Cant swallow and now im very stressed and depressed

My wife has had achalasia for over 10 years now. First of all I can tell you stress and depression agrivates the

Situation. Try to keep yourself calm. Keep your strength up with protein shakes and soft foods. You need to find a gastroenterologist that knows about this disease. There are answers but most doctors don’t understand or know about achalasia because of it rareity. I know it’s easy to say but hang in their brother. Don’t give up and fight for your answers. They are out there. 

Hey man.

I know I'm some random person on the internet but please don't go doing something too over the top. If one doctor says one thing find another doctor. Try find someone who specialises in your situation. If solids aren't going down try some smoothies. If it gets really bad you should go to the emergency room and get help straight away.

Hello Aarron, my name is Jan. I have had Achalasia since 1985, it’s a terrible disease to have especially when it affects your work and, social life. It can make you feel very lonely and, isolated. I know been there. What you need to do as soon as you can (where do you live) is speak to your GP and, insist that you see a gastroenterologist who will arrange the appropriate tests and, advise you in relation to any treatment. I am due to have an oesopegetomy as my oesophagus has well past its sell by date and, I have now also been diagnosed with Barrats. The most important thing that you can do at this moment is not panic and, Keep Calm as we Brits say 😊 as any stress, especially the levels that you are feeling at this time will aggregate your symptoms.I have had to leave my practice because I am so very poorly now and, on liquid feed only and, that comes down my nose. I totally understand how you are feeling but, it will pass. Try to have some beef tea or, a little soup. Little and, often is the best way to go even though you are starving. If you are feeling that you are about to unravel then you must seek medical attention as soon as possible. Are you suffering from any acid reflux Aarron?   Chest pain? I live in the Uk, it can get you to the point of giving up but, please don’t because a good gastroenterologist can help you and, change your life in so far as your swallowing goes. You need to request a Barium swallow X-ray that will show how slow the barium fluid is going down and, even locate where it may be backing up, you need an endoscopy to check there are no obstructions or, damage to the tissue within the oesophageal wall. Then a manametry test ought to be performed which involves putting a narrow tube into your stomach through your nose, sounds horrific I know but, it’s no real biggie although a little uncomfortable, this takes up to two hours and, you swallow very small amounts of water as they bring the tube slowly up little by little in order for them to see the amount of pressure that you have in your oesophagus and, check the nerves and, the muscles are responding properly in order to push the food down into your stomach. They will then insert a narrower tube and, send you home with a monitor (within a little shoulder bag) that will monitor your acid levels along with a journal that you fill in times of when you eat, drink, sleep ect and, report any symptoms of regurgitating or, painful acid. It is a battle and, I’m fighting one at the moment chasing up appointments ect, it’s a mine field but. Make yourself a warm drink and, try to settle and, hopefully get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day which will give you the opportunity to chase down a gastroenterologist that will help you. If you feel so desperate you must get yourself to the emergency department or, A&E department as soon as you possibly can. You can beat this, honestly we all have our low moments but, it comes good eventually. I will message you tomorrow to see if you have managed to find a gastroenterologist and, to see how you are in general. Take care x

Don't give up. Swallowing difficulty can be caused by a number of things. I has the issue for 10 months and they never found anything. They liked to say it was stress but it was painful swallowing and that is not from stress. Finally I had blood work done - I had to ask! Maybe you should see if you have a vitamin deficiency that has caused this. That's all mine was. But I realize I'm in the minority but I do like to mention the possibility. Doctors were not very helpful with this problem and it was discouraging.

One thing you could ask for is a barium swallow test.

​Also you do need to go to your doctor and describe how you are feeling mentally.

This may not be an ENT problem and that doctor should have referred you on. Find a good Gastroenterology specialist near you and get an appt. If you can't get in right away, go see your general practioner and ask them to get an appt for you with someone they recommend asap. The sooner you get in, the sooner you start to get answers

I've been where you are and it's frustratiing, scary and painful.I've also found I had to be my own advocate, not many professionals out here to help much without some prodding. I had to go through many avenues before I got answers from someone who found achalsia. Don't give up until you get answers!

You may indeed have achalasia and there are treatments that can help you. Do your research about achalasia and the treatments for it. More importantly find a good GI doctor (Gastroenterologist) and get an appt.

It may be something else but this is the next step.

Blessings! I'm saying prayers for you today.

Hi Aarron, how are you doing today. Have you had the time to seek out a gastroenterologist. Hope you are ok

I’m so sorry you are suffering like this. I can tell you from personal experience that my swallowing disorder, now diagnosed properly, has caused me more agony, depression, fear, pain and negative thoughts than my Systemic Lupus could ever cause. And I thought lupus was my worst enemy. 

It’s been the lack of understanding doctors, misdiagnosis and being dismissed by specialists locally that had me wondering what was “wrong with me mentally” but there’s nothing wrong mentally, it was my natural response to pain and desperation. 

BUT, by going on forums like this, continuing to get angry because I  KNEW something was wrong and fighting to find a specialist that after 2 years of the worst of this swallowing disorder my regular general practitioner did his own research and found me a place to go. I’ve been accepted and they confirmed Achalasia. I will be getting surgery, but best of all, they said our first visit, we will look to see what may be going on, we’ll review your test results and if we can’t find the problem we will assist you by referring you to our colleagues in different specialties to get ͏y͏o͏u an answer and if no answer can be found, we will assist you with dealing with your symptoms until technology may catch up with appropriate tests to figure this out. 

For the first time I’ve felt hope and not despair. 

There is something about not being able to swallow correctly, if at all, which is significantly frightening. 

Please hang on, fight, and continue to reach out. I agree with whoever mentioned maybe ENT isn’t the specialty, maybe try getting into a GI Specialist. 

I drank fruit protein smoothies for almost 2 years SOLELY, very thin, to keep me from having that feeding tube. 

Stay in touch on here, everyone knows how brutal these types of illnesses are and support from others is imperative. 

Best of luck to you and like I said, keep fighting and don’t take “no” for an answer. There ARE good doctors out there, we just have to do most of the research ourselves unfortunately.