Swallowing Difficulties

[Nicole1987]

My name is Nicole. I'm 22 years old, and the past few months have been a horrible nightmare for me.

Everything really began for me four weeks ago after eating blueberries. For the first time in my life I felt like one was stuck in my throat, but I wasn't choking. I haven't been able to swallow anything but broth and juice since then. It's like everything gets stuck down there before going down after a few minutes. It then comes back up sometimes. I have since seen a speech pathologist for a swallowing study. She said made me press my tongue against a popsicle stick and do a bunh of other exercises. She said my speech was fine and everything came back normal. An internist exaimined my hands, made me press up against his, and pressed down on my arms and told me I didn't have ALS(which didn't seem very complete), and another doctor told me I have esophageal Candida that is causing swallowing problems. For a while I thought she was right, but the diflucan hasn't started working after five days.

I'm starting to torture myself again. Since having these swallowing problems I really think I have ALS. I noticed how awful my right eye and limbs twitch when I hae panic attacks. I haven't eaten and have been teated for dehydration and hypogycemia. I also started to feel like me face is burning, but everyone tells me it's in my head. Does this sound like ALS to anyone? I really can't swallow and have discomfort when it does get to my chest, but I can chew and talk fine. I haven't been dropping things or tripping. I just don't know what to think.

 

[Justme111]

Hi Nicole,

Stop Torturing yourself! Im going to give you one peice of advice that will SAVE you from Endless, NEEDLESS researching. GET OFF THE INTERNET! Trust me!

You dont have ALS! If you had Als, it would be Bulbar onset als, which account for approximately only 25% of the cases. You are WAY too young & giving the statistics, after doing the math, 1-2/100,000 minus 75% , minus the fact that HARDLY anyone under 25 gets als, minus the fact your symptoms have nothing to do w/ als, its almost near impossible so PLEASE, you are TOO young to worry about having this dreaded disease. You DONT!

You would FIRST notice difficulty speaking clearly. Speech becomes garbled and slurred. You would seem nasal. Difficulty swallowing, and loss of tongue mobility follow.

If I were you, honesty, I would see an ENT. When I was 20, I was having symptoms like yours. I kept saying I felt like my food was getting stuck. I remember taking a bunch of Qtips & tying them together cause I thought something was indeed stuck. I started eating mashed foods only. Long story short, I had a polyp. The ENT did a test where he sticks a thin light up your nose & looks in your throat. (It does not hurt) & takes about 4 minutes.

Twitches are normal. We ALL get them. The more you think about them, the more you'll get. Been there too!

Get AWAY from these ALS boards! You will begin to read one story after the next & you will become obsessed FOR NOTHING.

Your Dr would know if you had it so trust him..........Dont become obsessed, ok?
You'll be fine!

 

[Moonmark]

Hi Nicole-- I have to second what justme says about bulbar onset ALS not fitting with your symptoms and it being exceedingly uncommon in someone your age. You do say you have panic attacks and it sounds like this might be the root of your problem-- panic and anxiety.

I bet if you get some help for panic and anxiety-- via medication and therapy-- you may also get some relief from the swallowing problems.

there is a condition called globus hystericus which may be affecting you-- you can read about it here:

Globus Hystericus

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

Sandra

 

[Nicole1987]

I realize that it's extremely odd that I would assume this is ALS, but if it's not Yeast Esophagitis what else could it be? Why would food get stuck in the middle of my throat. I really can't swallow anything solid. I can only get down broths, water, and thin juices. Even those shoot back up, and then I have to burp. I haven't eaten or drank hardly anything for four weeks. Has anyone heard of the swallowing going first? My speech and chewing are still fine. This morning my face got red and started to burn and flake, but I don't know if that is just dehydration. Can someone please tell me what to look for with Bulbar onset?

I'm sorry if I sound like a crazy person, but my panic attacks have gotten a lot worse since this swallowing problem. I just want to rule this out.

 

[Nicole1987]

Just to clarify, my face got red when I was putting my sweat shirt on.

 

[wright]

Your story isn't even close to the story of someone with ALS. You ask if your condition isn't due to a yeast infection, what else could it be other than ALS. Are you kidding me? Surely you're not serious.

First of all, the swallowing problems of someone with ALS have nothing to do with a "stuck in my throat" feeling and the major problem is swallowing liquids and not solids . . . and you're telling us that you can swallow liquids just fine (the "shooting up" thing you mentioned is not what happens with ALS . . . it is choking on the liquid because it gets into the respiratory tract). Again, that is not the story of someone with bulbar onset ALS.

Get off of the internet because you are needlessly going down a very dark path that will lead to nothing but very bad things . . . and you are extremely close to becoming another one of those completely irrational people on this forum that just won't listen to reason.

Let go of this non-sense and be done with it. I wish you peace.

 

[KANSASTOM]

Wright,
Could a neuropathy cause swallowing problems?

 

[wright]

It sure can, Tom . . . and obviously a peripheral nerve that innervates the muscles of swallowing would have to be affected.

 

[BinBoulder]

Nicole, be wary of self diagnosis! Sure a symtom you have can be attributed to ALS etc. but it takes a concientious physician o really daignose your condition. You mentioned eye twitching, and take it from somebody who inherited the "anxiety gene" from his mother, eye twitching isn't the most reliable indicator of ALS. As for the swallowing thing, I'm still vacillating over that myself! For me, it started with my favorite waffles, and didn't hit a critical chord with me until i was challenged with swallowing my favorite Snickers candybar. I would want to ease your anxiety level if I could and suggest that you demographically ALS doesn't strick youngsters such as yourself as often as us old farts, so see a neurologist! Maybe the fasiculations are indicative of something else...and until they force you to keep answering your phone when nobody is calling (cuz you have it set to vibrate), I'd hope you are looking a stress related thing going on. Are you in school? Under pressure? Anxiety is a quirky thing! I ended up leavng the medical profession (when i was 23) because of it, and all my symptoms went away when i did. So, don't rush to self diagnose or have others reinforce your fears. Seek a physicians referral to a neurologist to either confirm or deny you have ALS. Best wishes.

 

[Erica]

Nicole, I'm want to make sure you a gastroenterologist and get an endoscopy. Esophageal inflation, ether due to high acidity or candidiasis can have symptoms od dysphagia as you describe.
As it was already stated above, ALS dysphagia doesn't sound as what you described.
Stay away from acidic food( juices, tomato sauce, mints, coffee).
Take care,erica

 

[limegreenphysicist]

Hi Nicole,

I am 28 and have been in your panic stricken shoes for a while now. I have been having difficulty swallowing for about 2 months now off and on. I also have difficulty speaking sometimes..not slurring just chopping and thick with lots of saliva. Its really embarrassing when I'm kissing my man to say the least. I went for a follow up with my pathologist yesterday because I am being treated for lymes.

He looked at my cranial nerves and did a thorough inspections on my tongue of which also has teeth indentions on it...yea freaky. He asked me if I had been clenching my teeth. I do this night and day constantly and unconsciously due to anxiety. This causes my jaw and neck muscles to become tired and achey leading to lots of saliva and problems swallowing and speaking.

If you have problems clenching or night time bruxism this may be something to look at in lue of the insidious my friend. I refuse to believe at 28 I am that special of a person to have Bulbar ALS...I'm special but not that special. lol..I take an anti depressant which will help me relax my poor jaws and hopefully help me stop chomping my cheeks and tongue in the back.

You don't have Bulbar and after all this crap I have going on with my mouth I had a clean EMG of my tongue while I drooled all over the neurologist. So please stop worrying girlie and get back to your life. And just to add....Globus is so real..also your body is being trained all the time to respond to what you react to meaning that as Pavlov trained a dog so when a bell was rung it would salivate..you are training your body to be anxious when you eat just like if you have a panic attack somewhere or doing something you will not want to return to that spot or do that action due to you having an attack there and if you do you are likely to have another attack in that place or doing that action. Just a thought..

Love,
kelly