re:Hershey Med, take 2

[Guest guest]

Jenifer - yes, the barium swallow showed achalasia.

I was told today by a surgeon that oftentimes with A, it appears you have reflux/GERD & even strictures (from the inside via endoscopy), but that can be just a complication of A. I'm going to set up a consult with him so he can see all of my records & go from there. Thanks for the insights. Cindi

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[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/16/2004 10:59:52 PM Eastern Standard Time, cindiscandles@... writes:

Jenifer - yes, the barium swallow showed achalasia.

I was told today by a surgeon that oftentimes with A, it appears you have reflux/GERD & even strictures (from the inside via endoscopy), but that can be just a complication of A. I'm going to set up a consult with him so he can see all of my records & go from there. Thanks for the insights. Cindi

Cindi.

I am one yr post surgery for GERD, and now I am having continuing, progressive dysphagia. All of my endoscopy results showed stictures and scarring from GERD. I had other problems that were attributed to GERD: some swallowing difficulties, extreme coughing at night. Now I am continuing to have swallowing difficulties and my current GI thinks I might have achalasia symptoms before my GERD surgery that were just thought to be acid reflux, that MAY have been achalasia. Not that I have been diagnosed with it (A) or anything.

I am still trying various meds that may help my lack of esophageal motility.

Jan in Northern Kentucky

[Guest guest]

Cindi, I too am suspicious of the GERD/Strictures thing. Strictures can be a side-effect of GERD (scar tissue building up where the acid has damaged the esophagus) or they can be something that happens w/o GERD, but most people with achalasia have a "normal" endoscopy, especially in the early stages when the esophagus hasn't yet gotten stretched out. This is a big factor in why so many of us are told it's all in our head, etc. -- they can't SEE anything when they look in there if you have achalasia, but they CAN see stuff (inflammation, scar tissue, "rings" etc.) if you have GERD or Strictures.

I've heard of the SYMPTOMS of GERD/strictures being similar to the symptoms of achalasia so the two can be confused when going by the symptoms alone. Many people, in fact, get misdiagnosed as having GERD when they really have achalasia, because their complaints of regurgitating food [esophageal contents] and having pain in their chest, are similar to GERD patients who regurgitate stomach contents and have pain in the breastbone area. But in all the research I've done (which is quite a bit -- see the links posted in the various folders of the Links Section) I've never heard that achalasia "looks like" GERD or strictures upon endoscopic examination.

When you say I was told today by a surgeon that oftentimes with A, it appears you have reflux/GERD & even strictures (from the inside via endoscopy), but that can be just a complication of A. that makes bells and red flags go off in my head. I don't think that GERD and strictures look ANYTHING like achalasia when viewed from the inside via endoscopy, and for a surgeon to say that would make me question just how much the surgeon knows. You may have GERD or strictures as a complication of your dilations that have been done, but I don't think it's a normal thing to consider GERD and strictures to be a complication of achalasia -- there's virtually no mention of it in the research, and there's virtually no mention of it in this group, either.

I'm going to set up a consult with him so he can see all of my records & go from there.

Have you had the manometry test performed? What did it show for peristaltic contraction function and LES function? And was your barium swallow done just as 'still shots' or did they do the fluoroscopy where they can see the "video" of the swallowing? I think it's a good idea to do a comprehensive evaluation of all your tests and all your procedures to make sure the surgeon has all the necessary information.

[Guest guest]

When I queried why the previous gastroenterologist I saw completely missed my A the Gastro doc I saw last week told me that it was easy to miss achalasia on a gastroscopy because the rigid scope just pushes the tube open ahead of it and any inflammation was often put doen to gastric acid.

Joan

Johannesburg South Africajpearse@...

Re: re:Hershey Med, take 2

Cindi, I too am suspicious of the GERD/Strictures thing. Strictures can be a side-effect of GERD (scar tissue building up where the acid has damaged the esophagus) or they can be something that happens w/o GERD, but most people with achalasia have a "normal" endoscopy, especially in the early stages when the esophagus hasn't yet gotten stretched out. This is a big factor in why so many of us are told it's all in our head, etc. -- they can't SEE anything when they look in there if you have achalasia, but they CAN see stuff (inflammation, scar tissue, "rings" etc.) if you have GERD or Strictures.

I've heard of the SYMPTOMS of GERD/strictures being similar to the symptoms of achalasia so the two can be confused when going by the symptoms alone. Many people, in fact, get misdiagnosed as having GERD when they really have achalasia, because their complaints of regurgitating food [esophageal contents] and having pain in their chest, are similar to GERD patients who regurgitate stomach contents and have pain in the breastbone area. But in all the research I've done (which is quite a bit -- see the links posted in the various folders of the Links Section) I've never heard that achalasia "looks like" GERD or strictures upon endoscopic examination.

When you say I was told today by a surgeon that oftentimes with A, it appears you have reflux/GERD & even strictures (from the inside via endoscopy), but that can be just a complication of A. that makes bells and red flags go off in my head. I don't think that GERD and strictures look ANYTHING like achalasia when viewed from the inside via endoscopy, and for a surgeon to say that would make me question just how much the surgeon knows. You may have GERD or strictures as a complication of your dilations that have been done, but I don't think it's a normal thing to consider GERD and strictures to be a complication of achalasia -- there's virtually no mention of it in the research, and there's virtually no mention of it in this group, either.

I'm going to set up a consult with him so he can see all of my records & go from there.

Have you had the manometry test performed? What did it show for peristaltic contraction function and LES function? And was your barium swallow done just as 'still shots' or did they do the fluoroscopy where they can see the "video" of the swallowing? I think it's a good idea to do a comprehensive evaluation of all your tests and all your procedures to make sure the surgeon has all the necessary information.