horrible reflux, even when I went to bed with an empty stomach. No problems whatsoever since being on cpap! I think it was the suction created by not breathing that would bring things up my esophagus--it always happened just as I was really falling into a deeper sleep level.

This was a benefit I hadn't anticipated, and am very happy about it!

Weezy

@ bk5xsr

I was having problems with acid reflux. The Dr prescribed a med to lower the stomach acidity, this med brought me to have digestions problems. Each time I eat I felt I had like a ball in the throat, really weird feeling.

After several weeks feeling like that I discovered the reason was that I was not digesting properly. I read the good level of acidity in the stomach promotes the production of an enzyme you need for digestion. Guess what? I stopped the med the Dr prescribed, NOTE that I'm not suggesting you to stop the med I'm only talking my story.

The solution I found was to try to discover which kind of food I was not able to eat the evening. For me it's all kind of things with fat (pork, cheese, bacon, etc) or with a lot of fiber (celery, etc) and not to eat at least 3 hours before going to sleep. This is my recipe to ban acid reflux.

This is almost unbelievable how my pressure goes to the minimum and the AHI is low when I respect my recipe. Two days ago I eat lamb for supper, I was sure my pressure was going to go to the max (11CM), and it was the result. One week ago I was fasting 12hours to go to blood tests. That day my pressure was the minimum (8CM) and AHI= 0.5. I have check this for some time and it's proven.

I know I don't need meds if I survey what I eat and when.

My Dr. had prescribed the medication as a test for 2 months and then 1 month without it, and had told me to go on internet and read about acid reflux and how to control it. I needed to go see him after the 3 months test, he was very happy to know the med was not necessary.

Hope this could help you.

Before I went on CPAP therapy, I'd wake up about once a week with terrible acid reflux, that would cause a sour burp, and in turn would go into my lungs, which would cause me one heck of a coughing "jag." I'd wake up not being able to breath, and coughing to the point of gagging.

Since the therapy started, I have not had one single incident! Personally, I'd say CPAP has helped!

Acid reflux is something I'm very fearful of, as my Dad died of esophageal and stomach cancer, which acid reflux can certainly cause or at least contribute to.

I was having symptoms similar to acid reflux, so my doctor prescribed generic Prilosec. My sore throat improved almost immediately. I never thought about it, but last night it came to me (or should I say it came up me). While coming out of deep sleep, I noticed that with many breaths, I was burping. It was very subtle, but very consistent. I swallow some of the pressurized air, and it was coming back up as stomach gas. Now if I can only figure out how not to swallow air.

If you want to completely rid yourself of acid reflux eat a Red Delicious apple between dinner and bedtime. Apples take care of a lot of things and the old saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" has been around for eons! Don't eat a tart apple like Granny Smith expecting the same results. Good eating! Works for me.

That's good. I don't know why the cpap would cause the gerd though. I know how it feels. Take nexium.

kb5sxr wrote:Everyone,

I saw a new doctor to get help with my sleep hypopnea. He told me that my CPAP machine could cause acid reflux. He said the acid reflux in turn could be causing me to lose my voice. I have been losing my voice which is not good because I teach school. The doctor's couldn't agree on why I was losing my voice. Two days ago after seeing the new doctor I started taking an OTC med. My voice is not totally back but it is considerably better!!!

kb5sxr

I too had acid reflux episodes BEFORE cpap, but not even once since starting cpap.

CPAP can inflate your esophagus the same way it inflates your airway and cause your lower esophageal sphincter to open, increasing reflux. Plus air in the stomach and belching.

I think apnea can also cause you to force acid up out of your stomach as you're fighting to catch a breath as well.

Before doing nexium, read up on the controversy about whether nexium is really any better than prilosec.