My Digestive Problems

Here is a good example of what my esophagus once looked like.

Found on www.gastrolab.net.

Last night I made a horrible decision. I ate way too late. My husband owns a hobby/games store and usually doesn't get home until after 9:00 p.m. I decided to wait on him to eat rather than eating alone--isn't that one of the perks of being married--and regret it all night long.

I coughed all night long. Although I had the surgery last summer, I still suffer from the effects of achalasia. Achalasia does not just affect the esophagus, but the whole gastrointestinal tract. It basically means paralysis. My duodenum (connects stomach to small intestine) doesn't contract either. (This was actually discovered 2 years before I was diagnosed with achalasia by way of a gastroscope.) Back then I was diagnosed with acid reflux.

Getting back to the coughing, last year I had coughed so much one week that my neck became swollen. It looked like I had strep throat, but it did not hurt to swallow. Though, it did hurt to the touch so I went to the ER. After being examined, the doctor came in and told me that it could be a few different things, one of which possibly being a tumor. He said, "That's probably not what you wanted to hear this morning." Of course not! Who would want to hear that? To make a long story short, it turned out that somehow or another my salivary glands became blocked and became swollen. They gave me a shot in the most uncomfortable place and it went down a week later.

My coughing hasn't caused too much trouble lately. Let's hope it stays that way.