Has anyone got problems swallowing food?

[SusanCar]

I recently had a very nasty episode of chestpain .. it felt a little like hearburn.. but not quite the same. The pain was continuous all across my chest and had probs breathing.. I was at work and was taken to hospital.. they kept me in for 24hours.. thinking it was my heart.. it wasn't... I then had a gastreoscopy.. to find out why it happened to me.. it turns out that my Oesophagus is not working as it should.. nerves are firing in different places out of time with one another.. they call it a Nut Cracker Oesophagus as it goes into such a spasm it could crack a nut... apparently it was very evident during the procedure... markedly so. As it isn't isolated to one spot I now need a GTN spray to stop it ... consultant thought it might be my Fibromyalgia giving mixed signals.. in my tubes and also in my bowel where it also goes into spasm and was told it was IBS ... Has anyone else experienced this???? V scarey and also slightly concerned it will affect how the nerves operate other organs....please post if you have.. and is this new as I haven't seen this before

[tulips123]

Very interesting. I've had this problem ever since I can remember. Plays havoc when I cant get meds down. I thought it was a stress thing. Totally makes sense now. Thanks for sharing! XX

[Trikki]

Oh gosh how scary....I am sorry I cannot help with this as although I do get chest pain like a deep band tightening it isn't like yours but I Welcome you and hope you get some good advise from our members who are a friendly lot along with Admin who keep us in line when we get crazy silly!!!! Take care and gentle hugs xxx

[Sharolina]

Hey there Susancar,

Thanks for your post, it is something that happens to me, and because I suffer with Fibre everywhere, I have always just it down to my face, neck and shoulders being flared up and tense.

I use find that it happened most, when I was drinking from a glass or eating something that needed too much chewing, and then trying to swallow it. I have always been a slow eater, but after this had happened a few times, I began to use a straw to drink with and only eat small mouthfuls of food that are easy to chew.

For the last 6 years or so, I have cut out pretty much all meats or any hard food, because trying to chew them, makes my teeth, gums and jaws hurt so much. I have found that by doing this, it has helped me a great deal, and even though my diet is very restricted it is healthy; and it has reduced the number of times that it happens now.

Good luck, hope you find something that helps you. Sx

[Hidden]

Hello SusanCar- I recently had a gastro camera for the very same thing, I am at present on fluids only (partly to lose weight and partly to stop horrible pain when I try to swallow food-it gets stuck somewhere causing chest and back pain and up into my throat) I am now told to wait for a barium meal (yak) I saw my physio this week who believes its all connected to fibro/ME/CFS that muscle weakness can stop the swallowing process and the digestion process too, I have asked him if he will be present when I have this barium so that 2 pair of eyes might not home in on 1 problem and my physio and put his two penneth in!

[dizzylynn]

I get that when I drink, its blinking sore. I have ibs to but didn't think they 2 were related. Hope it settles for you, must have been very scary

[Lou1062]

You are not alone with this problem, it feels sometimes like I've forgotten how to swallow, I will add that I too have been checked out and the problem is down to nerve damage in my case xx

[TheAuthor]

Hi SusanCar

I am so genuinely sorry to read this and I sincerely hope that you do not experience this again. I have pasted you a link below to the Patient.com cache on Oesophageal Spasm, so I sincerely hope that you find this useful:

patient.info/doctor/oesopha...

I want to sincerely wish you all the best of luck, and please take care of yourself.

All my hopes and dreams for you

Ken

[donnabrain]

very interested

have spent the last fortnight choking on food and constantly having something stuck in my throat,was actually at A&E on Monday as had macaroni lodged and couldn't breathe

[donnabrain]

damn predictive text! Meant very interesting