Tips for coping with Achalasia

Posted , 71 users are following.

Helpful Tips Collated from Fellow Achalasia Patients

NB These have not been vetted by the medical profession but are what have worked for some of us

Tips for coping

1Eat smaller meals more frequently.

2Eat slowly and chew well

3Don’t eat too late

4Beware of eating when feeling stressed

5Eat fairly moist food

6Lifting the chest and taking a deep breath also helps.

7Keep a small bottle of water handy in case one’s oesophageal muscles go into spasm when out and about

8Don’t have drinks too cold

9Eat early in the evening

10Don’t drink before bedtime

11Don’t eat too many nibbles such as crisps and nuts or drink too many glasses of wine before a meal in the evening (I know one should only have 1 or 2 glasses of wine but . . . !)

12A good start to the day is a fruit smoothie using a wide variety of fruit liquidised with a live yoghurt and probiotic (actimel) and a good teaspoon of manuka honey.

13Multigrain toast with Somerset brie is also a favourite, helped down with hot water.

14With a good variety of nutrients early in the day, I don't have to worry about having to eat much else. Ironically, that then makes it easier to eat.

15Always have a drink with the meals: sparkling types can be beneficial, and gulps between every few mouthfuls help

16My most important factor in managing my eating has been drinking hot water (temperature is important - half cold and half boiling). Mastering a technique which worked for me took time, but is worth it because I am now comfortable eating out and the only downside is the copious amounts of hot water I might need to drink to get the food down. The technique involves judging how much food I can eat before I have to gulp down some water.

17Soups are a good way of eating a variety of nutrients as they can be liquidised. I include all vegetables and pulses and experiment to get something I really like, sometimes topped with cheddar cheese.

18I avoid eating skins on fruit and veg, but do churn them up in smoothies and soups

19I avoid fatty meat and eat mostly chicken, fish or vegetarian dishes. I can even manage pizza if I drink enough hot water with it.

20I also avoid spicy food and drinking alcohol with food is very difficult.

21Salads are best eaten with lots of dressing and in small quantities.

22Be aware of the types of food you personally need to avoid, and what can be digested easily.

23I avoid the following:-

a) Large lumps of meat. The only meat I consider eating is mince usually in the form of a cottage or shepherd’s pie.

b) Dry chicken can be a problem. Meat in a sauce or casserole is usually better than anything else.

c) Pasta of any sort.

d) Too much bread. I can eat crackers better than bread.

e) Potatoes can be a problem if boiled but thin french fries are not too bad.

f) Rice. My first bad experience of Achalasia was with a dish of paella. Fried rice is better than fluffy stuff.

g) Spotted dick or similar dry sponge puddings are avoided.

24Food that gives me little trouble:-

i) Soup

ii) Fish - salmon or battered cod seem good.

iii) Salads

iv) Stir-fry food is usually fine

v) Funnily enough quiche or similar is usually not a problem

vi) Cheese with crackers

vii) For dessert ice cream is best.

25Basically it seems it is the consistency of the food which has more influence than anything.

26Don’t eat too much bread in one sitting and eat good quality bread rather than soft white bread which is particularly bad for blocking the oesophagus

27Avoid very dry food like falafels, raw cauliflower, raw carrot

28Best foods were weetabix, readybrek, custard, sponge puddings and mashed potato. . Not the most healthy range but I was advised by the dietician at the hospital that it was more important to keep my calorie intake up than eat healthily.

I was prescribed Fortisip milkshakes which were a lifesaver as they are full of vitamins and nutrients.

29Probiotic pills/Acidophilus powder as a major part of immune system is in one’s gut

30Echinacea and Manuka honey to boost immune system

31Sleep propped up with lots of pillows (before the operation) to help stop food and drink coming back up at night

32A bed wedge is a useful alternative to lots of pillows to keep you propped up at night.

33I always finish the day with a good teaspoon of manuka honey and lemon juice in hot water. This is after I have ensured as much as much as possible that all food has been washed down. That way I am left with manuka honey in my oesophagus overnight. I haven't had a cold for the last couple of years so I think it might have given me some protection.

34Relaxation helps to avoid spasms and pain with the sphincter.

35I find yoga helps as does drinking hot water to relieve the pain.

36Pain from the sphincter can be avoided by warming up cold food and drink in the mouth first before allowing it to go down. Avoid letting the chest get cold. Cold wind can set up pain. |I wear a scarf even if I don't feel cold.

37Talk to other Achalasia sufferers. It helps so much to know you’re not alone!!

7 likes, 86 replies

86 Replies

Prev Next
  • Posted

    This is the first time I have heard of this condition. I have been struggling with all of these symptoms for almost 2 years now and my doctor says that this is probably my prognosis.
  • Posted

    I would love to print out the above information; anyone know how I can do this without printing out everything else????
  • Posted

    Hi Donna

    At the start of the text, double click the left button on the mouse and move along until all the text you wish to copy has been highlighted. Right click once and a box will pop up - click copy

    Next open a blank word document and once open right click again and click on paste. It should paste the text onto the blank page. You should be able to save and or print the document then. 

  • Posted

    I've just been diagnosed with Achalasia after having indigestion for 2 years which slowly got worse until I started regurgitating food and experience bad pain in my chest. I'm waiting on tests to confirm but Consultant has recommended the surgery. I've lost just over 2.5st and I was only 10.5 to start with!

    I've found no foods are good or bad from one day to the next.

    Sometimes I can just manage food for a few days then suddenly any food, even liquids are a struggle.

    I hoping the surgery will give me some kind of life back as at the moment I feel like this is ni life at all!

    • Posted

      Hi Barry.  I'm just over 4 months post-surgery now.  For 2 months leading up to the surgery, I could only handle pureed food, and by 2 weeks pre-surgery, it was liquids only.  I'm not sure if you are in the UK or Canada, and we are not to actually 'name' products on this Forum, but I would suggest that you buy some liquid supplements [they are like a milkshake]...this will get some nutrition into your body.  And as others have claimed, I too, feel that they have been a 'lifesaver' for me.  Achalasia is a life-time thing, and we all have to learn to live with this, and it is not easy.  You will get back 'some kind of life,' post-surgery, but it will be a different way of eating.  I am still dealing with the 'learning' of this different way of being.  The oddest things work...as 'texture' is important.  I am a type 1 Achalasia..which means my esophagus is paralyzed.  Anything that goes into my mouth, has to be 'washed down' with water or another liquid.  Please follow the advice of your Consultant [surgeon?].  By the way, bitter, dark chocolate [the flavanoids in it] seem to help the esophageal sphincter muscle to relax some..to allow stuff to go down into the stomach.  You will find good support on this Forum.  Don't be afraid to 'ask' questions here, as you will get responses and support.  And, please do 'share' with us, your journey.  You will find many of us [and we are a small group...remember , Ach. is rare] have and are experiencing the same things you are.

    • Posted

      Barry, I forgot to mention, that I had Heller Myotomy & Fundoplication surgeries [4 months ago]

    • Posted

      Hi Donna, thanks for responding. I'm in the UK and don't know what type I have yet. I'm having a manometry which I assume will tell me what type I have and then the Heller myotomy.

      Did you find your were better after the myotomy or did you need more than 1 procedure?

    • Posted

      My symptoms are strange, I can be sitting here 30 minutes after eating and I'll suddenly get a kind of bubble rose up in my throats and a mucus comes up causing me to be sick. It's very painful.

      I'll try the dark chocolate, I find swallowing water with food makes it's worse as it just seems as though once I get the pains and swallow water it just hits a barrier in my oesophagus and come back up

    • Posted

      How awful for you!  You really do need to follow your consultant's advice.  Mucus, sinus drainage unfortunately seems to be part of Achalasia, along with the odd hiccups.  Maybe try a 'soft' diet; pureed soups, puddings, those 'milkshakes' [supplemental drinks - usually in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry flavours].  Maybe see your consultant again.  Perhaps 'Alan' on this site, might have some suggestions for you.  He can also give you a link for an online patient's manual on Achalasia, which I found very helpful, and still do.  Eat small, and eat often - graze all day...

  • Posted

    Hi, I'm DWJRN on Patient. I have stage 3 spastic Alchalasia and one GI specialist and one surgeon telling me that the use of Botox can compromise surgery such as a Myotomy and Fundoplication. But another well known GI doc is for it. He has me scheduled to have the Botox in the LES on the 10th of this month. I don't know what to do or who's advice to follow. If you were me, would you have the Botox or maybe try a pneumatic dilatation? A quick reply would be appreciated.

    D. Jennings, AL. USA

    Sent from my iPhone

  • Posted

    I was recently diagnosed with Achalasia and just had the balloon procedure yesterday, seems to have helped with my swallowing but am still having food and liquid come back up when I am sleeping. I am wondering if this is something I should contact my gastro doctor about.
    • Posted

      Yes, you should get in contact with your GI.  Are you sleeping with a wedge pillow?  This will elevate you and hopefully keep you from having liquid and food coming up at night.  If you don't have a wedge pillow, try to make some kind of nest of pillows, so you can 'elevate' your upper body.

  • Posted

    Thank you for your help on behalf of myself and my partner Laurence Collard from Australia.

    monsie

     

  • Posted

    I am Laurence, my partner, she is the cool catalan. We live in Australia. I do must of the things you recommend, I have just read the list... 

    What I need to eat for my health (I am celiac), and what I need to eat for my weight problem ( I am very underweight) are not compatible with what I need for my Achalasia. I need, contrary to many people, to eat carbohydrates. 

    I had noticed that rice is a killer for me and bread etc . To find gluten free crackers in the health shops? I'll try tomorrow...!

    Thanks I do not feel so much an outcast since I read your 'list'.

    laurie and monsie 

    • Posted

      We have all felt like an "outcast" because we have described symptoms to our doctors that are not common. They don't have a "quick fix all" medicine or surgery to cure us. It's not a gall bladder that you can remove or a bone to pin and cast.

      To complicate matters we come from different causes for achalasia and varying forms of complications in addition to achalasia. We are difficult to fix patients. Frustrating physicians for the the time it takes to diagnose us and figure out a treatment plan... and for us waiting for relief from said treatment (if they don't label us as "crazy" or "difficult" first... I've been called both). We have to remain diligent in finding ways to communicate to our physicians how we feel and when. So they can help us best. Prayers for all!

    • Posted

      All that happens with all the illnesses... one is misunderstood... but the thing is to keep trying finding help through people in this forum giving advice some better advice than others and going to the search machines and choosing where you click to get advice,only reputable pages and that is. My partner has achalasia and something else (gland problems/endocrinologist specialists) and they do the same. Once you talk about 'symptoms' they use any excuse  not  discuss them.

      So, we have to learn with friends and be grateful that we have lived so long and we can share our problems with people on the same boat.

      Is there any particular problem with the achalasia we can help you with (we hope we can), let us know.

       

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.