Excess gas = aerophagia?

I have had lots of gas for sometime now and since I drink quite a bit of carbonated beverages all day long I thought perhaps that gas in the pop was causing the gas.

I had an operation to stop GERD which was wonderful. They tightened up the valve at the top of my stomach to keep stuff from coming up.

Sideeffect is that I don't belch or throwup. Haven't needed to throwup actually. But I have to deliberately work at belching. So I figured that valve is so tight that gas can't come out of the stomach so there is only one other way for it to go.

In the morning I am fine ... no gas. By afternoon I have some. By evening I could inflate the Goodyear blimp.

So I just went 4 days without any carbonated beverages. Not really much help.

There is some small improvement but not hardly enough to mention.

So I got to thinking that I had read about people having aerophagia here where they swallow air. I'm not aware of doing that but I sleep like a log anyway.

I thought that perhaps that is it. Maybe I swallow air during the night and it can't come back up so it has to work it's way through the intestines. That is why I'm fine in the morning and as the day goes on it gets worse and worse.

IS THERE ANY WAY TO STOP AEROPHAGIA?

I'm on straight CPAP at 9.2 cm currently.

Hi Arizona-Willie,

I suffer from the side effects of Aerophagia do to GERD and I think that most people that undergo surgery to correct this condition no longer have a problem with Aerophagia or it is very much reduced. I have a sister-in-law that had the surgery done and she has to be careful of eating or drinking foods, beverages that cause gas. No way for it to go but out one way, she says it is better now but for a few weeks after surgery she had gas pains, if she ate foods that caused gas,

I'm thinking about having the surgery next year to stop GERD and hopefully Aerophagia.

Dan

I'm not a doctor or a respiratory specialist but....for me, aerophagia manifests itself while I'm on the machine and shortly afterwards....it doesn't increase as the day goes on.

I'm at a pretty high pressure (13) with no exhale relief, so once or twice per night or so (actually, usually towards early morning hours) I'll have to burp the whole alphabet. Prior to that, while I was still getting used to my new pressure, aerophagia meant waking up with sharp stabbing pains and a noticeably distended belly (I could press on it and then burp the alphabet twice.)

I don't know if anyone else here has the experience of the air making its way further down the digestive tract and causing problems later in the day, like you have. Maybe since you can't burp it has nowhere else to go but down? Definitely worth a followup with your doc.

In terms of what helped me get past the initial intolerance at the new pressure, I set my ramp to 20 minutes (I hadn't been using it previously). If you have a ramp feature you're not using, definitely give it a try.

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I had the laparoscopic nissan fundoplication surgery at Mayo in Scottsdale and it is wonderful. They have newer operations now where they use a nylon band like the lapbands for weight loss. They can easily ( relatively ) be adjusted or removed.

It stopped the GERD but I never had this gas problem until I went on CPAP a bit over 2 years ago. I had the GERD surgery in 99. So I went years without excess gas. It started after CPAP so I'm thinking it may well be aerophagia.

The air gets forced down the throat to keep the airway open and some may go down the wrong tube and into the stomach. Once in the stomach there is no way out but through the back door.

So I'm thinking CPAP is causing the problem.

Now to figure out a way to deal with it or stop it if possible.

I've been in the bedroom working with piles of pillows trying to come up with a lashup that lets me sleep on my stomach. Thinking that since the airway collapses when you lay on your back or side ... possibly laying on my stomach would let gravity aid in the fight. I used to sleep on my stomach all the time but since I got fat and look like I'm 7 months pregnant it hurts to lay on the bulge. Yeah I'm working on it ... down 9 pounds and about 40 to go.

If I can fix up something that lets me sleep on my stomach and my software shows no apneas or hypopneas then I will try lowering the pressure and that might help with the aerophagia .... I hope.

I was thinking of a massage table to sleep on but I don't believe in separate beds or bedrooms. Don't think Da Boss would be too happy about it either ... not to mention confusing the hell out of the cats.

That's why I am on Bipap auto with Biflex, it allows me to bring my Epap up high enough so that exhaling against the higher Ipap pressure seems like natural breathing, it really helps to control Aerophagia. straight Cpap and Apap auto with Cflex caused a lot of Aerophagia. Hopping Nissen surgery along with the Bipap auto will finally stop the aerophagia once and for all and the GERD, that's a major problem also.

You will find that Bipap auto with Biflex provides excellent exhale relief against high Ipap pressure, at least it does for me. The best machine that I have used so far.

Dan