wahooo.....my first post and its actually useful.
dude its most likely acid reflux. its freaky shit man. it took me a while to find some docs who knew what they were doing but im definitly glad i did. especially cuz i have mild asthma which i havent experienced in years but suddenly had deja vu with a few months ago. i was having severe acid reflux which exactly as said above was aspirating into my lungs and setting off my asthma as well as making my chest feel like i was having a heart attack.
go to your gastrointerologist, tell him your symptoms and mention whats going on, as said above protonix is good stuff. i hate presciption meds but within 2-3 days i was fine from the protonix. unfortunatly they mostly suggest you stay on it indefinitly. so i used the protonix for 6 weks and picked up with coral calcium (great for overall ph) 3,000mg day (actual calcium about 500mg depending on brand), terramin clay at night, kinda tastes like ass but works great. also get mor vegetables. ive been using juice plus which is a capsulated veggie and fruit supp without the sugar. if you read Muscualr Development, this probably sounds familiar as i t was also recomended to me by dave palumbo. i know some arnt too high on him but he helped me out with this kinda stuff on more then one occasion and hes been right.
sorry for the reponse being so long but i know too well what this is like, it seriously feels like the end. plus all the potein we all eat doesnt help with out acidity.
anyway in summary:
-try alkaline water (ph balanced)
-coral calcium (1,500mg x 2 times daily)
-Juice plus (check dave plaumbo's site store or google it. its $$$ but works)
-terramin clay (again hard to fina a little $$$ but google it, it works!)
these are just a few suggestions that ive used since my experience and its work great so far. again protonix is supposed to be pretty safe and it cetainly works, but i have a thing with prescription meds that if i can find a natural alternative i take it. anyway good luck, and DO NOT i repeat DO NOT drink alcohol with protonix or any acid reducer like zantac! good luck man