Wanting to meet people with

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone:

I just found this achalasia support group on the internet. I have

never meet anyone else who suffers from this. I am 24 years old and

have had this since I was 7. I was just wanting some feedback on

how you all deal with the disorder and if some of you continually

have difficulty swallowing. I know it is a constant struggle for

me. I was told I was the youngest case in the United States to have

had it and had 3 surgeries throughout my life. I never can swallow

but have to rely on liquids and gravity to push my food down. I

suffer from heartburn frequently and have to watch what I eat.

Enough about me though, like I said, I just wanted to meet some new

people with this condition.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/15/2004 8:12:37 AM Central America Standard Tim, reparker02@... writes:

just found this achalasia support group on the internet. I have

never meet anyone else who suffers from this.

Welcome to the group. You did indeed get it very young. I was

lucky and didn't get it until I was an old woman.. You will find

a lot of information and support here and since we have several

children with this disease, I am sure you can lend a lot of support

to them.

Where do you live?

Maggie

Alabama

[Guest guest]

Hi Ryon!

This is a great group of people. My suggestion to newcomers is to read through the Files, Database, Polls, and Links sections, and also to go through and read as many old posts as possible. There is sooooooooooo much information here, and it's soooooooooooooo nice to be able to know that other people are going through the same stuff that you are going through!

I hope you get as much out of this group as I do!!!

Debbi in Michigan

PS -- where are you from?

[Guest guest]

Hi Ryon,

Welcome!

I have been with this group a couple of months now, very informative

and supportive.

I have had " A " for about 2 1/2 years now and am now really starting

to feel the effects of it.Like many others I drink plenty of water

when I eat.I am planning on having the surgery in the near future.

When was the last time you had surgery?

How often have you had your surgeries?

Genia In Michigan

> Hi everyone:

>

> I just found this achalasia support group on the internet. I have

> never meet anyone else who suffers from this. I am 24 years old

and

> have had this since I was 7. I was just wanting some feedback on

> how you all deal with the disorder and if some of you continually

> have difficulty swallowing. I know it is a constant struggle for

> me. I was told I was the youngest case in the United States to

have

> had it and had 3 surgeries throughout my life. I never can swallow

> but have to rely on liquids and gravity to push my food down. I

> suffer from heartburn frequently and have to watch what I eat.

> Enough about me though, like I said, I just wanted to meet some new

> people with this condition.

[Guest guest]

Ryon wrote:

>... I have never meet anyone else who suffers from this. ...

Welcome, Ryon. And here we have our own little world. Kind of strange, but

nice.

>... I was just wanting some feedback on

>how you all deal with the disorder and if some of you continually

>have difficulty swallowing. ...

Basically I have some level of difficulty all the time, but I do have good

days where I don't really notice it. Even on good days I think about it,

wondering if the next byte is going to go " WHAMMO, " (as Debbi put it).

notan

[Guest guest]

I am soooooo jealous. My hubby and I were talking just last night about which island we'd want to settle on if we won the lottery this week! It's been 51 weeks since we've been there (but who's counting!) and it doesn't look like we'll get down there at all this year. ( Our goal is to retire on a boat and live down there some day..... I could snorkel every day of my life and never get bored with it!Send me some of that sunshine if you get a chance... our wind-chill this morning was -2F (-19C) and we got more snow last night, too. )Debbi in Michigan

Hi Debbie:

Thanks for responding and for the advice. I live in Nebraska but am currently going to medical school in Grand Cayman. I guess with all my surgeries at such a young age got me interested in the field. let me know if I can do anything for you.

RYon

[Guest guest]

Holt- wrote:

> I guess we can't go scuba diving, so it will just have to remain a dream.

I can understand that they don't want a diver with an esophagus full of

food and drink to turn bottoms up deep underwater and have all that stuff

rush toward the head and cause the diver to choke, and regurgitate. On the

other hand, if you can still lay level for a while you could probably

adjust your technique to get down and be able to control yourself so you

don't have a problem. This may be one case where the don't eat before

swimming rule is valid. Certification will be a problem though. You may

also have a good time snorkeling. Let your legs and body hang down as much

as possible. In any case one should always have a swimming buddy, even on

the surface. Then don't go too deep and you may be able to get by.

I am not suggesting that everyone here should try these things. Those that

have done these things before and have a good handle on what to expect from

their achalasia should have some idea of their own limits.

Hmm. I wonder if achalasia is responsible for some of those mystery

drownings. " He was such a good swimmer. "

Anybody have a swim story?

notan

[Guest guest]

Holt- wrote:

>.... Yes, eating out can be a problem, but the noisier the restaurant the

>better…then nobody hears the burps and gurgles...

We should add this to the official list of hints for living with achalasia.

If we have an official list. I have to say though, noisier restaurants are

otherwise not tops on my list. The things we do to accommodate this achalasia.

notan