Study on doing nothing WAS: Here again

[Guest guest]

Christa wrote:

>

> Could someone speak to what happens to those of us who do nothing?

> (other than getting thinner and thinner). I have issues with almost

> every food/soup etc. ...

>

In the following small study they followed 14 patients who came in with

no treatments, did not receive treatments in the following 5 years and

had radiological esophageal studies done at the beginning and end of the

5 year study.

Evolutive radiological changes of the esophagus in patients with

achalasia who did not receive treatment.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17342353

" At a mean follow-up of 5-years without any treatment, there was a

significant increase in the diameter of the thoracic esophagus, with a

rate of " dilatation " of 6.1 mm/year. In addition, there was a

significant decrease of the internal diameter of the esophagogastric

junction, with a rate of " stenosis " of 1 mm/year. The lower esophageal

sphincter was hypertensive in all with an incomplete relaxation. "

Over those 5 years the esophagus dilated and the lower esophageal

sphincter (LES) became more restrictive. Both of those results can make

it harder to get food through the LES. No doubt these number are

suggestive of what may happen but that some will do better and some will

do worse. 6 mm is about 25% of the normal diameter 20 to 30 mm so 6 mm

is a lot. In achalasia the " birds beak " it forms at the LES is already

very small so even 1 mm smaller is a problem.

That is what may happen to the esophagus but what happens to your life.

Do you stay the person you are? Do you avoid social event that have food

and drinks? Will choking at night and aspiration related problems effect

your health and energy? Will poor nutrition be a problem? Will your

emotions become darker? Will you fight thoughts of suicide?

What happens to the people around you? Do friends and loved ones,

especially children live in fear that you will choke to death or starve?

Do they think you are crazy? Do they think you are not the fun, healthy,

positive person you used to be? Do they drive you nuts? Do you drive

them nuts? Do they avoid you at times, especially when eating? Will you

loose friends? A spouse?

I hope you had no idea things could be that bad. I hope they never are

for you and I am not saying it has to get that bad even if you do

nothing, but everything I said is something some people in this support

have gone through. It is easy to think " not in my life " and then not

guard our hearts and lives as we should while we live in denial of what

we are becoming. Even with treatment things can go very bad. I say there

are no right answers, just good guesses. Doing nothing is an option.

Like all options it has costs and benefits that differ from person to

person. I don't know what your cost will be.

Learn as much as you can and take your best guess and never look back.

Remembering always that you have to take care of more than just the

esophagus.

notan