Have Had Ectopic Heartbeats. On Nexpro For GERD. Diagnosed With Nutcracker Oesophagus. Any Thoughts?

Posted on Wed, 8 Aug 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 8 Aug 2012 Answered on

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : HI. Am female, 53, bmi 24. Have had ectopic heartbeats for 2 months now. am on Nexpro (Alprozalam) for GERD and doc says I have Nutcracker Oesophagus. Can this be?

Answered by Dr. Dinesh Kumar Singal (4 hours later)

Dear XXXXXX,

Thanks for contacting Healthcare Magic.

Ectopic beats have nothing to do with Nutcracker esophagus. These two have different etiologies and involve different organs namely heart and esophagus.

Nutcracker esophagus is a motility disorder of esophagus and usually presents with severe pain chest and some difficulty in swallowing liquids. This is diagnosed by a barium swallow test and motility studies of esophagus. GERD can also be associated with it.

From your description it is difficult to know on what basis your physician labelled you as Nutcracker esophagus.

You can contact again if you have any other query.

Best wishes,

Dr Dinesh Singal

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar