Re: Achalasia on tv show -- Royal Pains

June 30, 2012

You can have Achalasia of the Upper Esophageal Sphincter which is what i have

these days after having had the ectomy in 2004! I have blockages high up in my

htroat that they press on the windpipe and make me breathless! I am booked in

for a dilatation of the upper sphincter this coming Wednesday. So what you say

is that i don't have Achalasia! I have previously had Acalasia for the past13

years but in the early years it was confined to the lower sphincter and not the

upper one. Having the ectomy was supposed to stop the Achalasia afecting the

upper portion of my esophagus but the doctors differed so much about when to do

the ectomy that i ended up being diagnosed at the end-stage of Achalasia and was

warned to expect problems with the upper sphincter later in life. So these days

i have to have regular dilatations of the upper sphincter to relieve my

swallowing!

from the UK

________________________________

From: bigbrillohead <imahockeymom@...>

achalasia

Sent: Friday, June 29, 2012 9:31 PM

Subject: Achalasia on tv show -- Royal Pains

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Does anyone watch the series Royal Pains on the USA network?

This week's show really ticked me off.... there is a male who is " choking " on a

soft bolus that won't dislodge with the Heimlich because it is too malleable.

(The doctor ends up MacGyvering a sort of suction machine at the side of the

road to " save " the guy's life.) Later on the same patient has chest pains that

the doc chalks up to heartburn.

Then at the end of the show the doc has a " lightbulb moment " and decides that

the patient has achalasia and ends up tracking down the patient " choking " while

running in a race, and the guy has coughed up a bunch of blood. The doc ends up

" scoping " the guy at the side of the running trail (using only about 5 " of the

scope tube) and then uses what looked to be tonsil forceps to remove the foreign

body. The guy can now breathe, and he gets sent off to the hospital to be

checked to see if he tore his esophagus.

Now, being a nursing student, I'm known to scoff at medical shows from time to

time (did y'all know that they DO NOT shock you with the defibrillator if you

have a flat-line on the EKG? and yet EVERY medical show will show that time and

time again... " Asystole, charge to 300! " ). Doctors don't really start IVs or

take blood pressures, in spite of what you may see on tv, and I'll call 'em out

on it every time I see it in a show.

But this? Achalasia causing someone to choke and turn blue? Achalasia causing

someone (who is such a new onset achalasian that this is only their second

" stuckage " ever!) to bleed copious amounts of blood from a SOFT foreign body?

And since when do our stuckages occur in the back of our mouth (able to be

reached with tonsil forceps), instead of down lower in our esophagus? Oh man, I

was SOOOOO pissed off watching that show.

My 12yo son came in late in the show, and I paused the tv and looked at him and

said, " The doctor thinks the guy has achalasia... have you EVER seen me look

ANYTHING like that??? " I was diagnosed with achalasia four years before my son

was even born -- his mom having achalasia is all he knows -- and even HE was

scoffing at the inaccurate portrayal on the tv show.

I know it's just Hollywood and they make things up for maximum entertainment

value, but it REALLY ticks me off when they exploit our disease like that. Can

you imagine some newly-diagnosed person seeing that, thinking they're going to

just start choking and bleeding while they walk down the street?

*sigh*

Debbi in Michigan

July 1, 2012

I'd give the show a pass if not for the fact that the doc talked about it being

the sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach.... kinda hard to pass that off

as being the UES!!!

>

> You can have Achalasia of the Upper Esophageal Sphincter which is what i have