Has anyone suffered from a Lower Esophageal Ring (Schatzki's ring)?

[Emanuel]

I was wondering if anyone here has suffered in the past, been treated for, or still suffers now from a Lower Esophageal Ring, also called Schatzki's Ring?

Used to be commonly known as "Steakhouse syndrome".

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthato...ealthatoz/Atoz/ency/lower_esophageal_ring.jsp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schatzki_ring

http://www.myelectronicmd.com/get_reference.php?Id=798

Any tips? Anything to say? Any comments at all?

Any helpful comments would be very welcome.

Thanks!

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Wow, the only thing I can suggest is to take smaller bites, chew thoroughly, and always have a beverage handy to wash it down with.

When I was much younger, I used to have a serious problem swallowing. Stuff kept sticking in my throat, and I had to wash down almost every bite. Was completely unable to swallow pills, too.

 

[quietmike]

When i was younger I had it sometimes food would get stuck in my throat-low enough I could breathe but I couldn't swallow anything else. haven't had it happen in years.
A friend of mine has it still and he's in his mid 40's. He has to have what is basically angioplasty done to his throat about twice a year.

 

[WhitleyStu]

Had a friend that nearly chocked to death one evening due to this. He had minor surgery a few weeks later to correct the situation. Never had a problem since...

 

[Emanuel]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far.
Helping me get my head around this thing.

I was rushed to the hospital a few months ago when a piece of steak got lodged in my lower esophagus for about an hour and a half. That was very unpleasant.

Eating anything has become really difficult and painful, ofcourse some foods are more difficult than others. Nothing I can't handle, but it's annoying.

Still waiting to see a specialist, but my GP thinks just based on the symptoms that it's pretty clearly a Schatzki ring.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Drink more water. Dehydration thickens the mucous in the throat and reduces the amount of saliva. Dehydration -- or a minor throat infection -- can also cause food to stick.

 

[Emanuel]

Drink more water. Dehydration thickens the mucous in the throat and reduces the amount of saliva. Dehydration -- or a minor throat infection -- can also cause food to stick.

Thanks, I'll do that! My father actually gave me the same advice a few days ago.

 

[cmd]

Hi Emanuel,

I had one of those rings, and they slowly but surely continue getting worse. It does not matter how small the bites are or how much water you drink, if you have one of these things.

To identify it, they had me do a series of swallow tests that were viewed with ultrasound. It took about 10 minutes and I thought it was kind of cool to see my esophagus in action. Everything looked somewhat normal until the pill swallow, which just would not go down.

The repair was to have an outpatient procedure done. They sedated me and numbed my throat, then put a scope down. The two options are to expand the ring with a baloon-like attachment, or to snip out pieces of it with a biopsy attachment. Mine was fairly severe so they snipped.

The procedure was not a big deal, took about 20 minutes, and I was able to eat the very next meal with no problems. It has not bothered me since.

Funny thing is how good it felt the first few days to swallow food and have it go right in to the stomach without any delay.

Get this taken care of, soon, it can kill you, and it is simple to repair.

Chris

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Either that, or switch to a liquid diet. I don't know about New Zealand, but there's some good beer in Australia!

 

[chomo]

I was just going to reiterate the hydration point made previously. Take care, and recover quickly!

Sean

 

[Emanuel]

Thank you very much for the comments, and advice, especially the very informative post cmd!!
I didn't know they can do it by ultrasound. That's good.

-------
Esav, don't tempt me, I could get used to a beer diet pretty well.
-------
chomo, thanks, will do!

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Beer? Oh, no, I meant to write milk. Goat's milk, very healthy. Um, New Zealand, right -- sheep's milk. Baahhh!

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I was rushed to the hospital a few months ago when a piece of steak got lodged in my lower esophagus for about an hour and a half. That was very unpleasant.

Have you learned the Heimlich Maneuver? You can perform it on yourself. We have it posted in all the restaurants here.

 

[Emanuel]

Have you learned the Heimlich Maneuver? You can perform it on yourself. We have it posted in all the restaurants here.

Yip, I have a first aid cert, as should everyone, albeit an old one that I got back when I was working in the executive protection field a number of years ago.

Food gets stuck lower in the esophagus, lower than the airway. I don't think the Heimlich maneuver would affect it. The only thing that helps is simply pushing the food down by drinking water. It can be painful and very difficult. In one of the websites it was mentioned that when it's bad it often feels like a minor heart attack. Yes, that's the way it feels for me too. Not very pleasant at all.

 

[cmd]

You can induce vomiting as a last resort to clear the esophagus.

 

[tholiver]

Good info! My uncle is a Korean war vet with a multitude of health problems, he had bypass surgery about ten years ago and lately hes been having swallowing problems and passing out and hitting the floor/kitchen table/corner of the stove etc. A few times hes been by himself when it happens, his wife comes home and hes on the floor on his face looking like he went a couple rounds with Mike Tyson. The docs can't figure what the hell wrong is with him. I printed off the linked info and passed it along to him. This may or may not be his problem but it the first thing i've seen that kinda fits. So anyway thanks Emanuel for starting this thread!