Post OP Experiences (Heller w/toupet)

Thank you for sharing, Joy. I appreciate knowing that it took you 2 years post-op to get to the point where you have some sort of appetite.  I have no appetite at all.  I mean what is there to get excited about, when most of the things one loved to eat, are taken out of the diet!  I eat to stay alive, and I am careful about the 'nutritional' value of what goes into my mouth. It is good to know, that I am not the only one going through these things.  Thanks again, for sharing.  Haven't seen you posting in awhile.

Wow I'm going in June for surgery. And hearing about hunger makes me worry cause I have no hunger now I will wait and wait but it my try to growel but food does not sound good cause I know what can happen .I hope it returns unless that nerve has been affected already. I spaz out with out eating. I just have to move wrong. It also could be the herring rods in my back from shattering my L1 very be and fracture of T 8-9 who knows!

I hope it helps you! I'm sure it probably will! Stay positive!

DJRN

OK.   That is indeed a complication, and the specialists are best at dealing with it.   Eating little and often may possibly help your system.   I suspect that you may not be able to gain much weight unless you revert to a more liquid diet, and you will have to keep up your nutrution levels regardless of anything else.   Perhaps your system might get 'trained' into acting more normally in due course?   With food not going through your system properly it is not surprising that you do not feel hungry.  Having said that, I am not medically qualified and you will need to act under guidance from the specialists.

You are spot on....that is exactly how I feel.  I have, to use the words from one of the tests they did on me recently, 'poor clearance' from the esophagus into the stomach.  The gastric emptying happens, when the sphincter muscle feels like working.  I also, could happily eat once a day, and my preferred meal would be soup...that will not keep a person in good form, so I force myself to graze, and to eat small meals.  Like you, if I each a little too much, the Achalasia lets me know it.  This morning, I have had some nausea.  Teresa, can you tell me what kind of food works for you, and what doesn't?  I realize that we can happily eat something one day and it works, and then the next time, with the same food, it doesn't work.

I also like liquids. I think it stems from when I was deathly ill and needed urgent surgery as I was misdiagnosed for years. I used to sip on broth. It's a comfort food when I'm feeling like food is my enemy. I can do salad, its strange, but it goes down easy. No bread or muffins, no rice and for some reason, no egg rolls. I often have herbalife shakes for a meal. Everyday is different. I often wash my food down with water as it still sticks. I have been dialated 3 times since my myotomy but it sends me into spasams so bad that I don't want it again. I have tried botox with some help, for the spasams. String cheese helps my spasams stop, but recently, it gets stuck on the way down too. I find I really have too chew good and many days the food goes down easy. But the meals need to be small. Yogurt is good too with some berries, but that's close to liquid too. I think salad is my easiest to eat.

I realise that people are different from each other and that things can be inconsistent, but you may find the rough and ready survey of food experiences helpful as set out in A Patient's Guide to Achalasia that you can download from the website of the Oesophageal Patients Association under The Oesophagus and Achalasia. It will at least be a start.

I wish we had something like that in Canada, but as far as I know, we don't.  There has only been one other Canadian on this Forum, since I joined last Fall.

Warm soup is very comforting.  I puree vegetable soup, add some Basil and a little bit of shredded cheese.  Like you, food still sticks in the esophagus, even post-surgery and dilation.  My esophagus is finished, paralyzed, and there will be no positive change...no miraculous improvement, as my surgeon said to me, 4 months post-op.  I'm lactose intolerant so yogurt is out for me.  I do make a protein shake, using unsweetened almond milk, a frozen non-dairy product [its like ice-cream, but not ice-cream!], pureed prunes, peaches, protein powder and spinach.  That's my afternoon meal per se.  Salads are out for me, as is bread and things like muffins, as you said, as they will congeal in the esophagus and lead to a spasm.  But we learn, post-op, how to 'manage' our Achalasia, and each of us is different, but yet we share so many of the same things...its odd.

Warmest Regards, 

N. 

I like what you said about everyone being different and how we all have to learn how to manage OUR achalasia. That's very true! Soup is comforting to me as well, but too much liquid tends to hurt. I think it's just a life long struggle that we all have to learn to deal with and find what works best for each of us. Best of luck!!!

Thank you, JoyAsh.  My problem is that everything that goes in the mouth, has to be washed down, so there is more water in my stomach than food, for the actual 'meals.'  Sometimes, I go to pick up something to put in my mouth, like when I'm out somewhere, and then realize I have nothing to wash it down with, so that 'treat' stays on the plate! et.   It would be so nice to have a piece of pizza, or a piece of toast....but I know they are out for me.  And, what works for me one day, might not work for me the next.  Our dear travelling companion, Achalasia, is very fickle and tempermental.  Just when you think you are improving, bam, Ach. rears its head to remind us that it is still journeying with us.  I like to hear what works for others....I might try the different ideas, if they work- great, if not, well, so be it.  Best of luck for you also.

I no longer can drink tea [never drank coffee], and I used to love a very strong cup of black tea [leaves] with milk.  As I said before, soup is my favourite thing now.  Its funny, soup was never something that I ate much of, in my life.  Now, its my number one go-to.  I seem to have the spasms under control, for now, and now that I've said this, expect one to happen tonight! lol  I guess this is all part of the 'managing' of Achalasia.

It's very helpful pre and post op. I have most trouble with anything dry. Warm is best for me.

DJRN