Re: Son of Achalasian has swallowing problem

[Guest guest]

My son who is 19 has A but my husband who is 39 has Eosinophilic

Esophagitis. He gets food stuck on a regular basis sometimes for up to four

hours.

It is allergy based. My husband is allergic to shell fish and anytime we

go out to eat and he has meat that was cooked where shell fish was the

rings or stictures on his E swells and food gets stuck. Anything dry has a

tendency to get stuck as well. He takes singular which tends to help but not

a cure. He has to get stretched about once a year. Normally not with a

balloon dialation but with more like an alligator stretch thing? Once he is

stuck nothing goes down not even his spit. He has to spit in a cup until

it dislodges or comes up. Not fun.

_http://www.medicinenet.com/eosinophilic_esophagitis/page4.htm_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/eosinophilic_esophagitis/page4.htm)

In a message dated 5/3/2011 12:22:37 P.M. Central Daylight Time,

cynmark24@... writes:

Three times in the last 4 years my son (now 32) has gotten food stuck in

his esophagus, twice having to go to the hospital to have an endoscope

clear it out. Never did I think it was achalasia, after all, us

achalasians know achalasia when we see it.

After his 3rd bout recently where the food got stuck again, but his

retching got it to shoot back up, I got him to make an appointment in

NYC with my GI, Dr Traube, who saw him today and ordered an

endoscopy for him on June 2nd.

This morning, before his appt. my wife asked me what I thought it might

be, and I recalled Notan's discussing Schatzki's rings, a narrowing of

the E just above the stomach. The article could have been written about

him.

_http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm)

<_http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm) >

It seems as if 6% of the population might have this condition, though

some people will never have symptoms of it.

The non-surgical method for helping this condition is very similar to

what many of us have gone through, either a stretching using tapered

dilators, or a rupturing using a balloon (we all know about that one).

This question is for Notan, or anyone else familiar with the topic. I

was wondering if a balloon dilatation might end up exposing his

esophagus to acid reflux? Thus, if the " cure " is worse than having the

condition.

Thank you.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thank you for responding.  Sorry to hear about both men in your home. My son

emailed me after his appointment today that Dr. Traube felt that it was either

Schatzky's rings or some form of esophagitis, which will be investigated, as I

mentioned with an endoscopy on June 2nd. While my son is allergic, only to

airborne things. Some research indicated that excessive use of some medications

could cause an irritation in the esophagus that can lead to esophagitis. In my

son's case it was always one large piece of food and he felt in tremendous

distress from it. Since it happened so infrequently, we let it go until this

third time (3 strikes and you're out)

________________________________

From: " shark13sr@... " <shark13sr@...>

achalasia

Sent: Tue, May 3, 2011 5:38:53 PM

Subject: Re: Son of Achalasian has swallowing problem

 

My son who is 19 has A but my husband who is 39 has Eosinophilic

Esophagitis. He gets food stuck on a regular basis sometimes for up to four

hours.

It is allergy based. My husband is allergic to shell fish and anytime we

go out to eat and he has meat that was cooked where shell fish was the

rings or stictures on his E swells and food gets stuck. Anything dry has a

tendency to get stuck as well. He takes singular which tends to help but not

a cure. He has to get stretched about once a year. Normally not with a

balloon dialation but with more like an alligator stretch thing? Once he is

stuck nothing goes down not even his spit. He has to spit in a cup until

it dislodges or comes up. Not fun.

_http://www.medicinenet.com/eosinophilic_esophagitis/page4.htm_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/eosinophilic_esophagitis/page4.htm)

In a message dated 5/3/2011 12:22:37 P.M. Central Daylight Time,

cynmark24@... writes:

Three times in the last 4 years my son (now 32) has gotten food stuck in

his esophagus, twice having to go to the hospital to have an endoscope

clear it out. Never did I think it was achalasia, after all, us

achalasians know achalasia when we see it.

After his 3rd bout recently where the food got stuck again, but his

retching got it to shoot back up, I got him to make an appointment in

NYC with my GI, Dr Traube, who saw him today and ordered an

endoscopy for him on June 2nd.

This morning, before his appt. my wife asked me what I thought it might

be, and I recalled Notan's discussing Schatzki's rings, a narrowing of

the E just above the stomach. The article could have been written about

him.

_http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm)

<_http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm_

(http://www.medicinenet.com/schatzki_ring/article.htm) >

It seems as if 6% of the population might have this condition, though

some people will never have symptoms of it.

The non-surgical method for helping this condition is very similar to

what many of us have gone through, either a stretching using tapered

dilators, or a rupturing using a balloon (we all know about that one).

This question is for Notan, or anyone else familiar with the topic. I

was wondering if a balloon dilatation might end up exposing his

esophagus to acid reflux? Thus, if the " cure " is worse than having the

condition.

Thank you.

[Guest guest]

RICHARD wrote:

>

> ... I was wondering if a balloon dilatation might end up exposing his

> esophagus to acid reflux?

>

The balloon size would be much smaller than an achalasia balloon, maybe

about half the size. Also the ring is probably up a little from the

bottom of the LES so it is unlikely that the dilatation would do much to

the muscles of the esophagus especially those that are at the bottom of

the LES and top of the stomach. I don't see much chance of it, but some

claim it has happened. It is a good question to ask his doctor. When he

signs the papers for the endoscopy he may be signing his consent to have

a dilatation at the same time. If that is a concern he should be clear

about that before signing.

notan

[Guest guest]

Thank you Notan.  I will advise him of that, and try to discuss this with his

GI

(aka " my GI " ).  I'm also going to call today to find out if I can schedule an

endoscopy for myself for the same day if he will take " out of network. " It has

been too long a time since he has checked me. It has now been 5 years (hard to

believe) since Dr. Altorki and Dr. Richter both concurred that I had to have an

esophagectomy ASAP.  I am not knocking them by my saying this, but to point out

that sometimes an additional opinion might prove worthwhile.

________________________________

From: notan ostrich <notan_ostrich@...>

achalasia

Sent: Mon, May 9, 2011 1:54:33 PM

Subject: Re: Son of Achalasian has swallowing problem

 

RICHARD wrote:

>

> ... I was wondering if a balloon dilatation might end up exposing his

> esophagus to acid reflux?

>

The balloon size would be much smaller than an achalasia balloon, maybe

about half the size. Also the ring is probably up a little from the

bottom of the LES so it is unlikely that the dilatation would do much to

the muscles of the esophagus especially those that are at the bottom of

the LES and top of the stomach. I don't see much chance of it, but some

claim it has happened. It is a good question to ask his doctor. When he

signs the papers for the endoscopy he may be signing his consent to have

a dilatation at the same time. If that is a concern he should be clear

about that before signing.

notan