Suggest Treatment For Difficulty In Swallowing Food

Posted on Wed, 6 Jan 2016

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

Wed, 6 Jan 2016 Answered on

Thu, 4 Feb 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I'm 47 year old healthy male in good shape. Lately I've been having problems with food getting stuck at the bottom of my esophagus and won't enter into the stomach. It gets stuck at a point where I can't sense that it is stuck until I take a drink of water at which point it takes a great effort to force the water down to dislodge the food and move it into my stomach. Two weeks ago I had a particularly bad episode where it took about 5 minutes to dislodge the food by forcing water down, which would only come spewing back up. I don't have heartburn, indigestion, chest pains or any other symptoms that are commonly associated with GERD so I am at a loss as to what is causing it.

Answered by Dr. Ronald Schubert (58 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
stricture or spasms

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns

I am sorry to hear that you are having troubles with your esophagus. Despite you not having a history of heartburn or reflux you may still have what we call silent reflux. This has probably caused burning and scarring in your esophagus. This scarring has restricted the size of you esophagus and food is now getting caught. I strongly urge that you be seen by your medical provider and get an EGD. They need to take a good look at your esophagus to determine the cause of you discomfort. If it is just a stricture they can dilate the esophagus and improve your condition. You also need to have biopsies done to be sure this is not a cancerous or precancerous stricture.

In summary
1. possible stricture
2. Silent reflux causing stricture
3 Need EGD and biopsies

I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions

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