Guest guest Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 Hello, Pure Dakota, and, are you, by the way, Pure Dakotan? How fascinating! I, too, had pleurisy, some years ago, but the lung cyst sounds different, and my sense of it is that it has nothing to do with Achalasia testing, but odder things have happened in this world of ours. The main thing is that your septic lung problem has passed, yes?!, and that you are on the mend. It couldn't have been fun, comfortable or comforting. I've had pneumonia about six times, too, and I recall, with both the pleurisy and the pneumonia, that I was slightly delirious, in and out of it with a low-grade fever, sweaty and very scared. I hope now that you are getting better, you can get more and more information on this cyst in your lung. I, for one, am most interested in how it all occurred. I've had lung problems for years and I hate it. Quit smoking years ago, but, well, I had a pulmonary embolism in my lung when I was about 23 and my lungs had problems from then on. That, and all the family in-breeding, all that English blood in my family (and ONLY English blood, although my sister swears we are part Algonquin, but what does SHE know? She's English-American, too. No offense to Ann in GB, by the way....my particular family was sent to the American colonies, after all, and what does THAT tell you?!). All best, Deborah, swuggling orange soda at the beach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 Hi-- Thanks for your post and the encouraging words. My docs are pretty sure that this weirdo episode is related to my achalasia, with the notion that the lungs filter the blood and that any " crud " introduced into the system via instruments might cause an abscess like this doozy. I've had achalasia for 27 years and thought I pretty much knew everything about it. Guess this showed me, eh? You asked if I'm am actually Pure Dakotan. Yup--100%. > > Hello, Pure Dakota, and, are you, by the way, Pure Dakotan? How fascinating! > > I, too, had pleurisy, some years ago, but the lung cyst sounds different, and my sense of it is that it has nothing to do with Achalasia testing, but odder things have happened in this world of ours. > The main thing is that your septic lung problem has passed, yes?!, and that you are on the mend. It couldn't have been fun, comfortable or comforting. I've had pneumonia about six times, too, and I recall, with both the pleurisy and the pneumonia, that I was slightly delirious, in and out of it with a low-grade fever, sweaty and very scared. I hope now that you are getting better, you can get more and more information on this cyst in your lung. I, for one, am most interested in how it all occurred. I've had lung problems for years and I hate it. Quit smoking years ago, but, well, I had a pulmonary embolism in my lung when I was about 23 and my lungs had problems from then on. That, and all the family in-breeding, all that English blood in my family (and ONLY English blood, although my sister swears we are part Algonquin, but what does SHE know? She's English-American, too. No offense to Ann in GB, by the way....my particular family was sent to the American > colonies, after all, and what does THAT tell you?!). > > All best, Deborah, swuggling orange soda at the beach > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I think there's a huge difference in saying that your lung abscess was "related to your achalasia" and saying that it was because of the diagnostic tests that were performed to diagnose your achalasia. I've read a LOT of research about achalasia and the testing associated with it, and I have never heard of a someone getting a lung infection because they had a manometry or endoscopy performed to diagnose achalasia. However, I have heard of MULTIPLE situations where someone developed a lung infection due to aspiration of food and/or saliva. A simple polling of the members of this group will show how common it is. I'm not going to say it's not possible that someone introduced an unsterilized instrument into your body in the process of performing a test -- it certainly is possible -- but I really have a hard time believing that bacteria introduced to the GI tract is ONLY going to cause an infection in the lung. If you have an infection develop in your esophagus that then goes into the bloodstream and then travels to the lung, that would be one thing, but you didn't mention anything about a different infection site. I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, I just am looking for some clarification, because newcomers to the site might read your first post and mistakenly think that they're at a high rist of getting a lung abscess if they let their doctor perform a manometry or endoscopy on them, when in fact NOT getting diagnosed and treated is what can put them at the highest risk of having lung complications. (Just ask how her lungs are since the myotomy!) I would hate to see someone postpone diagnosis or treatment and put themselves at risk for more complications down the road. Debbi in Michigan Hi--Thanks for your post and the encouraging words. My docs are pretty sure that this weirdo episode is related to my achalasia, with the notion that the lungs filter the blood and that any "crud" introduced into the system via instruments might cause an abscess like this doozy.I've had achalasia for 27 years and thought I pretty much knew everything about it. Guess this showed me, eh?You asked if I'm am actually Pure Dakotan. Yup--100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Thanks for your post. You raise some intriguing questions. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to think there is a high risk of this sort of abscess, since I don't think lung abscesses in general are very common, with or without having diagnostic procedures done. But my physicians do believe that the extensive testing I have recently undergone is a probable cause, given the chronology of my illness. There are risks, as we know, to these tests. Like you, I've read hundreds of articles on achalasia in the professional journals. Only a very small percentage of folks who have these tests are likely to experience something like an infection or a perforation. I went through these tests myself MANY times before without negative result. As for your question about why an infection would go to the lung and not elsewhere, this can happen because lungs filter the the blood. A small bit of infection can lodge there and create an abscess. All told, I think this is one of those issues about having a disease like achalasia. We are often caught over a barrel, I think, when we have to make decisions based on percentages rather than hard and fast clear answers. For example, having a myotomy ten years ago was one of the best decisions I've ever made, but it certainly hasn't cured my GI problems. And I have two specialists who are in vigorous disagreement with each other about whether I should now have a partial wrap or not (thus all the renewed emphasis on the diagnostic procedures mentioned above). I'm going to have to make a decision eventually to go with this or not--or to look for yet another option. Whichever choice I make will come with some risks, I understand. I wish this weren't the case! I'd rather be off on a trip abroad or some other fun thing! > > I think there's a huge difference in saying that your lung abscess was " related to your achalasia " and saying that it was because of the diagnostic tests that were performed to diagnose your achalasia. > > I've read a LOT of research about achalasia and the testing associated with it, and I have never heard of a someone getting a lung infection because they had a manometry or endoscopy performed to diagnose achalasia. > > However, I have heard of MULTIPLE situations where someone developed a lung infection due to aspiration of food and/or saliva. A simple polling of the members of this group will show how common it is. > > I'm not going to say it's not possible that someone introduced an unsterilized instrument into your body in the process of performing a test -- it certainly is possible -- but I really have a hard time believing that bacteria introduced to the GI tract is ONLY going to cause an infection in the lung. If you have an infection develop in your esophagus that then goes into the bloodstream and then travels to the lung, that would be one thing, but you didn't mention anything about a different infection site. > > I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, I just am looking for some clarification, because newcomers to the site might read your first post and mistakenly think that they're at a high rist of getting a lung abscess if they let their doctor perform a manometry or endoscopy on them, when in fact NOT getting diagnosed and treated is what can put them at the highest risk of having lung complications. (Just ask how her lungs are since the myotomy!) > > I would hate to see someone postpone diagnosis or treatment and put themselves at risk for more complications down the road. > > Debbi in Michigan > > Hi-- > > Thanks for your post and the encouraging words. My docs are pretty sure that this weirdo episode is related to my achalasia, with the notion that the lungs filter the blood and that any " crud " introduced into the system via instruments might cause an abscess like this doozy. > > I've had achalasia for 27 years and thought I pretty much knew everything about it. Guess this showed me, eh? > > You asked if I'm am actually Pure Dakotan. Yup--100%. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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