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Recurrence of Achalasia after Heller Myotomy

Posted , 54 users are following.

gallopinglawyer
gallopinglawyer

Hi

I'm now 38 and was diagnosed with achalasia in 1998. The condition stated in late 1997 and progressed very quickly. I was unable to eat any form of solid food and every meal had to be accompanied by buckets of water!

I had the myotomy and a fundoplication in Sept 1999.

However, the symptoms soon returned. They never got as bad as they were before the operation, but I think suffers of the condition become very adept at managing the condition.

I went through a series of dilations and other tests until, in 2005, my surgeon decided that another operation was the only hope. However, by this time, I had completely lost confidence in my surgeon and decided to live with the condition.

I have found that swallowing has continued to get worse over the years, but I manage it reasonably well by drinking lots of water with meals and avoiding problematic foods such as bread, pasta and fruit.

However, I suffer from dreadful substernal pain and have been admitted twice to A&E with a suspected heart attack. My use of painkillers is now at pretty serious levels so I am having the condition investigated again.

I guess that I knew this was inevitable, but I'm not looking forward to the barium swallows, endoscopy, manometry etc and I guess further surgery is unavoidable.

I utterly sympathise with those who have the condition. It is painful, restricting and embarrassing - you only have to regurgitate an oesophagus full of chewed food over a plate to realise what a bummer of a condition this is. It may not be life threatening, but it is certainly not fun!

I wish everyone with the condition every best wish in managing their condition.

PS - I really struggle with my weight and am now 5 stone overweight which must be a record for achalasia!!! Would love to hear from anyone in a similar position.

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  • lisa37592
    lisa37592 gallopinglawyer

    Posted

    Hi thank you so very much for your reply, this has eased my mind a little bit, as soon as bank holiday is over I will get him straight around to see he's GP and then if it gets worse IL take him to A&E at the hospital he had it done, I will have a word with my son today and pass on the advice to eat little and often and to try avoid heavy stuff like steak, he has been eating big meals so that probably hasn't helped, I will let you know how he gets on with everything, once again thank you so so much xxx

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