I haven't been writing on the board lately but I have been following a low carb way of life religiously. I am down to 163 pounds, blood pressure down from 120/80 to 120/70 and thought that I was doing good. Until a few weeks ago.

I started having these really bad pains in my stomach. It is hard to describe but the pain was so bad that it shot up my back. I went to the Doctor and she sent me to get a Barium Swallow to see if there was anything wrong with my stomach. When the results came back they showed that I had been having convulsions and at times my stomach wasn't expanding. This is what was causing this horrible pain...My doctor told me that this was caused by diet and the only way now to have it stop is Medication. She put me on Nitroglycerin, a very small pill I put under my tongue. Usually used as a heart medication.

I really hope this helps, but I want to know why this happen to me....Like I said I have been following my low carb way of life or diet, whatever you would like to call it and this happen. It hurts and now I have to be on another medication.

Has this happen to anyone else?

Thank you

Candice

No one??

hi Candice,

Y'know, I read this earlier, and I was stumped. Never heard of stomach convulsions before. Then I read back through a thread you'd posted a couple months ago, about feeling sick and nauseous, aversion to food .. and "butterfly" sensations when you swallow. Then it clicked.

Achalasia ... Esophageal Spasm.

In this condition, the sphincter where the esophagus joins the stomach is in constant spasm, and it fails to relax and open properly when food is swallowed. As a consequence, food sits in the esophagus, which becomes distended and uncomfortable, leading to nausea, difficulty swallowing, aversion to eating and chest pains.

Nitroglycerine helps by dilating the blood vessels around the esophagus, which can help the muscle to relax and stop spasming. For some folks though, they have to have a tube put down to help dilate the opening ... and this often brings relief.

You can read more about achalasia at Medline Plus.

hth,

Doreen

Yes, my throat has been hurting alot. It has been raw and has been hard to swallow. I have had to clear my throat alot like when you are sick ya know. I thought that I just had a cold but it just didn't go away.

Candice

I have also been caughing alot too.

Is this going to go away??


Thank you

Candice

No, it won't go away on its own. If the medication doesn't help to relieve the pressure, then the dr. might choose to dilate the esophagus with a tube, as I described ... or possibly surgery to release the spasming muscle. (note .. surgery would be done by means of a tube down the throat, probably using a laser .. so no big operation or incision). There's more description at the Medline link I gave in my post above.

The cough may be due to several things. Physical irritation from the distended esophagus is one .. or there may be some regurgitation of stomach contents when the sphincter does open. The reflux of stomach acids can irritate the throat and possibly can be a risk for aspiration if it happens at night Or ... if you've been sick to your stomach a lot ... your throat will be irritated from that.

Hope you get some relief soon

Doreen

My doctor didn't go into detail about all of this because I do not have insurance here in Canada... I don't have the option to do anything but take medication. It was expensive enough to get all the tests done. She know's that the test were expensive and knows that I am going through my immigration process right now but it is going very slowly. I am just going to turn in my papers.

My throat hurts all day as well as coughing all day. But most of my pain comes at night and early morning. I don't sleep good and wake up at all times of the night. It is really bad around 6-6:30am...

Why does this happen?? Could it of been from foods that I eat?

Thank you for helping me

Candice

Candice -

I can answer your questions based on my own 10-year personal experience with achalasia and esophageal spasms. This story ends well, so bear with me.

Achalasia means that when you swallow you have either no or weak peristalsis (the involuntary wave-like motion that propels the food down your esophagus.) Then when the food reaches the sphincter muscle that should automatically open and let the food into your stomach, that muscle doesn't open or opens only if there is a lot of pressure on it. For some reason, spasms seem to go with the achalasia. The nerves to your esophagus are misfiring and when they do fire they can cause the muscle to go into EXTREMELY (and believe me I know) painful spasms.

When I first went to the doctor, he tried to convince me that I was insane. I was living in Uruguay at the time. I lost 25 pounds in less than three months. His response: "Well you look good." This doctor finally prescribe procardia (adalat; generic name: nephedipine) for me but not in a sufficient dose. It did help somewhat however.

(Niphedipine is a blood pressure medicine that relaxes smooth muscles, like those inside the arteries -- it also relaxes the smooth muscles that line your esophagus. I would ask your doctor if she could try you out on some of this medicine -- for a medicine it is quite inexpensive. You can get it in either in capsules that you can break under your tongue 15-20 minutes before you eat or in time-release tablets that you can take once or twice a day. I had no luck with nitroglycerine myself.)

Anyway, the situation got so desperate that I returned to the U.S. I think to properly diagnose the problem you need to have an endoscopy (doctor looks at your esophagus using a laser light - you are out thank god) and through a manometry test which measures the muscle contractions in your esophagus and the pressures required to open the sphincter (manometry is quite unpleasant but I think you need it to see if any kind of surgical intervention is required).

This was 1992 and I had to go back to the country where I lived. After my diagnosis, the doctors recommended surgery and I had an esophagocardiomyotemy. They cut the sphincter muscle so it can't close. At the time, they had to open me up. If they can do it with a laser now, that is really, really great.

I would say that the surgery solved about 80% of my swallowing problem. I continued to be plagued by spasms for several years afterwards. I got them somewhat under control by working with my doctor in the U.S. and taking a number of medicines. They greatly reduced in frequency over the years and now I can go for months without having an attack.

If you actually do have achalasia, I would bet money that the problem with your coughing is that the food is not going down into your stomach in the first place. When you lay down, the food goes back up into your mouth where it then can get into your windpipe. Your body reacts and clears the windpipe by coughing. I've had a lot of experience with this too.

YOUR FIRST COURSE OF ACTION IS TO RAISE THE HEAD OF YOUR BED! You need the help of gravity to keep that food from coming back up. Put a couple of bricks (or more) under the legs at the head of your bed. Extra pillows can work too but the pillows tend to slip while you are sleeping. Please do this right away. It has never happened to me, but if the food finds its way down your windpipe you will end up with pneumonia.

Sorry for writing a book but I know a lot of things now I wish I had known when I was first starting out with this.

P.S. NOBODY knows what causes achalasia but it almost certainly is NOT diet!

I was put on another medication today because I went back to the dr.
She told me that this is, At least in my Case, brought on by my diet. My stomach can not digets the foods(fats) and it has been sitting in my stomach for a long time, they don't know how long but there is quite a build up. So when I eat I contracts trying to push out the stuff that is in there and my stomach can not do anything so the stuff that I just ate will just sit there also. When I lay down or take the Nitroglycerin it relaxes the spasams in my throat & stomach but it also causes a problem. The acids are coming up and that is when I have to clear my throat and cough(that is what you were saying eh?) I have a hard time explaining But she says that this new med will take at least 2 months to start working. She also suggested going to a specialist(sorry I do not know how to spell the title of the dr.) But like I said before I do not have insurance so it makes it hard to do that.

My doctor said that when she has patients like this she usually puts them on a Low fat high carb diet because the carbs are digested first. I told her that I would cut back on some of my fat but I was not going to eat carbs. She says that is fine.

Marie, like you she also suggested the brick under the bed and extra pillows.

Candice

Candi -

I'm so glad you went back to the doctor and are getting some help! It also sounds like you don't have achalasia -- also very good.

I only hope that your insurance problems will soon be sorted out.

All the best,

Marie

I woke up this morning and started coughing up blood. It wasn't all blood it was also flem. Was this blood just from what has been happeing to my stomach/throat lately? Should I not worry about it or go to the Doctors? I haven't done it before. Kinda just freaked me out ya know...

Thank you
Candice

Just four words, Candice. Go to the doctor.

At least that's where I would head if I were coughing up blood.

Yes indeed .. get to the Emergency department of the nearest hospital. With your history of acid reflux, you may very well have developed an ulcer in your esophagus.

I'm sorry you're going through this hell Candice. I think a visit to a specialist (likely a Gastroenterologist) would be worth it in the long run, even if you did have to pay out of pocket. This sounds more serious than what a pill can fix. Hope things get resolved soon.

Doreen

I went to my doctor and she took a throat swab and set up an appt. with a specialist. Nothing really happen today, I didn't want to go to the ER because, I DON'T HAVE THE MONEY. It's easier said than done when you have insurance right.
Thank you
Candice

Hi candi~ hope that you are doing better with all of this..it sounds like it has been a real trial. My grandmother use to have problems like what you described, and back then,they did not have all the tests like they do now... but something that you said about your stomach was not digesting the fats.... My grama did not have the right kinds of stomach acid, or enough of it to help digest certain foods properly. Her dr. prescribed some sort of acid for her to take... that was then... now they probably have a better alternative. I know that you have the problem with reflux, but even a minute amount of stomach acid can do that, if your body is not working in sync with itself. Anyhow~ pls. no one yell at me, if I am way off base here... I am just sharing what caused my grama to have the same symptomology.