Difficulty Swallowing

[potsyturvy]

I always have a really hard time swallowing pills, even the smallest ones. However, there are times when it is easier and times when it is nearly impossible and I have to use my pill crusher or take liquid meds. I used to think it was just a mental block, because I rarely choke or gag when taking pills, it is just hard to coordinate the movement to swallow (i don't know if that makes sense or not, but it does to me! ). I noticed that when I swallow liquids at all, it takes me WAY more effort than any of my family to swallow. It's like, instead of swallowing in one gulp like a normal person, it takes 5 or more gulps to drink just a small amount of liquid. I tried explaining it to my doctor a while back, but he pretty much blew me off. Does any one else have a similar experience with this? I also have GERD and a hiatal hernia, so I was wondering if that could have something to do with it. Like I said though, it's not like I'm choking on anything, it's just that it takes a LOT of effort to swallow anything.

[abnel]

I can totally relate and have the same difficulty swallowing but usually only during flare-ups of my breathing problems. For some reason excessive salivation, difficulty swallowing and breathing problems all go hand in hand for me.

I tried explaining this once to my pulmonory specialist who put it down to our ANS not functioning properly as these functions are partly controlled by the ANS.

I find that the worse my breathing problem is, the worse the swallowing problem. It can take me 10 times longer than everyone else to eat my meals, swallow tablets and drink - I have to really focus on my breathing, then swallowing, not choking and not disgracing myself by drooling!

[Dizzysillyak]

For me this is / was a combo of digestive problems and allergies. Food allergies definitely, but I'm not sure if environmental allergies cause my airway to feel like I have fuzz stuck in it too.

My GERD, hiatal hernia, etc cleared up after about 15 months on an anti-inflammatory / elimination diet. Gluten is my worst intolerance but I can't handle casein, soy, corn, eggs or any chemicals.

Have you been tested for or looked at food intolerances ? Testing can help but it doesn't always show all food intolerances.

I haven't found an allergy med I could take yet. They all bring back my ataxia symptoms ... tc ... c

[Friedbrain]

I've had difficulty swallowing during flare-ups, most definitely. So no, I don't think you're strange in thinking so.

You could start with a neurologist, but the person who did my swallow testing was, I think, a Speech Language Pathologist in the hospital setting. Maybe you could call a few and ask if they do swallow testing. Not sure. When I was at my worst, in the midst of significant neurological problems, I had trouble swallowing: I would get the food to the back of my throat but couldn't get it down. I would have to tilt my head back with water in it and let gravity push it down. Since I ended up in the ER/hospital soon after, they just tested me there. It was by drinking some special drink (barium-laced?) and then monitoring it with some kind of xray. Yeah, I'm describing it well, huh?

I've also had problems swallowing and I think it was the esophagus itself because food was getting stuck midway down. This was years later and I thought I'd been having heart problems because I was having spells of significant chest pain. Then I realized it was painful after taking my pills, when swallowing. And then dinner just *stopped* there, and that was the *lightbulb* moment. Fwiw, the family doc wanted to rule out an esophaygeal tear with an xray (fine) then sent me to a gastroenerologist, who did an exam of the other end (GAH!!!) while there (To say I was shocked and dismayed is an understatement!!!!) because he said it was important to rule out problems in the entire GI tract. Then he scheduled me for a scope from the top, which would require me to be put under, which I balked at. And since my pain resolved (and I realized that it was probably neurological, even tho the actual difficulty was in different aspects of the swallowing process....) I canceled for the scoping and haven't had problems since (9 mo ago).

So.....I guess there's a couple different ways you can go, but I personally would see the neuro or a SLP for barium swallowing testing first (!).

[Meg.Limbach]

I also have problems swallowing.. its like for 3 months or so I can swallow up to like 5 pills at once, then all the sudden for a few more months I cant even swallow one. Its rather odd. I recently had an endoscopy because of it, although havent gotten results yet. So I am absolutely not help. But know your not alone!!! =)

[toddm1960]

It's only natural to have swallowing problems, our autonomic nervous system controls the smooth muscles of our esophagus. I had an esophageal monomitry after having swallowing/breathing problems. My esophagus doesn't work in a normal parastolic wave, it jumps in fits and starts. Spasms at times and in places it shouldn't, the smallest of pills or water and get stuck in these. Many of us have GERD because our lower esophageal sphincter pressure is very low, allowing all of our stomach acids to flow back up cause even more problems swallowing. Get on your GI guy to do or find someone that will do an esophageal monomitry, it can answer many of your questions.

[potsyturvy]

Thanks for all of your responses!

I am allergic to yeast (which is in everything!), but am not intolerant to anything that I know of. I've had allergy testing done multiple times and yeast is my only food allergy. I have been tested for celiac multiple times (skin test, blood test, biopsy, and a one month elimination diet period) and none of them came back positive for gluten intolerance. I also did the lactose intolerance test and it came back normal, so I don't think it's an allergy. It seems more like a neurological or muscular thing to me. I talked to my ep-cardio about it and he ordered a gastric emptying test for it. I did that yesterday, it was where I drank some radioactive orange juice and they had a camera montior as it went down. My doctor thinks it might be related to the dysautonomia, but he also mentioned some other things that could cause it. So, I guess I'll see what shows up on that test. While I'm sad so many of us deal with this issue, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one dealing with this. I'll let you all know what the test shows! Hopefully it will get me some answers!