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@colleenyoung Thanks for those also. I've had one unfortunate aspiration incident, which was my fault and which showed up on the PET scan, and that convinced me that I needed to be satisfied with the soft food in the mornings and depend on the tube until they can stretch enough lumen in my esophagus so I can forget the tube. I have an additional problem that most, thank goodness, don't have and that's spasms. They can be momentary or last hours. Everything's been tried but Botox, which carries its own burden of side effects...

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Replies to "@colleenyoung Thanks for those also. I've had one unfortunate aspiration incident, which was my fault and..."

@earle I walked a few miles in your shoes. I was diagnosed with achalasia >40 yrs ago and suffered agonizing esophageal spasms on a near daily basis. Both wasn't an option at the time. I found that the use of sublingual nitrates or longer acting isosorbide dinitrate were fairly effective in providing spasm relief. I also used a dihydopyridine calcium channel blocker like nifedipine or diltiazam on a daily basis.
I eventually developed mega-esophagus and was subsequently diagnosed with stage 4 ESCC in 01/2019.