Re: re: Spasm Medication

[Guest guest]

Another med is Nitroglycerin. It works for some but can cause Headaches.

Bobbie

[Guest guest]

HI Deb in NJ,

One of the meds is Nifedipine. It comes in Capsules and tablets. Both work.

It is normally a BP med but works well on esophageal spasms.

I'm sure you;ll get the long list from others.

Bobbie

[Guest guest]

Debbie - I have been on Paxil for anxiety (about eating/choking!) and spasms & it really is helping a lot. I'm only on 12.5 mg./day. Cindi

____________________________________________________ IncrediMail - Email has finally evolved - Click Here

[Guest guest]

Deb - it was Debbi Heiser who has a whole list and has been posted repeatedly. I am very fortunate not to have had many spasms. I am not sure if the attached one is the relevant one, but I am not sure how to check [i am still learning the tricks]

Hope this helps,'Hugs,

Joan

Johannesburg South Africajpearse@...

re: Spasm Medication

Hi all.. Happy Father's day dads! I've been trying to remember if it was you Debbi that I had a conversation with about the Levbid I was taking for post-op spasms?It's been one week since I weaned myself to one Levbid every other day. It seems that the spasms are starting to come back. Not as severe but the last few days have not been as good as the privious week. I would like to talk to my Dr. about being on a medication long term and I'm not sure this is the right one. I'm hoping it was you that posted a number of meds used by people in the group that have worked for their spasms and they have taken long term.I don't remember if it was your post or Cindi or Joan. Whoever it is, would you mind posting it one more time so I can print it out and talk to my dr. about it. I know it's long and I sure hope isn't around LOL but it would be greatly appreciated.Thanks so muchDeb (NJ)

Chest pains, heartburn, acid reflux, spasm pains, NCCPs.... what the heck is all of this stuff anyway????

(aka: Debbi's Dissertation on Dysfunctional Dysphagia Diagnoses)

Here's some info I've put together on differences between "heartburn" and the "chest pains/spasm pains" that are related to achalasia. The official medical term for the "spasm pain" is "NCCP" -- Non Cardiac Chest Pain. There are multiple terms used for "heartburn" including: acid indigestion, acid reflux, GERD/GORD, etc.

In my pre-achalasia days, I would have "indigestion" once in a while (after a particularly large, fatty, acidic meal, etc.), maybe once or twice a year. I would have that nasty acid taste in my mouth when I burped, and a hot/burning sensation in the area of my breastbone. While not particularly comfortable, it wasn't an excruciating, debilitating pain, and taking some Tums or other antacid would neutralize it and both the taste and the discomfort would go away.

When I had my first NCCP, I had been having problems swallowing for a few years but hadn't yet been diagnosed with anything, and I had no clue that the pain was related to my swallowing problems. I thought the pain was some gawd-awful gas pains -- felt like something was stabbing me from the inside out! The pain seemed to start in the ribs and almost squeeze my chest with searing pain that seemed to shoot up into my neck, too. (note: everyone can experience NCCPs in varying degrees and in various parts of the body, including stomach, chest, shoulders, neck, jaw, tongue, and mouth.) I lived alone at the time, and I drove to a convenience store and bought three rolls of Rolaids and ate two whole rolls. That didn't have any effect at all, and it took a couple hours for the pain to go away.

Another time, I have a distinct memory of standing in the kitchen holding onto the countertop and just WAILING at the top of my lungs because it hurt so bad, and my knees buckling from the pain. My wailing turned into one big repetitious prayer: "Please, Lord, Please, Lord, Make It Stop, Lord, I Can't Take It Anymore, Lord, Please, Lord, I Need You To Please Help Me!" over and over and over again while sobbing. This was almost a decade ago and I don't know how long it went on, but I'm thinking that it was well over an hour of that constant wailing. Boy, those were the days, huh? ;o)

For people whose doctors believe that NCCPs are an "atypical" (not normal) symptom for achalasia patients, point them in the direction of this informal poll here on our group: achalasia/surveys?id=1037310

The poll is now closed, so who knows how many more would be added to it if it were still accepting votes. If you scroll down to the end, 38 people reported that they have these "spasms", and 5 people reported that they don't have spasms. So out of 43 people who answered the poll, 88% have spasms and 12% don't have spasms. Doesn't sound like a "rare" or "atypical" symptom, does it?

In another poll ( achalasia/surveys?id=1011383 ) of people who went to the Emergency Room due to extreme chest pains, 2 were given intravenous Valium, 3 were given Demorol or other narcotic injection, and 7 were given no treatment whatsoever.... isn't that sad? 58% of the people who were in such severe pain that they went to the E.R. were given NO TREATMENT at all!!! That is SO unnecessary!!!!

Here's some info that I copied from an old post of mine -- if your doctor will bother to do some simple web searches, he'll see that calcium channel blockers, nitro, and anti-depressants are all documented ways to treat NCCP in people with esophageal disorders! Maybe if you print it out and show it to him, he'll be willing to offer you some help in dealing with this.

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Here's some basic info that I've posted in the past -- different things work for different people, so it's basically just an experiment to find what works for your situation.

Here are some different coping methods to try:

-- Swallowing something warm or something cold

-- CCB medication (calcium channel blockers) -- I prick the shell of a nifedipine capsule and squirt it under my tongue. It absorbs into the bloodstream under the tongue (this is called a sub-lingual medication, meaning under-tongue) and relaxes smooth muscle tissue (which is what the esophagus is made up of.) unfortunately, it can also lower your blood pressure (usually only a problem if you already have low BP to begin with) and cause a headache afterwards

-- Nitroglycerin medication -- works in much the same way as the CCB mentioned above, and can also be taken sublingually for fast relief.

-- Certain anti-depressant and anti-convulsant medications -- some people don't have NCCPs when on these types of medications, believed to be a function of the medicine's effect on serotonin in the brain (antidepressants such as Nortryptaline, Amitryptaline, Imipramine and Trazodone have been studied; Neurontin is being studied in a similar way for "phantom limb pain" in amputees, etc.)

-- L'Argnine supplements -- some people have found these relieve NCCP symptoms

-- If symptoms are debilitating and none of the methods above help, you may need a narcotic pain reliever, but definitely try all the options above first, b/c if you're on narcotics you can't drive, work, etc., and the vast majority of people can find relief in a way that doesn't involve narcotics

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In the last few years I've taken three different drugs that affect serotonin (one of which isn't considered to be an anti-depressant medication, but which does have a serotonin effect nonetheless); any time I was on one of those drugs, my NCCPs have either disappeared entirely, or been all but eliminated. And each time I discontinued a serotonin-effect drug, the NCCPs started up again within a month's time. One member here who was in the E.R. repeatedly for debilitating NCCPs finally had a doctor prescribe a low-dose daily antidepressant; her NCCPs have been eliminated.... no more pain, no more narcotics, no more trips to the hospital. (the dosage in this case is lower than the dosage that is normally used to treat depression.)

There are soooooooooooo many things that can be done to reduce NCCPs, but doctors don't even bother to TRY to find a solution for us. I say let THEM curl up in a fetal position making plea-bargain deals with their Maker at 3:00 in the morning just ONCE, and you can bet your booty that they'll find a solution REAL fast!!! :oP

Debbi in Michigan