esophageal spasm

[angelfood]

Hi.. I am a 39 year old female who has had what I always thought was just esophageal spasms. I had a bout of it when I was 22 and was given an upper gi and gaulbladder test. Thats when I was told that I had a 'spastic esophagus'. I was also going thru a stressful time. I was also having hartburn as well. After about 3 to 4 months it all went away. I have had some hartburn here and there over the years, but nothing that was out of the ordinary. Now for the last 5 months it has started up agian with the painless spasms, not any hartburn though. Now my doctor wants me to have a endoscopy to rule out barretts. I thought you had to have severe heartburn for years to be worried about barretts. And now I hear you can get cancer from all of this! what are the symptoms of barretts and can a person just have spasms without having barretts? thankyou  Joyce

[Dr. Erik]

You can have spasms without Barrett's esophagus, which is a condition when the lining of the esophagus becomes similar to that of the lining of your stomach. A small number of people with Barrett's Esophagus will progress into Esophageal Cancer. Note, a SMALL number. Your doctor is being cautious in performing a Panendoscopy on you to rule out Barrett's Esophagus, strictures or other possible mechanical problems of your stomach and esophagus.

[senior]

I have been having esophageal spasms for the last 3 years.  It is very painful.  I have tried sublinguel nitroglyercin.  At first it helped but now it does not seem to help any.  This lasts for about an hour and it is a terrible pain in my chest. Has anybody out there that has had this found anything that will help the pain. Help.

[vixen]

i have had what i call esophageal spasms for many years.  at first they were very infrequent but very painful. the frequency has increased this past year so i had an esophagram.  i am waiting for the results.  the pain is like a severe cramp in the chest.  sometimes i feel it into the back of the throat. i have found relief from swallowing a bolus of food- a piece of banana, several crackers, or even several large gulps of water.  when the food gets to where the esophagus meets the stomach, i can feel the cramp releasing.  although i seem to have found a simple remedy, i am very curious as to what the spasm are from.  they are totally unrelated to eating.  i have no nausea, belching, acid indigestion. it can come while sleeping, while driving, or while walking. i am not sure the docs can tell me what this really is since i had the esophagram when i did not have an episode-- can't really run into x-ray and say, "it's happening now- do the esophagram!"