Hypercontractile Esophagus, aka Nutcracker or Jackhammer Esophagus
I have recently had manometry and impedance tests done, and received a diagnosis of hypercontractile esophagus and NOT diagnosed with GERD, which is what I assumed was causing my problems these past few years. The doctor prescribed an old drug called HYOSCYAMINE that has a long list of concerning side effects. Has anyone taken this particular drug and, if so, was it worth the risks of the medication to resolve your symptoms? He has two others on the list if this one doesn't work, including VIAGRA as his third choice - haha! It seems counterintuitive, but who knows?
As a bit of history, I do not appear to have symptoms with this condition that are as significant as they are for others, though I do count it as the disease that has the greatest impact on the quality of my life. A chronic cough is the symptom that impacts me the most - I often have to get up in the middle of the night to drink a cup of coffee for an hour before going back to bed - caffeine is a mild bronchodilator that works well for me. There have been nights when my pulse oximeter showed that my O2 levels dropped as low as 85% from the coughing. I have to do deep breathing exercises to get the oxygen back up again. When that happened for a straight week, my doctor put me on a Wixela inhaler (after she scolded me for not calling 9-1-1), which resolved the cough entirely for several months. Alas, that isn't an appropriate long-term solution for this condition.
I can no longer drink my beloved daily glass of red wine, and consuming high fat foods is a recipe for nocturnal vomiting (why does everything bad have to happen when I want to be sleeping)? I often have a sensation of a knot in the center of my chest (globus), but no heartburn or severe chest pain like others get with this condition. Occasionally, I have the sensation that food or capsules haven't made it all the way down, but I can usually resolve it by drinking a glass of water while keeping my chin low (this apparently straightens out the esophagus).
I would love to hear from others about their experiences with this condition - I learn the more from this community than I ever have from my doctors!
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Everything does happen in the middle of the night. case in point-- the low battery on the smoke detector. 3 am everytime.
I did take hyoscyamine before, though for something else I cannot recall at the moment. Diarrhea, maybe? I do remember vividly looking it up and wondering why in the world I was prescribed a poison.
Just to reassure you, though, I was absolutely fine while taking it and afterward.
hello, i was put on this medicine some years ago and it didn’t do much for me. it was for my IBS. if i recall correctly this was the medicine i couldn’t be out in the sun with for too long like my arms started to swell or get like a rash pretty quickly
@lisalucier Thank you for your feedback. It's good to know that it didn't cause problems for you.
@mackvogt13 Because it reduces how much you sweat, being in the sun for too long is a recipe for heatstroke. I would also not be able to use the sauna anymore for the same reason.
I hope you've found something more helpful for your IBS.
@wilkenl hello, thank you for the info! it has been years and i have not lol. it has only gotten worse with more diseases haha
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1 ReactionIs hypercontractile esophagus something that's only been discovered in recent years? Reason I'm asking is that I've had trouble swallowing all my life and when I told a doctor that back in the 1980s, he said he was concerned about it and was going to get to the bottom of it no matter what. However, after several tests he told me that he had no clue what the problem was, that he was very sorry but just didn't have any answers for me.
So is it kind of new?
Yes, I have read that it is a recently defined condition.
Have you ever had a manometry? That's the "gold standard" for diagnosing what's going on with your swallow issues.
Good luck with it.
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3 Reactions@wilkenl
No, I don't think the test I had back in the 80s was a manometry; I think it was just an endoscopy but I'm not sure.