Esophageal Pain

Starting yesterday I started having pain in the middle of my esophagus, similar to the feeling of having a pill "stuck" there. The thing is, I had not taken any pills around the time it started, and it has two levels of pain. When I swallow or burp (or even breathe sometimes) I get a preliminary pain that is maybe around a 2 - annoying but nothing major - and then a second later I get a different pain that is around a 5 - it makes me not want to move at all, quit breathing, and just pray it ends soon. It almost feels like my esophagus is trying to punch through my chest. Has anyone else had pain like this? And if so what was the outcome? Most of the time it is just a dull ache, and I guess I have had this sort of pain before but only for a few hours and never this painful. Any help/advice/anecdotes is/are welcome!

I've had similar pain in the past and unfortunately that is when they dx crohn's in my esophagus. I was literally having these really bad pains in my chest every time I ate. A call to your GI might be in order just to rule CD out.

Thanks for the tips! My GI has my on an anti-fungal atm, since he hypothesizes it is thrush. If I still have pain in two days he will do an endoscopy. I think going easy on it sounds like a very good idea!