Posted 8/8/2011 9:55 PM (GMT 0)
I had Nissen Funduplication in December 2001. My symptoms were not heartburn, but rather, asthma-like. When I had a pH study conducted, it showed horrible reflux. None of the medications helped. Surgery seems to have been successful. But, ever since then, I still get a strange recurring symptom where I eat and then I end up with a pain in my stomach, I sometimes swell up and harden in the stomach area, and I have sensations of not being able to take a deep breath. I have had endoscopies, barium swallows, colonoscopy, CAT scans and repeat pH Bravo Studies. Nothing shows up. Last week, I had to go to the emergency room because it got so bad and my GI was on vacation. They performed another barium swallow and it showed a section of my esophagus was down to 6 mm in diameter. They thought that it was a stricture caused by GERD. I spent the weekend in the hospital as these symptoms got worse. They did another endoscopy with the intent of finding this stricture and then dilate it with a baloon. When they got in there, there was no stricture. They then concluded that I must have intermitent esophageal spasms and they gave me nitroglycerin and some beta blockers. So far, this does not seem to help. Does this sound familiar to anyone with Esophageal Spasms?