Teleidoscope

Wed, Feb 28, 2007

Swallowing

Posted at 11:28 pm MST to Miscellaneous

When most people take a bite of something and chew and swallow it, they can be reasonably certain that it will travel from mouth to stomach without undue delays or unpleasantness. I unfortunately do not have that luxury: my esophagus doesn't work quite right, and sometimes locks up while food is in transit. I think the mechanism that is designed to keep you from inhaling your food is also somewhat wonky.

This was very embarrassing last year when I was living in hotels and eating in restaurants almost full time. I spent a lot of time in restrooms trying to get my swallowing muscles unlocked. If I was less overweight people would probably have suspected that I am bulimic.

Back in September a gastroenterologist shoved a tube down my throat while I was sedated to look around and try to unkink things. I was very sore for a few days: the official report said that they had trouble putting in the tube and required "extra drugs and personnel" to get it past my gag reflex. (I have visions of large orderlies who were former jocks...)

The treatment was not completely effective, but at least the bad spells seem to have decreased from occurring several times per week to several times per month, which is a relief. And the spells seem to be a bit less severe when they do occur.

This week I have a slight sore throat, and my esophagus seems to be using that as an excuse to be annoyingly persnickety.

I've learned to be careful about what I try to eat, and to have cold liquids available, which sometimes shocks the muscles back into working. I've about given up on red meat. But sometimes it is hard to predict what will get stuck...I mean, honestly, ramen noodles? They're all skinny and slippery with broth, and it wasn't even a big clump of them that got locked up when the muscles spasmed yesterday.

permanent link || trackback || 2 comments || Add a comment