Anyone With Swallowing Problems?

[mjan]

OK.. I wake up sometimes and cannot swallow at all. I choke when trying to swallow sometimes.. food goes down too slowly and uncomfortably. So.. get an endoscopic eval..attached the BRAVO device to wear for 3 days =NO ACID REFLUX

Since that endoscopic tube was used.. my esophagus has been WORSE!! Food going down oh so slowly and painfully. I think its just sore from the biopsies and that attached Bravo. So.. GI RN calls to say not only did I have Gastritis (probably due to the years of Ibroprofin..but.. I have an inflammed esophagus. OK.. its not acid refux thenwhat is it?

OFF of Ibroprofin forever!! BUT I have Sicca syndrome or undx Sjorgren's (autoimmune disease)=very dry eyes..EARs..yup..mouth I take a PILL to have saliva and now they think I am lacking lubrication in my throat/esophagus.

Is this autonomic related?? OR.. more the Sjogren/Sicca syndrome ??

I can ONLY eat soft foods..I have discomfort even when I do not eat. Could it be esophageal spasms??

I am going to be tested ASAP by having this tube down my nose/throat..I swallow water as they pull it up slowly to measure how my esophageal/sphinter muscle are working..GEEZ

Jan

[mkoven]

I've recently started having trouble swallowing. I've just been diagnosed with chiari, tethered cord, and cranial instability. Alone or together, each problem can compress the parts of the brainstem that control swallowing. I'm having a swallow study on Monday.

[mjan]

I've recently started having trouble swallowing. I've just been diagnosed with chiari, tethered cord, and cranial instability. Alone or together, each problem can compress the parts of the brainstem that control swallowing. I'm having a swallow study on Monday.

Hello !! Sorry you are going through such troubles. What kind of swallowing test? The barium/eat/watch your swallow on video kind? That is the one they said I had a hiatal hernia AND GERD all the way up to my collar bone. When I see the GI doc he says when you are eating it can look like a hiatal hernia but its not really. SO I find out I do not have hernia AND GERD.

LEt me know how your test goes. I had no problem with the test..but swallowing was a bit of a struggle then. I would cough and choke almost every time I ate if I didnt have something to drink to wash it down.

AND there is brain involvement I THINK. For when I take a sip of water.. I "forget" to swallow! If its cold enough or something hot I do not. Go figure

Let us know how all your tests/evals turn out ok?

Jan

[bjt22]

My swallowing difficulties, as many symptoms we deal with, wax and wane. When I've been at my worst, I'm usually eating pudding. Otherwise, I have to manage my foods in very, very small bites and silly as it sounds, really think about swallowing. Funny story: this has been the way my life has been for a very, very long time. Essentially, during most of my kids' growing up years. The other day, someone pointed out that just about all of my kids eat in the same manner that I do....we make bites very small, even with sandwiches in which we pull off small bites to eat. Are they doing this because they've seen me do it? I hope this is the case and it's not because of underlying, unrecognized difficulties that they experience swallowing.

[mjan]

My swallowing difficulties, as many symptoms we deal with, wax and wane. When I've been at my worst, I'm usually eating pudding. Otherwise, I have to manage my foods in very, very small bites and silly as it sounds, really think about swallowing. Funny story: this has been the way my life has been for a very, very long time. Essentially, during most of my kids' growing up years. The other day, someone pointed out that just about all of my kids eat in the same manner that I do....we make bites very small, even with sandwiches in which we pull off small bites to eat. Are they doing this because they've seen me do it? I hope this is the case and it's not because of underlying, unrecognized difficulties that they experience swallowing.

WOW!! Of course you are their role model..right?

AND.. its just a safe way to eat in general. WE Americans needs shovels sometimes for the way we eat at times.

Just kiddin..

Thanks for your response. I was wondering if its related to the lesions on my brain stem...hmmm or something else.

[mjan]

My swallowing difficulties, as many symptoms we deal with, wax and wane. When I've been at my worst, I'm usually eating pudding. Otherwise, I have to manage my foods in very, very small bites and silly as it sounds, really think about swallowing. Funny story: this has been the way my life has been for a very, very long time. Essentially, during most of my kids' growing up years. The other day, someone pointed out that just about all of my kids eat in the same manner that I do....we make bites very small, even with sandwiches in which we pull off small bites to eat. Are they doing this because they've seen me do it? I hope this is the case and it's not because of underlying, unrecognized difficulties that they experience swallowing.

Yes I have been dealing with HOW to eat properly too for many years. This time its different. I either CANNOT swallow at all..or it hurts like a razor going down...even soft foods..

Now if I only shut my mouth sometimes.. LOL

[firewatcher]

I have a "slow" esophagus. I had the manometry test (tube up the nose and down the throat...sips of water ) One of the less comfortable procedures I've had done, not painful, just not really good for a heightened gag reflex (they want that water going only one direction!) Mine showed a slowing in the middle and a slow sphincter at the stomach. I have never been able to "chug" anything, and have to concentrate on swallowing at times (like when they are throttling you for the thyroid exams! ) I don't know if it is a dysautonomia thing or if its just another quirky disorder.