Results from video camera down my throat

[Bartman]

I'm no further ahead now then I was two weeks ago. 

I had the video camera shoved down my throat today and was told.  "Acid Reflux".  GERD to be exact.  I read up more on GERD and there isn't a damn thing about it that describes my probem.  So, for the next two weeks I'm on another antacid tablet to take twice a day for a week then once a day for a week after that.  In nine days I'm suppose to go back and see him again.  The info on GERD does, funny enough, point to what I keep asking about which is the mobility problem of the esphogus.  He said there was some evidence of acid reflux scaring.  I would suspect everyone has that according the GERD information.

I am obviously talking another language with these Doctors.  Here is a little survey.  How many of you have acid reflux BEFORE you finish eating or right after taking the first bite of food?  Does your acid reflux feel like a cramp in your chest or burning?  I don't know anyone who has acid reflux that has anything except horrible burning, not horrible heart attack like pain.  And, usually it is after eating or lying down these things happen.  I only have this problem when I eat certain foods and even then I don't get the problem each time.

So, I wait another 9 days to hear if the biopsy they took has another other horrible news associated with that and in the meantime see if I can find someone who can speak for me since I'm talking an alien language about my symptoms.

This is so frustrating.

Bart

[Jerry]

Bart  i had acid reflux 20 years ago, they did a barium swallow and they said i had a hiatus hernia, and it is permanent!
Guess what, Never had acid reflux again, ever!  So who the hack knows what's going on?

Keep looking for  medical guy who can speak your language!

[Bartman]

Well, I know that you can have acid reflux without have the common symptoms we all associate with it, but even with that knowledge and trying to sort it all out I'm not getting a clear understanding of why acid would cause this.  The swallowing problem (if you pretend the whole spasm thing doesn't exist) with GERD seems to be related to the acid refux causing a restriction because of scaring hence the swallowing problem.  The thing is that is a physical restriction so the problem with swallowing is all the time, not just once in-awhile, like I have.  And I can avoid any swallowing problem by either not eating as fast or chewing more or not touching the main trigger foods (which I can still eat as long as I do the slower/chew more thing).  The Doctor told me I didn't have those restrictions so the whole swallowing thing still leads back to the spasms.

If it really and truly is GERD then I know people from age 15 and up that have the exact same symptoms as me and how can we all have acid reflux with the same results?  The spasm seems to make more sense in that regard.

I don't know.  I'm just tired of it all.  I have to put bricks under the head of my bed now too in an effort to keep the acid in my stomach.  I'm a little cranky.  Feels like someone shoved a sewer snake down my throat and it's a little sore.  Fortunately, I don't recall anything that happened after being asked to lay on my side.  Next thing I knew I was awake somewhere else.  Funny thing is, I also have missing time after that.  Good thing I wasn't driving.

Bart

[CT]

So sorry you are going through this Bart. Just keep looking for a doctor that will LISTEN. So many of them reach for the easiest diagnosis or just don't want to take the time to truly diagnosis the symptoms. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

[cand]

I have been a member here for a while but really never have posted much but here goes..
I too have GERD. I have been experiencing a lot of symptons you have mentioned but just in the last few months. Like the cramping feeling like I am having a heart attack. Very scary. Anyhow I went to the GI doc last March for a colonoscpy and he asked me if I had acid reflux. I said yes have had it for about 20 years. He decided to put a tube down my throat also. What he found was some scar tissue down my throat. He said I will have to take perscription meds for my heartburn the rest of my life.I had been taking the perscription meds now for about 10 years anyhow.  BTW biopsy was negative which they usually are he said. Just took the biopsy as a precaution.
I too am trying to figure out if it is something I ate. Who knows. I find if I drink lots of water through the day I don't get them as much.
Good luck. i know how scary they are.
Dana

[Teresa]

Bart, try the meds . . . even if they don't work, the doctors simply will not listen to you unless you try them.  Not that they will necessarily listen after, but they definitely won't listen before!

I feel your frustration with the doctors not listening to you . . . been there and done that and didn't like it one little bit.

[LeeAnne151]

I have GERD. I do not have swallowing problems. No esophogeal spasms though, ever. When I read your posts, I do not think we have the same thing.I have had episodes of severe chest pain that caused severe anxiety but not lately and not often. Mostly it is just burning and burping. I have taken Prilosec for years. I've had the camera down the throat and was told I had scarring on my larynx. I have also been told I had a hiatal hernia after having an upper GI. My father and brother both have GERD too. I've had it for twenty years. I have throat pain upon waking often too. It never happens right away. I never have to stop eating because of it. It always happens later.

[Bartman]

Thanks the support.  I will take the antacid pills as he has asked for the two weeks.  They don't seem to be as horrible as the last ones which I couldn't handle at all.  I'm going to really put these issues to him on the 19th and stand on him if I have to get him to listen to me and then explain how GERD can possibly be the same.

Like LeeAnne says, GERD has never stopped her from eating.  When I get one of these spasms (which the barium swallow actually showed happening to some degree) you have to stop eating.  Nothing can go down and if feels like someone is squeezing the tube.  Notning goes down until the spasm stops and believe me, if it last for a long time you have no idea of how much saliva is backed up and looking for a place to go.

Nothing I read about GERD suggests this kind of reaction.

I'm going to ask the Doctor to explain exactly why he thinks GERD and how it relates to my symptoms then I am going to explain why I think GERD isn't the answer.  I want him to give me just one of the anti-spasmatic pills if nothing else so when I have another attack (and I'm sure I will since I'd be surprised if the antacid pills do anything) I can try the pill.  If it works then I guess I was right.  If it doesn't then it's back to square one.

Bart