Swallowing

[Puddywoods]

Hi all

Do any of you suffer from problems with swallowing which is connected to Fibro ?

I am struggling to eat solid foods as they become stuck in my food pipe and I have to force it down with copious amounts of water, it has got to the point where I'm just eating wet food.

I am having investigative work done but after researching it found an article that states there is a lot of Fibro sufferers that have this problem due to the muscles in the food pipe being affected by Fibromyalgia.

Any experiences greatly appreciated.

[Nicjy]

I have had problems but after investigation found nodules on thyroid gland I had a procedure done few years ago were they stretched something in throat which helped but started again waiting to see specialist again its not food with me its saliva but I am suffering with anxiety I think that as a lot to do with it hope you get sorted soon

[Puddywoods in reply to Nicjy]

Oh I'm sorry to hear of your problems. My Auntie had similar problem to you and she too suffered with anxiety and it was connected to that, hers felt as if she had a small ball in there but all was clear when they tested her. However given that you have previously had issues it could be connected to that too.

Hope you get it sorted and your not having to go down the surgery route again.

Interesting about the Thyroid as I had a raised TFT result on one of the test which is being repeated next month before they consider investigations / treatments.

[KimiJay]

Thanks Puddywoods. I didn't know about the muscles affecting fibro. Helpful that. I have learned to give lots of loud Hahs to cough stuff up! - The more raucous the better if something goes down the wrong way. I do make lots of vegetable soup from a soup maker. Or you can use a blender. Swedish glace ice cream is a good treat. I try to make sure I have water handy to swig back. And soft fruit like papaya is helpful for ibs too and goes down ok. Good luck.

[Cotswolds25121]

Will reply to you asap. With much information

[JayCeon]

Hi there - Maybe some ideas for you.

I get total esophagus blocks regularly. May be different to yours, as drinking didn't help, only waiting with enormous pain or getting the food out again if it took too long, which was pretty easy. Neither docs (gastroscopy) nor patients could help with this. First time I heard something similar was someone in the fibro clinic saying she also had it. Like you I thought it was muscular, similar to bladder pain, which however I get down reliably using the amino acid GABA to increase my serotonin. This doesn't work for my esophagus. I tried to chew better, that didn't make much difference: The food was never unchewed. One tip for "steakhouse-syndrome" is drinking something fizzy, which occasionally helps. In my case only a small sip of very fizzy water. But only if it's on the brink, otherwise that increases the pain in severe pangs.

Then I caught a gastritis last November, with vomiting 3 or 4 times, only a few hours altogether. But after that the blocks went from a few times a month to about once a day. Having got MCAS as a new jab-triggered condition afterwards, I decided to get the esophagus checked for several things. The GI found a Schatzki-Ring, which constricts my esophagus by about a third. This was not yet easily visible 2 years before, but looking back slightly detectable. What he recommends is getting this dilated (possibly 1-2x a year) in hospital. I'm not up to hospital, so I'm postponing it and finding workarounds. One is to cut my raw veggies smaller, which I wasn't doing. Another is to make sure that no pressure builds up at all in my esophagus, so becoming more sensitive to that and taking a break from eating till it's down again. Sometimes again fizzy water if it's "on the brink" - again learning where that is. From this I've managed to keep it happening down to less than once a week, and now almost always "get the food down". If the Ring grows the dilation may have to be done one day, but now praps less or I can find another way.