new to this group!

[Guest guest]

Hi, I just wanted to say how relieved I am to have found other

achalasians out there... I don't feel so isolated! It's difficult,

as you all know, to have a rare condition as it is impossiple for

anyone to understand what we go through. The reason being for this

is that being able to eat is a simple human thing and is taken for

granted, by those who can eat perfectly well. I know I always

stuffed my face without a second thought, before my achalasia

started. The difficulty in swallowing, for me, started when I was

about 17. My food got more frequently stuck as time got on. Last

year was when the regurgitating of food started. I'm 21 now, and I

am due to have an operation on the 26th of this month (september).

I'm scared as hell but I know I will be so much happier for it. It

was my best friend's birthday the other day, and we were all in a

restaurant. As we looked at our menus everyone was deciding what to

eat ( " oooh, double quarter pounder with extra cheese and fries " ...so

what I would love to eat, but physically can't!)and I burst into

tears. My friend had to take me outside. The only thing I can risk

eating in public is soup. My friend said she would order something

and I could eat off her plate. I did that, seemed to manage ok, got

carried away (I had been on a soup diet for 3 days, some food had't

budged from my oesophugus, and I felt really weak). I did have to

run off once to be sick, but I got most of the food down me, little

bites...and mashed potato, with LOTS OF COCA COLA! Good luck to all

you other achalasians out there!