Re: The BEST Achalasia Surgeon in the world

[Guest guest]

Demetrius

There are a lot of good

surgeons!! There is a list on the site and there is also a list on www.achalasia.us.

I went to Dr. Rice at the

Cleveland Clinic and know a lot of other people that have used him. I

know I won’t go to anyone else but that’s just an opinion. He

is good I will say that for him. Hope some of the information on

one of the sites helps you!!!

C Warren

Co-Founder

www.achalasia.us

From:

achalasia [mailto:achalasia ] On Behalf Of demetriusmc7

Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 6:47 AM

achalasia

Subject: The BEST Achalasia Surgeon in the world

Hi,

My name is Demetrius. I am a 35 year old male who lives in Las

Vegas. I was just diagnosed with Achalasia by a local physician. I

want to know, in everyones own opinion, who is the absolute BEST

surgeon in the country who specializes in Achalasia surgery. I

don't have any insurance, so I will be paying cash. MONEY IS NO

OBJECT. I just want the best surgeon in the country. Can anybody

give me some advice. My condition is early on, but it has been

progressively getting worse in the last few months. I was thinking

about the Mayo Clinic in Arizona or Minnesota. Who is the best?? Is

there any top surgeons who ONLY do Achalasia surgery? I would

really appreciate some advice. It also feels good to know that I am

not alone in this situation. Thank you everyone.

What is VAT? I only heard of the other two different types of

endoscopic procedures.

Has any of you got real bad spasms as a condition of Achalasia. I

get spasms that start from my mid back and go all the way up to my

jaw and head. It strikes at any time. My only relief is that I

have to guzzle down water until the spasms slowly subsides. I have

to keep water with me at all times. It feels like a charlie horse

inside my body and it locks up my jaw, neck, and back.

I would really appreciate if anyone could respond to this message.

Thank you.

[Guest guest]

Dear Demetrius, Welcome to the Group. Money is no object? Are you looking for a wife? (only joking). There is a man who posts every day usually on this Board who can not answer at this moment because his computer and he and his family are in transit between England and Georgia. He is called and I am sure you will be shortly getting to know him. He actually comes from Toucson (is that how you spell it?) Arizona and will be able to give you loads of valuable advice, if you can be patient enough to wait until after the 10th. He is also 35, so you should be able to relate to him very well indeed. One thing I can help you with is the spasm thing. If you find that they respond "eventually" to water, you may find that they respond very quickly to ice instead, in the form of ice cubes or an ice lolly (popsicle). will tell you to try ice cream, but is a very bad influence. That is part of his charm. I hope you will stay with us and give and receive all the help you can, and need. Love from Ann in England XXXdemetriusmc7 <demetriusmc@...> wrote: Hi,My name is Demetrius. I am a 35 year old male who lives in Las Vegas. I was just diagnosed with Achalasia by a local physician. I want to know, in everyones own opinion, who is the absolute BEST surgeon in the country who specializes in Achalasia surgery. I don't have any insurance, so I will be paying cash. MONEY IS NO OBJECT. I just want the best surgeon in the country. Can anybody give me some advice. My condition is early on, but it has been progressively getting worse in the last few months. I was thinking about the Mayo Clinic in Arizona or Minnesota. Who is the best?? Is there any top surgeons who ONLY do Achalasia surgery? I would really appreciate some advice. It also feels good to know that I am not alone in this situation. Thank you everyone. What is VAT? I only heard of the other two different types of

endoscopic procedures. Has any of you got real bad spasms as a condition of Achalasia. I get spasms that start from my mid back and go all the way up to my jaw and head. It strikes at any time. My only relief is that I have to guzzle down water until the spasms slowly subsides. I have to keep water with me at all times. It feels like a charlie horse inside my body and it locks up my jaw, neck, and back.I would really appreciate if anyone could respond to this message. Thank you.

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[Guest guest]

Hi Demetrius,

It sounds like we're in the same boat (except for the " money is no

object " part of course...) ;-) I'm a 33 year old male and I received

my " official " diagnosis with " A " about a week ago. I've been asking

many of the same questions you are regarding procedures and surgeons

and have gotten LOTS of positive and informative feedback. I started a

topic entitled " To fundo, or not to fundo " Message #35370.

achalasia/message/35370

If you read through the messages in the thread you'll find names of

surgeons, some excellent descriptions of VATS (vs. lap vs. open),

discussions of fundoplication, PPI's, GERD etc.

> What is VAT? I only heard of the other two different types of

> endoscopic procedures.

VATS (video assisted thorascopic surgery) meaning that the surgery is

performed by a chest surgeon who entered through the side and ribcage

resulting in a cut that's higher on the E. (Thanks Peggy from Lompoc!)

Here's a description that was also posted (Thanks Notan!):

To cut high, as with VAT, or to cut low, as with lap. is

controversial. The " T " in VAT is for thoracic, which means, of or

relating to the chest or thorax. Lap. is an abbreviation for

laparoscopic which is partly from the Greek " laparo " (flank or loosely

abdomen). In this case laparo refers to the abdominal cavity. The

diaphragm is a dome-shaped sheet of skeletal muscle that separates the

abdominal and thoracic cavities. VAT surgery is done in the thoracic

cavity. Lap. surgery is done in the abdominal cavity. Part of the

esophagus is in the thoracic cavity. The lower end and the stomach are

in the abdominal cavity. The LES sits right at the diaphragm. This

make the LES reachable by either VAT or lap., but for doing a fundo

the stomach is only reachable by lap.. This means that if you want to

extend the cut up on the esophagus above the LES you will probably

want to do it VAT, but if you want to extend the cut below the LES

unto the stomach, or you want to do a fundo, you willhave to do it

lap.. Which, VAT or lap. gives the best view depends on what you want

to see.

> Has any of you got real bad spasms as a condition of Achalasia.

The spasms associated with " A " are common and a pretty frightening

aspect of the disease, particularly before the diagnosis is made. I

had my first one twelve years ago and it lasted 30 minutes (I remember

it well...). Scared the hell out of me... They kept coming back, at

first every few months, then every few weeks, and recently every few

days (accompanied by dysphasia) which prompted **another** visit to

the doctor and eventually resulted in the barium swallow and manometry

that and the diagnosis with " A " . If there's a bright side to this, at

least I have an explaination for the pain. I've learned to control

them (somewhat). My " drug of choice " is cold milk. I personally think

whole milk works better than skim but that's probably just because it

tastes better. Chocolate 2% is a close second :-) Others use water,

ice cream, and one person uses dry shredded wheat cereal. There are

also drugs available that work for some but they can have significant

side effects and a non-pharmaceutical approach is probably a better

place to start.

Anyway, hope this helps. Be sure to check out the Files and database

sections as they have lots of useful info, particularly for newbies

such as ourselves.

cheers,

n

[Guest guest]

Ann,

LOL funny girl you.

is a bad influence sometimes. He already tried to get me to try ice cream

and I can’t eat it!! Thank God for lactose intolerance or I would

be bigger then a cow!!

Demetrius, yes martin is in

transit right now, and he will be back soon. I would try Ann’s

suggestion on the ice!

C Warren

Co-Founder

www.achalasia.us

From:

achalasia [mailto:achalasia ] On Behalf Of Ann

Higgs

Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 11:39 AM

achalasia

Subject: Re: The BEST Achalasia Surgeon in the world

Dear Demetrius,

Welcome to the Group.

Money is no object? Are you looking for a wife? (only joking).

There is a man who posts

every day usually on this Board who can not answer at this moment because his

computer and he and his family are in transit between England and

Georgia. He is called and I am sure you will be shortly getting to

know him. He actually comes from Toucson (is that how you spell it?)

Arizona and will be able to give you loads of valuable advice, if you can

be patient enough to wait until after the 10th. He is also 35, so you

should be able to relate to him very well indeed.

One thing I can help you

with is the spasm thing. If you find that they respond

" eventually " to water, you may find that they respond very quickly to

ice instead, in the form of ice cubes or an ice lolly (popsicle).

will tell you to try ice cream, but is a very bad influence. That

is part of his charm.

I hope you will stay

with us and give and receive all the help you can, and need.

Love from Ann in England

XXX

demetriusmc7 <demetriusmc@...>

wrote:

Hi,

My name is Demetrius. I am a 35 year old male who lives in Las

Vegas. I was just diagnosed with Achalasia by a local physician. I

want to know, in everyones own opinion, who is the absolute BEST

surgeon i! n the co untry who specializes in Achalasia surgery. I

don't have any insurance, so I will be paying cash. MONEY IS NO

OBJECT. I just want the best surgeon in the country. Can anybody

give me some advice. My condition is early on, but it has been

progressively getting worse in the last few months. I was thinking

about the Mayo Clinic in Arizona or Minnesota. Who is the best?? Is

there any top surgeons who ONLY do Achalasia surgery? I would

really appreciate some advice. It also feels good to know that I am

not alone in this situation. Thank you everyone.

What is VAT? I only heard of the other two different types of

endoscopic procedures.

Has any of you got real bad spasms as a condition of Achalasia. I

get spasms that start from my mid back and go all the way up to my

jaw and head. It strikes at any time. My only relief is that I

have to guzzle down water until the spasms slowly subsides. I have

to keep water with me at all times. It feels like a charlie horse

inside my body and it locks up my jaw, neck, and back.

I would really appreciate if anyone could respond to this message.

Thank you.

Copy addresses and emails from any email account to

Mail - quick, easy and free. Do

it now...

[Guest guest]

Hello Demetrius,

I am not an " A " sufferer, however, I am a partner of a sufferer. is my wife and I can vouch for her that ice does work. At least it does for her.

- Husband of -- www.achalasia.us - A hard disease to swallow.