Inflammed gullet?? Advice please!!!

[discogirl]

HI all

I just joined today and am very pleased to find a site where I can expressed my health concerns freely with like-minded people!!

8 days ago I noticed that I was having some uncomfortableness when swallowing food. It wasnt difficult to swallow, just uncomfortable. My gullet also felt raw and I was having some acid issues in my stomach.

Stomach issues went after a couple of days, but the gullet problems remain. Swallowing seemed to get easier over weekend, but has worsened again over last 48 hours and also am now getting a sensation of a sharp feeling in my back as the food is going down the gullet. Also if I swallow some Gaviscon, it stings my throat going down!

This morning I woke up and had a tight feeling in chest which has got better during the day, but also have a feeling of pressure in my upper mid back when I breath deeply which has not got better.

I was worrying myself silly that it was something hideous, but I had blood test done a couple of weeks ago during a medical and they were clear and fine, so I imagine that its nothing sinister?

I am now just getting annoyed that its not going. The swallowing thing is really starting to bug me and just wondered whether anyone experienced similar?

My doctor gave me omeprazole on Monday for the stomach acid issue which cleared that up pretty quickly, but didnt do anything for swallowing so I stopped taking them after two days (they also gave me bad side effects).

Would be deeply grateful for any advice!

[Jan63]

What side effects did you get with omeprazole? I think you need to give them longer say maybe 5-7 days before they really start taking effect. I have had most of the symptoms you mention too and also take omeprazole.

The swallowing thing maybe anxiety because I had that for a couple of weeks I think if I remember rightly and then all of a sudden it just went as quickly as it had come.

[amu]

Have you been anxious for a while? Chest pain, difficulty swallowing, the need to keep swallowing are symptoms every person with health anxiety worries about at least once in his/her life. I had it twice, as the first time I learned it was just anxiety and not throat or oesophagus cancer, but I fell into the trap a second time around anyway.

[discogirl]

Hi

May be anxiety as I've had an ongoing bladder/back issues for 5 weeks previous to getting the throat symptoms and I was stressing completely about that (imaging ovarian cancer etc).

When I started getting issues swallowing, my anxiety increased. However over past few days I have calmed down a lot and am seeing a private urologist today about the bladder/back issue.

My throat this morning is sore right at point where you swallow the food and it still stings if I take Gaviscon etc. However no indigestion problems or anything like that now.

The omeprazole made my bladder issue worse (I have Interstitial Cystitis) and apparently a lot of IC suffers can't take Omeprazole, so am wondering what else I can do to get rid of it??

Thanks for your replies though - much appreciated!

[cthechick84]

Hello, ive had similar problems going back 3months ago i had trouble swallowing and elt as if food was sticking when i swallowed,i saw ENT who gave me nexuim(Esmoreprezole) and after taking them for about a week it got better and i could eat again...but over the last few days ive noticed the sensation trying to creap back,which is scareing me as i hated it the last time..but the reason i think it is coming back as i stopped taking the esmoprezole TUT TUT and i think its bought it back on so ive started taking it again ,try and stick with it because it helped me straight away ,the only side effects i had was a slight sicky feeling after taking it.but it settled a few days later so i wouldnt worry they are really safe.also like u said anxiety does cause this problem to b worse with the tighting feeling in neck/throat so stay calm thats wot im doing!!!iknw its hard but i get into vicious circle of fear . so relax and take those tablets.best wishes C.xxx p.s try asking your doctor about Nexuim(Esomperozole i wonder if there any different to wot u take?/ theyve got a similar name but might b different.

[Sal x]

Hi discogirl...

I have had exactly the same issue all this week. On monday I was suffering from bad heartburn and as i was eating a cearel bar, i got a funny taste in my mouth. didn't think much of it at the time, just thought it was a burnt bit but for the rest of the day, i had a really funny taste every time i ate something. On monday evening when i was having my tea, it seemed to get worse so being stupid, i looked on the nhs website and the first think i saw was head injury/brain tumor....... ignored all the other 100 thingsit could have been. this then sent me into a panic attack (first one in 18months) i was convinced i had a brain tumor all because i had a bad taste in my mouth. its so hard to explain to someone who doesn';t suffer from health anxiety that you really believe the thoughts that run through your head and that you are about to die. i am really lucky in the fact that my father in law is a doctor and i phoned him and he came to have a look and said it was def not a brain tumor and he had never heard of a sore throat and bad taste being a symptom of one in all his years as a GP. this made me loads better and felt a bit silly really after he explained that acid from my stomach had came up earlier in the morning and burnt the back of my gullet............hence the sore throat and the bad taste.

Anyway..........sorry for babbling, but just wanted to let you know that this is what it is most likely to be and the pain in the chest and back will be part and parcel of the heartburn/indigestion.

try not to worry too much

sal

[countrygirl]

If you can't take omeprazole you may be able to tolerate the midler older drugs the H2 inhibitors which were around before the proton pump ones. I have taken famotidine for 15 years with no side effects - I do have to careful what I eat as they are no where near as powerful as the ppi's ( omeprazole) but likewise much less side effects.

[jessieblue]

You could try cimetidine available over the counter as tagamet. This is an old fashion h2 blocker and is also used to treat interstitial cystitis so won't harm any bladder probs. If not zantac (ranitidine) also available over the counter in low dose is very good and used for IC too. You can have a higher dose of this than is sold but you should ask your doc about that.