Re: Spasms after surgery

January 24, 2003

Thanks ! I started Chet on the L-Arginine yesterday - checked

with the Dr's and my sister who is a pharmacist (they seem to be

more knowledgable on medications) and everyone said that it was fine

for him to take now. The spasms are bad, but his old trick of

drinking water is now working again, so we are able to get them

under control very quickly. I am hoping that after a couple of days

on the L-Arginine they will stop.

Chet is doing really well. It is amazing to go from so much pain

one day to controlable the next. I think by next week he will be

bored out of him mind at home!

Thanks again for the advice!

> To (for Chet) and anyone else post op,

> I read that Chet is having some pretty bad spasms right now.

Hopefully they will pass quickly and diminish. Some of the worst

spasms I've ever had were a few days post op. Many others have

commented in the same way. I thought, " oh, man, what have I gone

and done to myself THIS TIME???...I've made my spasms worse. " But

they subsided rather quickly. I used l-arginine for about a week or

two post op. I was told that it might speed healing, and it DID do

the trick for quelling my spasms. You might ask your doctor what he

thinks. I take it symptomatically if I ever have a day with

multiple spasms. Stops them cold, if that is the case. Anyway, for

anyone having spasms post op,don't panic...it doesn't necessarily

mean they will remain that bad or come that frequently for long.

Your E has been through a lot...it must be relieved to have

rediscovered it's function and to have released the tension at the

sphincter, but it's probably a little ticked off at the same time!

(At least that is how I would feel if I were a sphincter, lol.) We

do digress in here sometimes. It's a form of therapy, perhaps, to

identify with your sphincter and to try to understand it or soothe

it's pain!

> in HOuston

March 5, 2009

Hi E,

Welcome to our group. I hope your boyfriend continues to recover from his

surgery and can better enjoy life now. Please be aware that most surgeons don't

seem to comment to their patients ahead of time about the spasms that will

follow. I would guess that this is because there focus is the surgery, to give

the patient back their ability to get food down once again. This he did.

I understand your frustration when you say that

" this pain almost seems worse than the difficulty swallowing, so what was the

point of the surgery?! "

In a calmer way, the point of the surgery, you know, was to provide a

" mechanical, " gravity aided, means of enabling him to eat better. You might say

that the spasms are like " insult to injury, " but it happens often.

There has been much written over the years about spasms. You can enter the word

" spasm " into the search field and find out more information about it than you

will find anywhere else in the world. People on this site will also chime in

and tell you what works best for them (but not necessarily can you expect what

works for them to help your boy friend).

The general consensus is that the spasms appear to be at their worst right after

surgery and over time will lessen. There are many " do-it-yourself " ways of

dealing with spasms. All you need to do is find one that will work and life

will immediately get better.

I'll put my 2 cents in and let the others speak for themselves. They are

probably all bored by now hearing me say this. For my part, the moment I feel

it coming on, I'll take a few sips of soda, and it will usually stop within a

minute. Failing that, I will place a nifedipine capsule under the tongue and

let it dissolve. How fast you do this is key. If I didn't have anything on me,

the pain will usually ramp up very fast in intensity and soon reach the

" elephant sitting on your chest heart attack pain level. " Sometimes, just

eating a cracker or piece of bread does the trick.

Let's hope that in his case it does dissipate over time, but if it doesn't there

are plenty of ways of dealing with it, most that you will only find here.

________________________________

From: n5ufg <n5ufg@...>

achalasia

Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2009 5:41:04 PM

Subject: Spasms after Surgery

Hi,

I am new to this group. My boyfriend was diagnosed with achalasia 8 months ago

and just had his myotomy without fundoplication last week. He is doing well, but

he is now getting these weird chest pains or spasms once or twice a day for half

an hour or so, which we were not warned about by his surgeon. I have been

reading some of the posts here and noticed that this seems common. I was

wondering if anyone could tell me how common it is, if it normally gets better

as he recovers from surgery, what is causing it, and how to get rid of them. I

know that it seems terrible to say, but this pain almost seems worse than the

difficulty swallowing, so what was the point of the surgery?! Anyways I am

hoping that it will gradually dissipate over time.

E

March 5, 2009

Hi,

I am four months post myotomy. I had some severe spasms right after surgery. Now

they have become very mild and rare. Most of the time it resolves with a sip of

water. My spasms have always been in the night time and has kept me awake for

whole night on quite a few occasions.

But as everyone has said here before they taper off in a few months so I don't

worry about them a lot. As long as swallowing is good everything is good.

Ayon

>

> Hi E,

>

> Welcome to our group. I hope your boyfriend continues to recover from his

surgery and can better enjoy life now. Please be aware that most surgeons don't

seem to comment to their patients ahead of time about the spasms that will

follow. I would guess that this is because there focus is the surgery, to give

the patient back their ability to get food down once again. This he did.

>

> I understand your frustration when you say that

>

> " this pain almost seems worse than the difficulty swallowing, so what was the

point of the surgery?! "

>

> In a calmer way, the point of the surgery, you know, was to provide a

" mechanical, " gravity aided, means of enabling him to eat better. You might say

that the spasms are like " insult to injury, " but it happens often.

>

> There has been much written over the years about spasms. You can enter the

word " spasm " into the search field and find out more information about it than

you will find anywhere else in the world. People on this site will also chime

in and tell you what works best for them (but not necessarily can you expect

what works for them to help your boy friend).

>

> The general consensus is that the spasms appear to be at their worst right

after surgery and over time will lessen. There are many " do-it-yourself " ways

of dealing with spasms. All you need to do is find one that will work and life

will immediately get better.

>

> I'll put my 2 cents in and let the others speak for themselves. They are

probably all bored by now hearing me say this. For my part, the moment I feel

it coming on, I'll take a few sips of soda, and it will usually stop within a

minute. Failing that, I will place a nifedipine capsule under the tongue and

let it dissolve. How fast you do this is key. If I didn't have anything on me,

the pain will usually ramp up very fast in intensity and soon reach the

" elephant sitting on your chest heart attack pain level. " Sometimes, just

eating a cracker or piece of bread does the trick.

>

> Let's hope that in his case it does dissipate over time, but if it doesn't

there are plenty of ways of dealing with it, most that you will only find here.

>

> ________________________________

> From: n5ufg <n5ufg@...>

> achalasia

> Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2009 5:41:04 PM

> Subject: Spasms after Surgery

>

> Hi,

>

> I am new to this group. My boyfriend was diagnosed with achalasia 8 months ago