newbie scared of throat problems/spasms

I have had mild GERD for about 5 years, which was successfully treated with Prevacid and Protonix.  However, I have had trouble swallowing off and on for the past year.  In the last few months, it has become unbearable.  I have been to the ER several times with a choking sensation and in and out of the hospital but no one is able to help me.  The endoscope showed mild gastritis, esphagitis and irritation of the duodenum.  The manometry showed mild peristaltic weakness.   For a while there, I could only consume liquids.  I have been taking 30 mg of Prevacid for 2 months, but still have severe reflux at night.  I sleep on a wedge pillow and eat a small bland meal (when I can swallow) at least 3 hours before going to sleep.  I wake up from sleep with my throat burning, and feeling like my throat is collapsing onto itself, like my esophagus is “fluttering” or like I having tremors in my throat.  And, to make things worse, I have weird spasms during which I swallow involuntarily.  I also become short of breath, have chest pains, and get nauseous when this occurs.  And, it takes forever for the sensation to go away.  This happened again this morning at 1:30.  It is now 7:30 and my throat is still fluttering.  I’ve been crying for two hours because I can’t stand the feeling.  I’m scared and feel so helpless.  My doctor says my GERD is not severe enough to cause these problems.  Does anyone have any ideas on what makes my throat feel that way or what can be done about it?  Thank you.

I'd change doctors if I was you.
You sound like you have GERD and need a better solution.

Joy

Alcie-

Thanks for the information.  What is a leaky LES?  I forgot to mention in my post that I also have a small hiatal hernia.  My doctor told me that my LES weakness is mild, but it seems like I feel it constantly gurgling and I have continuous indigestion/heartburn.  I only feel ok if I burp, but that doesn’t last long.  I’ll definitely look into food allergies, though it seems like a long, tedious process to figure which foods might be a problem for me.  I’m considering going to the Mayo clinic since my doctors here don’t seem to know what’s going on.  I see all of these specialists but I feel like no one is looking at the whole picture.  I am still not feeling good and it’s been almost 24 hours since my last “attack.”

Cool
If the LES stays open, which can happen if you have a paraesophageal hernia or just a weak LES, the acid can leak into the esophagus if you recline or lie down. For 25 years I was able to combat this successfully by simply taking enough PPIs to keep my stomach non-acid. This also serves to keep down irritation and the resulting to the esophagus.

Did your doctor say whay TYPE of hernia you have? Sliders don't usually cause problems all by themselves. Paraesophageals are stuck in the chest and must be surgically brought down to avoid stomach strangulation. My little slider was traumatically pushed into my chest by my seatbelt in a high speed crash, causing me to need surgery, during which I also got a fundoplication which stopped the reflux.

LPR just means the acid is reaching the larynx. The best test for seeing how high the acid goes and to see what kind and size of the hernia is the barium swallow. It's non-invasive, doesn't hurt at all. Docs can't see everything lying down for a scope, and a lot of people need sedation!

The spasms can be caused, without reflux, just by food allergy/intolerance. Just keeping a food log is free, non-invasive, and your GI won't tell you to do it because they mostly don't know about it. But a really top allergist does know about this stuff!! Sure it takes time. I spent two months working on it! But it was the most worthwhile thing I did for myself and stopped the spasms and tachycardia/arrhythmias. You can't depend on doctors to everything for you. Each one is so specialized nowdays that they don't see the whole person. I left this disease go for 25 years, so I had some suspicions about what was triggering the spasms. My GI doc poo-pooed me, didn't believe me even when confronted with the log I kept and the disappearance of the spasms when I avoided my triggers. I even went in with the scientific papers! But my allergist did believe me!!!!!

I had similar symptoms to yours: the spasms relieved by a burp. I let mine go for several years until finally I had a heart attack brought on by eating a bowl of cereal. OK, I certainly had a bit of cholesterol plaque in my coronary arteries, but the trigger was a spot spasm in an artery causing a plaque rupture in just that tiny spot. This is not an unknown happening! I recently read a medical article describing just this thing - although they didn't mention anything about the food trigger, just the esophageal spasm starting the artery spasm.

I spent hundreds of hours scouring the internet reading about spasms and reflux. It was well worth the time!!

Interesting note: Since my fundoplication and ability to allow my stomach to return to its normal acid state, I now tolerate a lot more of my food triggers. I read in a post by another person here that his food intolerances started when he went on PPIs. Mine was so long ago that I don't remember. I only know that I was not born with these food intolerances.

Gene
Does the pain go away if you don't work on anything hard for a day or two? Does it feel like a rib is sliding over another when you are bending and twisting? All sorts of muscles, tendons and cartileges can get overworked, torn, stretched.

I have very sore ribs from shovelling snow too. I had a couple of broken ribs from a seatbelt in a wreck. My cartileges never did reconnect. Now I have "sliding" or "slipping" rib syndrome. Nothing shows on an X-ray, but initially the breaks did show on CT scan and later the rib ends showed on a whole body bone scan I had for another reason.

Rest seems to be the best cure for me. Spasms can be helped with a very small dose of diazepam. Vicodin works well on the pain.

This doesn't have anything to do with GERD or stomach though unless it feels like it is not the ribs but much deeper.

Gene
Sounds like a rib problem to me, because it's not constant. I get pain trying to get out of bed too - involves twisting and bending. But I am just a grandma who's been through stuff myself, not a doctor. Does the pain go away if you don't do anything that involves a lot of bending and twisting - like snow shovelling? My sliding ribs hurt less when I take it easy, don't shovel or drive the tractor for plowing.
I got a depomedrol infusion in my lower rib area at my pain clinic. It hurt like blazes for a couple of days, didn't seem to help at al for the next couple of days, but then I started feeling considerably less pain. I think it's still helping. Most pain docs can't do this, but an anesthesiologist will.
As I said, 1mg Valium (diazepam) helps with a lot of spasms. Old drug, but lots better than the so-called antispasmotics prescribed today. Sitting around with a heating pad works, but takes a week.