Are you struggling with wine allergies, leading to coughing and wheezing? You are not alone. We would like to share Betty’s personal experience with Peptest, a simple and effective test that helped her uncover the cause of her symptoms and take control of her health.
Discovering the Problem
Around 2012, I developed an unusual allergy to wines. This allergy often led to severe coughs, especially at night when I went to bed, and in colder weather conditions, it almost felt like asthma attacks. I was aware that alcohol could trigger reflux and decided to stop drinking wines, but the bedtime coughing still haunted me badly.
Finding Peptest
When I discovered Peptest, I decided to give it a try. I provided three samples: two after my main meals and one upon waking up in the morning. My test results came back strongly positive – with readings of more than 200 ug/mL, as I recall.
Realising the Trigger
Armed with this new information, I began to connect the dots. I realised that not only could alcohol consumption trigger my nighttime symptoms, but also eating large meals before bedtime. This explained why stopping alcohol didn’t completely stop my nighttime coughing.
Making a Change
Once I pinpointed reflux and the habits that triggered it, I was able to make specific lifestyle changes. I had to stop my alcohol intake, which was unfortunate but necessary, and became mindful of my meal sizes before bed. I also added an extra pillow to raise my head, making it more difficult for stomach contents to reflux.
I always kept Gaviscon, an OTC reflux medication, by my bedside to take if I had a big meal or started experiencing suspected reflux symptoms like coughing. I also kept an asthma inhaler prescribed just in case the asthma attacks returned. However, since taking all these steps to manage my reflux, I have not had an asthma attack.
Long-term Benefits
Even now, 12 years later, I still use Peptest to monitor my condition. Although I continue to test positive, the concentration of pepsin in my saliva is much lower. This indicates that my reflux is under control, thanks to the lifestyle changes I made based on my Peptest results.
That’s my story with Peptest. I hope it gives you some inspiration on how to use Peptest to determine whether reflux is causing your problems and take action to manage them. To me, taking control of my own health is empowering. Once I knew what I was dealing with, I could take the right steps to cope with reflux. The solution doesn’t always require prescription drugs or surgery. Reflux may not be cured entirely, but adjusting my lifestyle has helped me avoid or minimise reflux events.
Editor’s note:
Everybody’s reflux experience is different. We are sharing some real patient stories about how they’ve used a simple test like Peptest to detect reflux and manage their lives differently. For privacy reasons, some of the names have been changed or remain anonymous. We welcome you to share your stories to help more people manage their health actively and wisely.
Keywords:
- reflux management
- reflux test
- reflux symptoms
- pepsin test
- acid reflux
- asthma and reflux
- wine allergy reflux
- reflux diagnosis
- reflux lifestyle changes
- reflux and asthma prevention