throat swelling and food getting stuck

[shafft05]

On March 15, 2016 I went to the Moses Cone ER with complaints of chest pains and swelling of the throat. I advised the doctor that I had cleaned with bleach 2 days before and had gotten choked because of the fumes. The ER did an EKG and a chest X-Ray. They confirmed that everything looked fine and sent me home. Later that day I followed up with my Family doctor and he diagnosed me with chemical burns on the throat and esophagus. He prescribed be Prednisone for breathing and Carafate for the chemical burn care. I returned to my family doctor 2 days later still experiencing the throat swelling. I would experience this feeling of swelling and tightness in the throat but did not have any labored breathing. Over the next few weeks the symptoms worsened and it became hard to eat food when this was happening. On April 25th, I returned back to my family doctor with complaints of throat swelling and food getting stuck and staying in throat for hours before going down. He referred me to Digestive Health Specialist. April 28, I visited Digestive Health Specialist and was scheduled an endoscopy the following week.  At this point my food was getting stuck every time I ate a meal. On May 2, I had an endoscopy preformed. The doctor said that he didn't see anything abnormal, there was a small amount of narrowing in the esophagus and dilated some. He informed me that I could go eat after the procedure was complete. I had salmon, mushrooms and rice. The food immediately got stuck in my throat and I was not able to eat more than 3 bites. I called the doctor the following day to inform them and request another appointment.  They were very slow to get back with me on what to do next. In the mean time, I went back to the ER on May 4th because I had not been able to get any foods down other than broth and milkshakes. The doctor at the ER informed me that if I could still get liquids down then there was not much they could do for me. The following day the Digestive doctor set up appointments for me to have the barium swallow test and then the manometry test. I had the barium swallow test on Friday May 6. After the test the doctor called me to say that the test looked excellent and he could see the esophagus working, he suggested that I not get the manometry test the following week because he does not think it is needed.  He also stated that he thinks I should go to an ENT or an Allergist because he does not think this is a digestive issue. A few hours after the test my throat started swelling again so I went to an express care that was very close by. I asked the nurse if she could just look to see if anything looked abnormal in my throat. She shined the light down and said she did not see any closure. I did not have any labored breathing, but they gave me a prednisone show just to be safe.  I have contacted my family doctor again and I am waiting on a referral to an ENT. At this point, my throat is swelling several times a day and it feels very tight. I am not able to eat anything other than food that has been liquified. I can not find any consistency in the swelling and food getting stuck. Sometimes my throat will swell in the morning when I have only had coffee. I feel as if the symptoms are getting worse daily and more frequent. I want to stay clam but these feelings are very scary, even though the breathing is not effected, the swelling in the throat is concerning. I want to think this is an urgent issue but it doesn’t seem to be treated as such. Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions.