esophageal air trapping

  My wife has been diagnosed as having esophageal motility disorder.
  Her chief complaint is the trapping of air in her esophagus. This air creates so much pressure that she feels that it presses on her heart and other organs and causes her to feel dizzy and even
  makes it difficult to concentrate at times.
  My questions:
  a. Is this a common symptom of esophageal motility disorder?
  b. If it is not, do you know of another possible cause?
  c. Regardless of the cause, do you have suggestions for reducing the frequency and severity of this problem?
_____________
Dear Gene,
there are a number of different esophageal motility disorders.  In general terms, patients with esophageal spasm or nutcracker esophagus will have a pressure-like chest pain that simulates the pain of a heart attack.  Trapped gas would be an unuusual symptom. Other causes of trapped air would include aerophagia ( swallowing excessive amounts of air) and esophageal reflux.
Smooth muscle relaxants are used to treat esophageal dysmotility, but I am doubtful that these medications would help your wife.  She may wish to try agents that facilitate the removal of gas e.g. simethicone, charcoal.
This information is presented for educational purposes.  Always consult your personal physician for specific medical questions.
HFHSM.D.-rf
*keywords: chest pain, esophageal dysmotility
0.2