Ocelot,
Hello and welcome to HealingWell.
Difficulty swallowing is a problem that should be evaluated by a doctor, and sometimes requires being seen by a specialty trained physician. While it is often a problem that can come and go and not affect your life to a serious degree over long periods of time, it can also be a sign of something much more serious.
Your doctor will be able to review your age, health history, and social history to determine if there is a high or lower likelihood of this being something more serious, and will then be able to make recommendations after an examination.
While many people will experience some intermittent and short lived dysphagia (the medical term for difficulty swallowing), it is concerning if your symptoms are progressing (becoming more frequent or more troublesome), if you have weight loss, if you have fatigue, or Please make an appointment to discuss your symptoms. The causes are very broad, and can include everything from neurological reasons and all the way to the muscular wall of your esophagus itself.
Your spasms could be Esophageal spasms which are irregular, uncoordinated, and sometimes powerful contractions of the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Symptoms include difficulty or inability to swallow food or liquid, pain with swallowing, the feeling that food is caught in the center of the chest, and a burning sensation in the chest (heartburn).
I would strongly recommend an ENT or GI specialist.
Let us hear from you.
Kindly,
Kitt