Good News - A Nutcracker Esophagus

[Marcie Mac]

SO's last hospitalization finally got him a referral to Cedars and this is his diagnosis.

I have been yelling for years at the paramedics and he has been telling the doctors that this is NOT AN ASTHMA ATTACK there is something wrong with his throat - its shutting down but once he gets in the ER, they start treating for asthma, and have the intibituation stuff ready and I gotta fuss and fight NOT to have that tube put down his throat, and to give him a shot of magnesium (major muscle relaxant), which always have stopped it, but it didn't work so well a few months ago and something that worked in minutes, well it took over an hour to where he could breathe easy again. Nurse was getting a little testy last time - she tells him, you are getting air in your lungs, XRay shows your lungs are clear, calm down. Easy for her to say when the poor guys throat muscles make him feel like he is being strangled

Everything with him is over the top - there is a high end of this dysfunction (usually with the elderly) and he has gone there.

Not to say the first few times he didn't have an asthma attack but no one but us thought it was odd he could crush an intibutation tube with his throat while it was in his throat. He kept saying it felt like something was stuck in his throat - I thought it was maybe scar tissue from that tube being shoved down and doctor threw up his hands and finally referred him to a specialist. Who in turn did the test, was amazed at the strength of his swallowing muscles and is referring him to someone else to have a look, but in the meantime wanted permission to use him as a case study for a thesis because his numbers are so rare.

So this is the good news - the bad news - medication given for this will affect his heart and blood pressure so am going to check that out before he takes it - even with the medications it will not bring him into the normal range - close - but not normal. Since taking the magnesium, we went from every 3 or 4 weeks of ER visits to well over a year with the last visit

Its been mmmmm 12 years we have been dealing with this but its nice to finally put a name to it

Marcie

 

[hearts and roses]

Interesting. We were just discussing this in my first aid class! I'm glad that something is helping and that with more research, you stumble upon a Dr who knows a better treatment. Poor guy!

 

[susiestar]

WOW. How scary for both of you - esp when no one would listen to you! I hope that they are able to help him os that it doesn't happen for a long long time.

 

[susiestar]

Interesting. Did you know that Viagra is one treatment option? It was mentioned in one sight I just looked at about it (it sounded interesting so I googled it). I wonder who looked at an esophagus that clamps down super strong and wondered if Viagra would help fix it?

Can't you see some guy using this as a way to explain to his wife why she found a viagra rx for him?

 

[Marcie Mac]

"I wonder who looked at an esophagus that clamps down super strong and wondered if Viagra would help fix it? "

mmmm mmmm mmmmm am not going to be sent to the corner for an answer to that

But send me that link please cause I couldn't find it LOL

Marcie (who likes the idea of killing two birds with one stone)

 

[Hound dog]

LOL Marcie

husband has GERD.........and his esophagus will occasionally clamp shut on him.....usually with food or drink involved which makes it worse. Even without food/drink he feels like someone is strangling him or somthing is stuck and will cough himself blue even though it does nothing to help.......it's just a reflex. He's been in ER in the past because it was so bad they though he was having a heart attack.......because he can get chest pain with it too.

If you go to a gastroenterologist there is a procedure that is done with an endoscope via outpatient that stretches the esophagus tissue and helps relieve symptoms for quite a while. husband has had it mult time because his is really bad........and I'm seeing signs he may need it again soon. He's not allowed until current crisis is over. lol

husband does not take medications for it, they stopped working yrs ago and he's tried them all................keep trying to tell him to stop drinking soda as the acid makes it worse.....but yeah I'm just a nurse what do I know. lmao ugh

 

[Mattsmom277]

I'm glad you know what it is now. At the same time, yuckers! I have had my esophagus go into full spasm warranting a very unpleasant ER visit where they didn't know for over an hour what was going on but had the OR being prepped because they assumed for a while that something really horrible was happening. It was truly terrifying. I hope that this means your husband is on his way to having a really successful path to avoiding this completely.

 

[gcvmom]

Wow Marcie, what an awful thing to be dealing with and have no answers! But Cedars is really one of the best places in our area for hard-to-diagnosis issues. That's one reason we switched difficult child 1's care for his Crohn's to their pediatrician IBD center, and why husband had his brain surgery there. Hopefully they will eventually come up with a treatment plan that solves the problem without creating new ones.

 

[susiestar]

Not sure what the site was but it was most likely wikipedia. Viagra is only mentioned by the generic name, sildenafil. I wasn't sure it was viagra so I checked that.

marcie, I almost didn't post it because the going to the corner thing, but I couldn't help myself. I just HAD to ask. LOL

The stretching procedure can be done on the esophagus, the valve at the top of the stomach and the valve at the bottom of the stomach because they can all spasm. It is a fairly easy procedure to have done.