Esophageal spasms without chest pain

Hi anyone and everyone:

I wanted to ask around to see if anyone has ever suffered esophageal spasms without the traditional chest pain that I've read seems to accompany them. I posted awhile back concerning this extreme pressure and tightness between my shoulders near the base of my throat.
I had an endoscopy which showed "minimal inflammation" according to the gastro...he said this would not be causing my symptoms and sent me to a surgeon last week to rule out gall bladder issues, which he did. Then I went back to the family doctor who said maybe it's "atypical reflux" and he has prescribed Diltiazem which I am hesitant to take because of its effect on the heart. I'm a little in the dark here because I assumed the gastro would have noted spasm on the EGD, if that's what this is, or on the preceding barium swallow and suggested something.

Anyway, just wondering if you've heard of having the spasm without pain.

Thanks and hope all are well.

Hi Revjr,
I never had esophageal spasms from GERD before my Nissen surgery. During the healing process (I'm just 4 months post-op), if I eat something that irritates my wrap, I can get some spasms. I'm only responding to let you know that those spasms are pain free. They're just more of a sensation, and it's pretty easy to identify them as spasms. They're toward the bottom of my esophagus, though...not up near the throat. They only occur occasionally, and (as I said) always when I've eating something too challenging, and have irritated my wrap.

It has been my experience that the tests don't always tell the whole story. I've had many that showed everything to be hunky dory, when in fact I was having GERD that was bad enough to inflame my lungs and create serious breathing problems.

Good luck in your search for an answer.
You're in the right place! You'll get lots of support here, and hopefully there'll be another member who can speak to your problem better than I can.
Take care,
Denise

Hi revjr1,

I've had esophageal spasms for about 9 months now.  It was diagnosed through a manometry, a horrible test, but useful if you're having problems swallowing.  the gi can really learn a lot from this test!

I've never had chest pain from the spasms.  Occasionally I get a back pain when the food gets stuck.  Unfortunatley, with the esophageal spasms I've had nausea and vomiting and have lost about 45 lbs in the past 7-8 months!

I've had all sorts of test to try to figure out why I have the vomiting and nausea and everything's come back negative.  So it seems it's the spasms that aren't allowing the food to go down, and eventually, they come back up, along with everything else in the stomach!

When I say I've had a lot of tests, I mean, cat scans (abdomen and head - to rule out neurological problems), cancer testing, endoscopies, 24 ph test, esophagrams...you name it!

I've been put on all sorts of medicine, from motility drugs to proton pump inhibitors, recently anti-depressant, as well as calcium channel blockers and even nitrates (not all these drugs at once of course!)  And nothing seems to work! I continue to lose weight.  I may go a day or two where I don't throw up, and then all of a sudden it's like it flares up and I can't eat or drink anything.

Finally, last week, I decided to try acupuncture, and went to my first treatment yesterday.  The acupuncturist also gave me some herbs to drink.  It's only beenone day and she told me I may not feel a difference after the first treatment, but so far, I feel different.  I feel like I have more energy, I haven't thrown up or felt nauseous. Now, I'm still getting full quickly, and still feel a lump like some food is stuck, but it's gone away after a little while!

I'm going back for a second treatment on Thursday...let's hope this is really helping.

Well, I just wanted to share, and would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar problem, or has tried acupuncture.

All the best!

I have like a spasm on the left side sometimes after i eat there no pain but it freak me out. sometimes i get this sharp pain in the right side middle of my chest and it gives me a panic attack because i thought it was problem with my heart, but had a ekg 6 mths ago and it was normal and my bp is normal... But I'm glad someone else has this!