swallowing difficult

M

Margarita de la Rosa

New member
hello ,

i am new to this forum and found it on google. i just want a quick answer.

I have been having mild but annoying swallowing difficulty for about 3 weeks, and some mild chest discomfort occasionally too. i do not have any medical conditions. also, eating is not neccesarily worse than just swallowing saliva.

also, i seem to have been feeling a little weird. things seem to look sort of scary to me recently. sort of like the flu.

because of some searching the internet it would seem to be esophageal spasms but maybe its something else (hopefully anyways, because i want it to get better and im not even in my 20s yet).

any answers would be great.
 
I had "esophogeal spasms" for almost 9 years before a thyroid nodule was discovered accidentally during an ultrasound of my neck for swollen lymph glands.

if your nodule is positioned so that it is pressing on your windpipe then food has difficulty traveling through the upper portion of the esophagus to the stomach and you will choke on food and have to throw it up.

I had to have my nodule removed along with half the thyroid gland. I also have a small cyst on the remaining 1/2.

I was better immediately!
 
it sounds like you are on the right track in your searching. Have you seen a doctor? When you swallow does it make you feel like you are choking? and then does it just come back up? I am referring to your saliva. I have a condition called Achalasia, meaning you cannot swallow. Sometimes I am O.K., and then there are times I cannot swallow even my own saliva. I also have a condition in my esophagus that is called no motility, meaning it does not work at all, there are no contractions at all pushing the food down, so when I eat, the food just has to fall down which makes it rather hard to eat. I have to eat soft foods, no bulky foods such as meat, etc..

Now, refering to the esophageal spasms, I do get those also, they can mimic a heart attack, they hurt pretty bad. I have had them so long that now I just eat soda crackers when I get them, until they go away. You can also take a muscle relaxer for these, which I also take.

If you have not seen a gastroenterologist yet, you need to see one, you are probably not as bad off as I was when I went, so please go see one, I wish you well.

Sunny
 
Hi,

Sounds like Eosinophilic Esophagitis. I was having the same symptoms in Aug. 09 and was diagnosed in October with an endoscopy and biopsy. I'm on Flovent/swallowed and Prilosec and having more tests for food allergies later this month. One day you feel okay then one night you wake up and it hurts to swallow your saliva:( I've had some minor relief. Still have chest pain. I can swallow my own spit now without thinking about it. I hope to have more improvement once I have my food allergies under control.

I went to a GP first and he put me on Protonix for 10 days to see if it was just a matter of irritation or gerd. It didn't help. I went for a barium test that showed everything was okay. Then ended up with a Gastroenterologist who scoped me and did a biopsy. Some find it hard to get a proper diagnosis. It's rare and has been known as a kid's disorder. Now more and more adults are getting it. It may be something else entirely. I'm just giving you my own story.
Good luck and best wishes.
 
no, i never have choked on my saliva. it is more of a thing that gets better sometimes then gets worse again. it has never felt like a heart attack. it seems to get worse when eating. also, it seems like this all started after drinking coca cola. maybe im wrong but it seems like that is what triggered it.

also, if it was a spasm would it ever go away because ive read somewhere that it doesnt.
 
Drinking a coke can be the start, sometimes having carbonated drinks are really bad, I cannot drink carbonated drinks, they cause ma a lot of problems. Asking if spasms can go away....well, I guess that asks the question "what do you mean by do they go away" of course they go away for a time and they come back, and they go away again. Do they go away for good? I would like to know if that is possible myself, as I have had them since 1981. So far, they have not gone away, but they have lessened in time.

Sunny
 
why wouldnt it go away? what is it about it that wouldnt stop? other spasms go away afterall.

could it be due to an overdose on msg? i do remember eating a fair amount of what was left of a maruchan ramen flavoring packet after adding some on the noodles.

anyway, i hope this isnt going to get worse, if it is the spasms.

I will see a doctor by the end of this week probably.
 
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