haven't been able to swallow in 3 months...
Posted , 9 users are following.
One day in february I got this feeling out of nowhere that i couldn't swallow at all. I've been having throat troubles since July but they were never *really* unbearable. It started with burning in my throat (GERD), weird crackling/sizzling noises coming from my throat, and my swallowing just feeling abnormal but I didn't pay much attention to it because I felt like I could deal with it & i could still eat. It was just annoying. I took heartburn meds and they helped with the burning but not the gurgling noises & the weird sensation when swallowing.
So it's only gotten worse since then. In January I choked on a lot on foods, I could still eat afterwards though I just had to be careful what I ate. Then one day mid-feb, it was a normal day and i had eaten fine, I tried to eat a sandwich but I just couldn't. I don't really know how to describe it but my saliva felt weird, like it wasn't coming out right? My entire mouth just didn't feel right. And I just couldn't swallow. So I've been living off of breakfast essentials drinks, yogurt, flan, milkshakes, soup broth, and this spanish oatmeal that's basically just milk tbh called maizena for the past 3 months.
But I've gotten worse. It's hard for me to even drink water, I've choked badly on it a couple times too. I feel weak all the time and I'm just constantly starving and I've lost 30 pounds. The noises are worse now too and I literally can't even swallow my own spit. It feels like my esophagus is shrinking and it just feels really small and like nothing's going down. I really don't know why this happening.
I've been to a GI and ENT, did a swallow study but i couldn't actually swallow anything so it didn't show anything useful, i still have to do a barium swallow but i'm scared of choking & then of course my doctor's want me to do an endoscopy but im absolutley terrified of being sedated so I'm just living like this. idk what to do. I just want to eat food. I wish I wasn't scared and didn't have anxiety about the stupid endoscopy. Actually I just wish there was an xray or CT scan or something that could show my esophagus bc honestly why isn't there one by now??? that's besides the point tho anyway does anyone have this problem/what do you think it is/what did you do about it/how do you live like this bc it's so hard and I'm only 18 and don't wanna spend my whole life not eating food and constanlty choking on my own saliva/wow that's a lot of questions but please help
0 likes, 33 replies
yashie765
Posted
Janeeyre yashie765
Posted
I forgot to address the gurgling. It could be the result of the acid reflux. Those gurglings usually don't persist for a long time. Oh--and having my esophagus stretched the couple of times I did helped for a while. I need an endoscophy, too, and am on the schedule.
Cowgirluc yashie765
Posted
I have thick go a my spit and a very dry mouth and dont drink near enough fluids in. And I thought maybe it was just the pot 😊
Janeeyre Cowgirluc
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Why, shoot, gal--there's another possible sedative for Yashie's endoscopy.
Janeeyre yashie765
Posted
Yashie, if you are still reading, there's something else that could account for the gurgling. I had forgotten all about it, which is strange because my mother and I were both diagnoses with it long ago. It is Zenker's Diverticulum. I have received quite a cocktail of genes from both my parents and, as a result, my digestive system seems to be made of cheap tinsel. However, over time this Zenker's affected me so minimally that it completely slipped my mind. I only mention it now because the Patient description includes the gurgling, which I never had. You can see it here. The severity of Zenker's evidently varies quite a bit.
?https://patient.info/doctor/pharyngeal-pouch
Janeeyre
Posted
AlanJM Janeeyre
Posted
Achalasia can be found in young people, and even in children, but is most commonly found between the ages of 30 and 60. There are also other conditions that are associated with swallowing / motitility problems, but it needs a specialist to distinguish between them.
?You can get a pouch (ie diverticulum) developing, which accumulates saliva and air and cause plumbing-type noises. I think the 'thick, foamy saliva' needs to be checked out, just in case it might be connected with thrush / candidiasis.
This is a non-qualified guess, by the way.
ducky1 Janeeyre
Posted
I was diagnosed at 22 but symptons started when I was 21.
The consultant back then ( 1990 ) said it was very unusual
for someone my age to develope it.
I think that is one of the reasons I had so much trouble
Getting them to believe me.
At first I was told it was in my head because I hadn't lost weight
and it wasn't until later that I had lost 7 stone and
couldn't keep water down that they did something.
Janeeyre AlanJM
Posted
I think it's my fault that, in replying to myself, I was not more specific that I was still referring to Zenker's Diverticulum without achalasia. I was too tired last night to look into the age range with regard to that but did this morning. Google came up right off with a GI site that said they had seen someone as young as 30 with Zenker's. That one might have achalasia and Zenker's at the same time never occurred to me but why not? I hate the very thought of the lives of such very young people being tainted by achalasia but my reading and testimony here has already made the possibility plain. [You are right about the cadidiasis, too.] But I think there may be a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to achalasia and other autoimmune disorders. Two breakthroughs came about in 2014. Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium appear to have satisfied the scientific community with their conclusion that achalasia is an autoimmune response, after all. [A couple of papers that I viewed that post date 2014 did not seem to dispute.] In that same year, scientists at Bristol University revealed the possibility of preventing cells from attacking healthy tissue without immune suppressive drugs, converting agressor cells into protector ones. That was three years ago and I do not yet know the precise status of that research now. But one can't hurry science. These breakthroughs are explained in two articles [not papers] that are easily read. If anyone cares to have a look, he or she can send me a PM and I will send them.
AlanJM Janeeyre
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Janeeyre
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Ach--I meant I would send links to those articles. Also, if one wants to know the status of some research, if it could hold out promise for achalasia specifically--and when--one is best off to write to someone involved in the study of T cells. So I did. Perhaps I'll even receive a response.
yashie765 Janeeyre
Posted
Reading the info on Zenkers, it seems like something I could have. I have all the symptoms. Maybe I'll mention it to my doctor the next time I go, but they'll probably say it's not possible for someone so young or something. Idk, I guess I'll try. Thanks for all the responses!
Janeeyre yashie765
Posted
I hope your next meeting with your doctor will be in the very near future. Don't hesitate to mention anything you want to bring up. Once again, from your description of your symptoms, you need someone to look at your throat and esophagus very soon. Having difficulty swallowing for three months, losing thirty pounds [ten pounds per month] and living on mush and puree indicates some action on your part pronto. Honey, old toothless people eat better than your daily fare. Please get that endoscopy and then come back here and tell us the results. That's my suggestion. You'll get more support that way, everybody will learn a bit more, and future readers can also benefit. I think, more often than not, people come to the Patient forum seeking advice, ideas, reassurance and then don't come back. The stories are left unfinished, the symptoms remain mysterious because no reader knows what they indicated in the final analysis.
aaron56708 yashie765
Posted
Hi yashie im suffering from this excact same thing ive been undiagnosed for 4 months i have had a ENT and found nothing i also suffer from bad anxiety and pldeppression since this started i am also having suicidal thoughts because anythings better then living with this