Re: Another interesting paper by E. Richter, MD, FACP

[Guest guest]

Thank you SO MUCH, notan, for keeping us all abreast of new articles on the

subject of achalasia!

I think your point about " diagnostic vs treatment " dilations is an excellent one

-- my first (botched) scope involved such a dilation, but the (incompetent)

gastroenterologist who did it only told me that he " stretched it a little " --

never told me why, what to expect, what it meant, etc.

I've added the link to the article to our LINKS page, and I've added a PDF of

the article to the FILES page -- I think this article is of significant

importance to all of us, and I wanted the file to be easily found by the

membership in the future.

Thanks again!

Debbi in Michigan

[Guest guest]

That's interesting Notan. When I was in the process of diagnosis, I always

felt that it was crystal clear that I had achalasia, based on my symptoms,

but my first manometry was inconclusive. And while it wasn't a small

community center, it was just a garden variety hospital in Chicago. I

wasn't able to get my diagnosis until I was referred to a research hospital

after a year of just getting progressively worse. And I do remember that

the machine they used at the research hospital was considerably more

sophisticated than the one they had at the first hospital. So I guess the

paper just mainly confirms my own experience.

Amber

On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 11:28 AM, bigbrillohead <imahockeymom@...>wrote:

> **

>

>

> Thank you SO MUCH, notan, for keeping us all abreast of new articles on

> the subject of achalasia!

>

> I think your point about " diagnostic vs treatment " dilations is an

> excellent one -- my first (botched) scope involved such a dilation, but the

> (incompetent) gastroenterologist who did it only told me that he " stretched

> it a little " -- never told me why, what to expect, what it meant, etc.

>

> I've added the link to the article to our LINKS page, and I've added a PDF

> of the article to the FILES page -- I think this article is of significant

> importance to all of us, and I wanted the file to be easily found by the

> membership in the future.

>

> Thanks again!

>

> Debbi in Michigan

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

......... I think it is unfortunate that this is not clearer to patient

> who often think it was treatment for achalasia and that dilation does

> not work for them, when in fact a dilatation with a real achalasia

> dilator 30-40mm, or a series of them, may give years of effective

> treatment that could compare to the results of a myotomy.

.......

A well-written article by Dr. Richter. I personally have been doing well

after a " real achalasia dilator " , a dilatation performed in 2008.

Love in San Diego