Throat Constriction or Spasms of the Esophagus and Anxiety

May 1, 2014 - PRLog -- Throat constriction causes a person to immediately panic and ask themselves why am I having spasms of the esophagus. The answer can be found in a complex range of conditions and possibly heredity issues.

Being a firsthand sufferer of throat spasms I have done my own investigations and research into this medical problem. Some will call it a condition while others classify it as Achalasia. Achalasia is a failure of smooth muscle fibers to relax, which can cause a sphincter to remain closed and fail to open when needed.

Regardless of how you label the condition, the person who has this happening to them is more interested in resolving the issue and understanding what is causing this problem. In short, there are more factors contributing to this condition than you might imagine.

One major contributor is anxiety. Those who do not believe they have any anxiety issues will be the last to get any relief from this condition, due to the unwillingness to accept they may suffer from anxiety. Anxiety has nothing to do with being weak or inferior, but rather accepting of the fact that some situations can cause your body to react a certain way beyond your control.

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In other words, if you already are suffering from throat spasms and the more you encounter them you realize that you become apprehensive to eat in public or with people you don’t normally eat with, this is a form of anxiety. This simply means you have a fear of getting choked and being embarrassed that you must excuse yourself and deal with the choking privately.

This form of anxiety actually can bring on the throat spasms psychologically. It may sound strange to non-sufferers but it does happen. Often times the more you try not to have a choking spell the easier it will happen. That being said and explained we will move on to other contributing factors to throat spasms and constrictions.

It is important to note that as of this writing there is no known cure for Achalasia according to medical professionals. Although, there have been alternative treatments that greatly reduce the occurrence of throat spasms in the esophagus.

The main fixes for this condition are using balloon expansion treatment, which is a temporary solution and it may last for a few weeks to a few months usually. The next is a surgery that clips the sphincter muscle and reduces its ability to clamp down so tightly. The down side to the surgery can increase reflux problems since the ability to stop all of your stomach acids from crawling your throat when in a prone position.

To address a common end result of throat spasms where basically all sufferers all encounter the same closure of the throat, there are numerous conditions that cause or affect this disorder.

There are some foods and medicines that tend to trigger throat spasms more than others, such as; red meat, especially cooked rare to medium well, coated caplets, lettuce, and cheeses of different textures, just to name a few.

On the other hand, there are some foods that seem to never cause throat spasms and these include ice cream, cookies, and sweets in general. This would seem to indicate that foods of pleasure and non-essential foods address the anxiety issues of not fearing the choking whatsoever. Speaking from experience this is one of the most puzzling aspects of why these foods never trigger the condition of throat spasms.

One more interesting factor that has seem to work as a fix or temporary cure in some people is losing weight in the amounts of 10 to 15 pounds with a noticeable reduction or complete elimination of throat spasm occurrence. Granted some people do not need to lose this amount of weight so it may not be advisable to everyone.

One other fix seems to be the use of Prilosec or Nexium. While one is over the counter and the other is prescription only, there are reports that say they are basically of the same ingredients.  Prilosec and Nexium are both made by the same manufacturer which is noteworthy.

These medicines tend to address stomach acids and there may be other factors that indirectly relate to throat spasms occurring from an imbalance of stomach acids. This is speculation but from a firsthand experience, the use of Prilosec and losing 10 to 15 pounds of body weight has all but eliminated my 15 years of throat spasms that have lasted from a few minutes to several hours of not being able to swallow my own saliva.

It is always best to first seek medical attention and take their advice first, but if all else fails, you may want to try to lose some weight and take an over the counter acid reducer and see how that works for you.

Alternatives choices such as taking medication and losing weight have proven to be affective from some sufferers.