Dear Readers,
I am writing this blog post to seek help in
finding the solution of my unusual health issue which is bothering me since last 4 years. Last 4 years I went to around 30 to 40 expert Doctors but
none of them was able to correctly diagnose the root cause of my health issue.
The issue is whenever I drink any liquid or eat any solid food item, sometimes
I start feeling breathlessness followed by temporary loss of voice and then I
lose control on my body and I fall and became unresponsive for few minutes. The
duration of these episodes varies from 5 min to 30 min with high degree of unpredictability.
It does not happen after consumption of every meal. Basically, I was born with
an abnormally large hiatus as a result I was suffering from severe acidity since
my childhood. Sometimes the stomach acid used to come out of my mouth and nose,
and it was very troublesome and painful. To get rid of this extreme acidity, I get
my operated for anti-reflux surgery (Nissen Fundoplication) in 2010. After this
surgery, the symptom of heartburn, backflow of stomach contents from my mouth
and nose stopped completely but after a year of this surgery, I suddenly developed
a symptom of severe chest tightness, dysphagia and shortness of breath. The Doctor who operated on me could not understand my symptoms and
got confused. Later in 2012, I visited Mumbai to see an expert Gastrosurgeon who advise me to undergo esophageal manometry
and 24hrs ambulatory PH testing. This test revealed ineffective esophageal peristalsis.
In order to treat dysphagia, I used to
do the esophageal dilation every 6 months so that food can pass through my
esophagus easily. At that time, I used
to consult Pune based doctor for my post-surgical
complications and he somehow managed these symptoms through medicines for 3-4
years.
Later in Dec 2015, one day I was working in
office and suddenly I started sweating and gasping for air. This results into
syncope of small duration of 5 min. Me and my family members got scared after
encountering with such symptom and from that day series of such events keep
continued with frequency of 8-10 episodes on a weekly basis. In order to rule out cause of these episodes,
I went to multiple doctors like Cardiologist, Neurologist, Gastroenterologist, Psychiatrist
but none of them could reach to a common conclusion and keep doing trial and
error on me. Later in year 2018, I went to Raheja hospital in Mumbai to see a Gastroenterologist who then did my endoscopy and accidently
after this procedure, my symptoms vanished completely for a period of 11 months.
After 11 months of successful recovery, my
symptoms started appearing again in Aug 2019 and this time my endoscopy revealed
sigmoid shaped esophagus with complete loss of peristalsis. This results into
difficulty in swallowing both solid and liquid food due to which I lost 15 kg
weight in just two months. This time I consulted a famous Laparoscopic
surgeon in India and part of SAGES group who understand my problem correctly and
advised me to undergo redo-surgery of hiatus hernia with cardiomyotomy to get rid
of my problems. I had been re-operated in Nov 2019 and post-surgery my symptoms
gone but unfortunately these symptoms come back again after a period of 2
months. Before surgery I had underwent multiple investigations like esophageal
manometry, barium meal study and CT scan of abdomen with oral contrast. The manometry
revealed absent contractility with hypotensive LES pressure, barium meal study
shows hold up of barium at GE junction (a case of pseudo-achalasia) and CT scan
revealed herniation of GE junction into thoracic region. This doctor is also confused
why my symptoms came back again despite of successful complicated and major surgery.
It seems to me that as my esophagus does not
contract and relax to push the food down into stomach and as a result sometimes
the air gets trapped in lower part of esophagus and choked my trachea and voice
box due to which I started gasping for air and temporary lost my voice and became unresponsive for brief period. The poor supply of oxygen to brain leads to
convulsion during the episodes. This is my understanding based on my symptoms
and research, but no Doctor was able to understand this etiology completely and
provide me the permanent solution. I found one work around to prevent these
syncopal attacks is to eat less food and remain empty stomach most of the time,
but this might trigger some new symptoms due to malnutrition and is not a viable
solution for long term.
I therefore request to share this article in your
network so that I may get an opportunity to meet the right person who can
provide me permanent solution for this long-standing issue. Your help and
support is highly appreciated.
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