no. 15 – A Thank You Note
to Acid Reflux
and Google
I’m no doctor, but my
initials do happen to
be “Dr. C.” So here
is a little story that
proves that my initials
a more than a little bit
poignant. I do not
generally awaken to
find that I’m drowning.
But that is precisely
what I felt was hap
pening when I woke
up this morning, just
a few short minutes ago.
It seemed at first as if
I had awoken from some
sort of coughing,
wheezing, fever
dream in which I had
been for at least an
hour. So when I
did finally come to,
I felt like each
attempted ex
halation, each
burning cough,
might be my
last. And what
a last breath
that might be.
So I looked it
up. Apparently,
It’s pretty un
common to die
from inhaling
acid reflux.
Chronic acid
reflux (and I
haven’t read
enough yet to
know whether
or not this is a
thing I actually
suffer from – nor
what makes it
chronic? If it
happens a lot, I
figure it’s chronic;
that seems a logical
supposition.) is called
GERD. No idea what
that stands for, but
it must be an acronym
because it’s noted here
several times all caps.
I scroll further down to
make the real disco
very, though: “A per
son may suddenly
awaken feeling as
though they are suf
focating.” This sounds,
from what I can tell, like
quite an entirely separate
issue than inhaling bile
that roils up the wind
pipe and into the lungs,
right? And it is. How
ever, and it says it
right here, in bold,
“It also is often related
to GERD.” Hmm. Well,
it turns out that this ail
ment is called laryngospasm.
And furthermore I’ve experi
enced this particular phenom
enon, and am now here to
tell you, as far back as I can
remember. It has happened
as little as perhaps once or
twice a year to maybe 10 or
15 times a month. “The things
you learn when you do a bit
of research,” I think. And
I realize that by now, I am
breathing a whole lot easier.
to Acid Reflux
and Google
I’m no doctor, but my
initials do happen to
be “Dr. C.” So here
is a little story that
proves that my initials
a more than a little bit
poignant. I do not
generally awaken to
find that I’m drowning.
But that is precisely
what I felt was hap
pening when I woke
up this morning, just
a few short minutes ago.
It seemed at first as if
I had awoken from some
sort of coughing,
wheezing, fever
dream in which I had
been for at least an
hour. So when I
did finally come to,
I felt like each
attempted ex
halation, each
burning cough,
might be my
last. And what
a last breath
that might be.
So I looked it
up. Apparently,
It’s pretty un
common to die
from inhaling
acid reflux.
Chronic acid
reflux (and I
haven’t read
enough yet to
know whether
or not this is a
thing I actually
suffer from – nor
what makes it
chronic? If it
happens a lot, I
figure it’s chronic;
that seems a logical
supposition.) is called
GERD. No idea what
that stands for, but
it must be an acronym
because it’s noted here
several times all caps.
I scroll further down to
make the real disco
very, though: “A per
son may suddenly
awaken feeling as
though they are suf
focating.” This sounds,
from what I can tell, like
quite an entirely separate
issue than inhaling bile
that roils up the wind
pipe and into the lungs,
right? And it is. How
ever, and it says it
right here, in bold,
“It also is often related
to GERD.” Hmm. Well,
it turns out that this ail
ment is called laryngospasm.
And furthermore I’ve experi
enced this particular phenom
enon, and am now here to
tell you, as far back as I can
remember. It has happened
as little as perhaps once or
twice a year to maybe 10 or
15 times a month. “The things
you learn when you do a bit
of research,” I think. And
I realize that by now, I am
breathing a whole lot easier.
