Achalasia and shortness of breath

I have had diagnosed achalasia for several years now and have had a dilation which I feel now is requiring done again, the specialist told me this happens, sometimes the acid is so bad if I blow upwards I can feel it burn my eyes. I chew my food well as told but sometimes this doesnt stop it becoming tiresome.  Anyway recently I started to become very short of breath when speaking and seemed to need to stop to take a breath to finish a sentence.  This was very strange because I could walk a reasonably good distance without even being puffed, or excert myself with housework and feel only the tiredness I was used to with my heart condition.  I have yearly heart scans and this is no worse so was sent for a pft and plesmygraph (think thats right) strangly that came up with the dianosis of slight copd, I have no other sypmtoms except that when the pft was done my achalasia was quite bad and I feel that the is the cause of my breathlessness is this possible? and could this possibly have affected my results to any extent.  When the achalasia is dormant the speech is great and no sob what are your thoughts please and thankyou so much in anticipation Withie

[Ratnakar Kini, MD]

Hi,
Achalasia is not usually associated with breathlessness. The food accumulated may get regurgitated   and recurrent   regurgitations can cause the airway to be hypersensitive which may explain the COPD  diagnosis that has been done.
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The information provided is for patients’ education only and is not a medical advice. Always consult your personal physician for complete evaluation of your health problem.
- Ratnakar Kini M.D.