Questions?

My wife is 45 years old. A six months ago she had a hard time swallowing and would start caughing and then gagging. This lead to the dry heaves. Now it seems she just starts caughing and then the dry heaves appear nearly everyday, somtime twice in a day (usually in the a.m.). She complains of a heaviness on her chest. She also has an acid problem with her stomach. Plus she recently started to retain water in her ankles. Anybody have any ideas on what this might be?

[David Tinkelman, M.D.]

While there are a number of medical diagnoses that could account for your wife’s symptoms, these symptoms if I understand your message correctly present for more than 6 months, are strongly suggestive of malfunction of her swallowing apparatus, quite possibly on the basis of physical disease, effecting her digestive and respiratory systems.

Whatever the cause, this is a grossly abnormal medical situation and I strongly urge you to seek medical assistance without further delay.

Good luck to you and your wife.