My Achalasia Experience

[Guest guest]

Hey everybody, I just joined this group...and, I cannot be happier

for finding it! I thought no one else could get this disorder, but

obviously they do.

My name is and I am nineteen years old. Three years ago this

summer, I woke up with a great pain in my chest. It hurt sooo bad

that I turned " white as a sheet " (according to my mom) and the pain

was so bad that it made my bottom teeth hurt too! We called my

doctor and visited with him. He quickly dismissed it as a " panic

attack. " I accepted these " panic attacks " and thought that I just

got them b/c of my nervous nature.

So, about two years later, the morning after one of my attacks (I

almost always wake up in the middle of the night with one of the

attakcs) I found that my cereal was going really really slow down my

throat. It also felt a little sore when the food reached the area

that is painful during my attacks. I didn't think anything of it.

It was nothing big, once in a blue moon it would happen. I wasn't

worried and neither were my parents. Plus, when I told my doctor, he

said it was just a side effect of the panic attacks.

Around December 2002, I began to realize that some foods and

sometimes liquids were getting stuck in my throat even when I didn't

have a panic attack. And when I took pills, it would feel really

funny going down. As soon as March of 2003 came around, I knew

something was up. Everything I ate got stuck. Chicken, pizza,

chinese food...everything! I got really scared and told my parents.

I thought I had a tumor or something in my throat that was blocking

my food from going down.

My doctor recommended getting a barium swallow done. I was totally

grossed out but we needed to know what was going on. My results came

back abnormal. The doctor's survey of my test said that I had a

bird's beak where my esophagus entered my stomach. He said there was

a slight chance I could have achalasia...but he seriously doubted it

b/c I was sooo young. He also requested I'd get an endoscopy and see

a gastroentronologist. So, I went to the gastro doctor and got my

endoscopy done. He stretched my esophagus too, but to no avail. I

was still in agony and I was down to 83 pounds. (I've always been

very small and skinny; I haven't even hit 100 before I got sick) The

next thing to get was a manometry.

I freaked out and totally refused to get that test. There was no way

I was getting a tube up my nose and down my throat. You have got to

be kidding me!!! We were not satisfied with my first gastro doctor

so we decided to check out another doctor for a second opinion. My

second doctor, Dr. Cadella, was a doll! He gave me this medicine

called Levsin and Protonix. I took the levsin under my tongue 3

times a day a 1/2 hour before meals. The Protonix was taken 1 time a

day 1/2 hour before I ate dinner. For a month I was in absolute

heaven. I could eat!!!!! I ran to every single resteraunt within a

30 mile basis of my house. I ate 24/7 I was so hungry. I began to

gain my weight back.

And then, that stupid achalasia came back. I was so mad. Why was

this happening to me? I sat watching my brothers eating tacos and

cheesesteaks and pretzels. My heart was broken. It was so unfair

that the medicine stopped working. Dr. Cadella said it was because

my achalasia was so severe. He was sure that was what I had now.

Just to make sure, and to give me some relief too, he gave me an

endoscopy and he stretched my throat out again. No relief at all.

Now, Dr. Cadella said the next step was to go to Temple University.

Dr. Fisher, another gastroentronologist, specialized in achalasia.

He would be able to tell me what to do. By this point, I knew that

my only way out of the achalasia hell was to get surgery. So, the

same day of the meeting with Dr. Fisher, I was going to meet with the

chief of surgery at Temple University: Dr. Dempsey.

I met with both doctors on August 14, 2003. I loved them! They were

funny and nice and very understanding of how scared I was. Dr.

Fisher said that I defintely have achalasia, no doubt about it. he

called it idiopathic (spelling???) achalasia. " I'm the idiot and

you're pathetic. " he said! Dr. Dempsey also mentioned that I should

play the lottery b/c it is so rare in a person my age. So, I'm

getting a third endoscopy plus a manometry. Just to make

sure...again! I will be getting laproscopic surgery (mytomy) the

second week of September. I am very nervous but excited.

Hopefully the surgery is the cure for me. I would just die if it

didn't work. They also said I have periostalsis in my esophagus. No

swallowing function or something like that. Thanks for listening!

Sincerely,