Chaos Strikes Again

I thought today would be a completely fine day until I called my doctor. He's been having me call him each week so I can tell him how I've been doing. Well, this past week has been kind of rough. I guess I'm going to have to stay away from red meat all together because it is always painful going down.

My doctor thinks that I need to go ahead and have the dilation done. I feel like the Operation game guy. He's always having different things done all the time--never gets any rest.


Dilation is basically when they send a small tube down your esophagus with a diflated balloon on the end and inflate it once they get to the stricted part to stretch it out--and to think balloons used to be fun. I don't have very high expectations for this procedure. It sounds pointless for my condition because it has gotten so severe.

My doctor makes it sound like he's ready to do the procedure as soon as I give him the okay. Basically, the ball's in my court.

Weight-loss Comparison

Here is a picture that was taken this time last year:














These pictures were taken recently. I believe because of my symptoms I have lost about 50 pounds since last year. I must admit I love losing weight, but when is it going to stop? I can handle 20 or so more pounds.















(Please ignore the mess in the background. This is a rental by the way. I wouldn't dare keep that carpet if I owned the place.)

Now a Morning Person

In one of my past entries I wrote about different kinds of foods that I missed eating.

Although I believe my Botox injections are working, I still think there are certain foods I need to stay away from.

• Ground Beef
• Onions (it's okay if they're finely chopped)
• Lettuce
• Steak
• Sausage

The list goes on and on, but I won't drone on about what I can't eat. Instead, I'm very happy now because I think I'm finally getting a good night's sleep--instead of coughing all night. I am now more of a morning person than a night owl. I wake up at 8:00 a.m. no matter what and I actually look forward to breakfast.

Until recently, I hated the thought of eating in the morning. I just always felt nauseous--probably because last night's dinner was still in my esophagus.

By the way, did you know that food is only supposed to stay in the esophagus for 10 seconds? It can stay in the colon and rectum for like 14 hours. Crazy, huh? It's crazy to think that sometimes my food sits in my esophagus for several hours. Crazy esophagus!

Achalasia Awareness

I did a little research and there is a site that supports achalasia awareness, but it is more like an overall digestive disorders awareness website.
digestivedistress.com


They also have an achalasia awareness pin that you can buy. I think I might be getting one!

Achalasia Awareness Pin

By the way, May is the National Digestive Motility Awareness month.

Too Much Stress

They say that they believe achalasia is brought on by stress.

This makes me wonder, "Should I try taking some kind of 'anxiety' drugs--such as Zoloft, Paxil, etc?" I've also thought about taking up meditation. If I took 10 minutes out of my day to calm myself down, light some candles, and think about relaxing, it may help relax my esophagus.

Stress apparently has always taken a major toll on my body. When I was in high school my menstrual cycle was very irregular. I went through a 6-month time period where I never had one and I wasn't sexually active.

Then again, "stress" is usually what they say when they don't know why these things occur. Sometimes I feel like I know more about achalasia than my doctor does. I bet the best achalasia specialist would be someone that has actually suffered from it. Are you out there achalasia-suffering doctor?

What we need is an achalasia-suffering famous person because they'll start an achalasia research facility and an achalasia awareness campaign.

If I ever become famous, I promise I will start these things.

Stress Quiz
Learning Meditation

Botox Possibly A Success

So far I have had good experiences with eating normal foods again.

Yesterday I decided to try to eat meatloaf and needlesstosay that was a bad idea. I guess ground beef is already as "ground up" as it's going to get. Your teeth can't possibly grind it up anymore than it already appears. Strangely enough, chicken has been going down really well. It must be the differences in textures. As usual, rice and pastas go down just fine.

I'm so happy because I think this may be working. If botox can make really old people have teenage faces again, it should be able to relax my crazy esophagus.

My doctor finally explained to me something that actually made the most sense. He explained to me why my esophagus is stricting. Basically, the brain can't or won't send signals to the esophagus telling it to relax. The only message it receives is "contract". So, it is doing what it's been told--contracting.

It's crazy how you take everything in your body for granted until one day it doesn't work anymore. If anything, Achalasia has made me appreciate the other systems of my body that do work properly.

Be sure to take the time out of your day to thank your body for what it can do. It may help to keep it going stronger for longer. Couldn't hurt anyway.

My Visit to the Hospital

Well, I sensed that I needed to go back to my doctor two weeks ago, and apparently I was way overdue.

On February 26, Sunday morning at 9:15 a.m. I woke up and realized that I had to throw up--or rather regurgitate--and when I did I threw up blood.

I didn't even believe it. It tasted like blood and it looked real dark, so immediately I got upset and asked my mom to come look at it. She confirmed that it was blood. We called my doctor's office and I was told to go to the nearest emergency room. I was visiting my mother who lives in Metairie, Louisiana--a suburb of New Orleans--and it was the weekend before Mardi Gras day. Going to an ER around there was pointless because they would be way too crowded; not to mention I live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and that's where my doctor is located.

So we drove to Hattiesburg which is about 2 hours away.

We finally got to the ER and after about four and a half hours they decided they needed to hospitalize me overnight. They scheduled an EGD for me in the morning which is when they send a scope with a camera on it down your esophagus.

On Monday morning they did the procedure and found lots of blood and debris--old food that was collecting in my esophagus. They decided that I needed to stay in the hospital one more night. They were going to go in the next morning and inject Botox into my esophagus to hopefully relax the muscle.

Tuesday morning's procedure went well and I was able to go home that night with strict instructions to be on a full liquid diet until one week later when I have my follow-up appointment.

I just got back from my appointment and I'm finally able to eat normal foods again. Thank goodness because being on an all liquid diet is terrible! Basically, the next move my doctor wants to take is dilation. I've already had the Heller Myotomy back in July of 2004 and it is a possibility that I may need to have it again. The worse case senario would be having to have part of my esophagus removed and they would bring up my stomach or maybe a piece of colon. I don't know. I just hope the Botox worked. So far, it feels like it did.