Are We All Coming Down With An As Yet Undisclosed Disease?

Having heard so much about Morgellans disease and other emerging diseases I felt compelled to ask the ATS community if possibly many people are suffering from the same disease that has as yet to be positively identified.

The major bothersome symptom is spasm of the esophageal muscles when trying to swallow food. I have noticed that this started out as very slight discomfort about 5 years back, and developed into a full blown disease that can lead to extreme pain that mimics a heart attack.

Food that is very spicy, salty, or extremely cold liquid can start the spasm, and only once has it raged out of control to the point that i thought it was a heart attack. Usually I can feel it starting to spasm up and relax enough until it slowly fades. I have noticed that panicking when it starts makes it get worse.

Now here is the puzzling part, not only do I have this, but my mother has also developed it. Hers started about 5 years back as well the same time as mine, and has also gotten much worse of late. I was listening to a lady the other day at a restaurant who said she also was having a very hard time swallowing food.

I wonder how many people who read this have the same symptom or know someone who is suffering from the same. Please post if this has affected anyone you know. Thanks and good health.

I used to have problems kinda like this... I would swallow water and it would seem to go down the wrong tube, like the flap was not functioning properly. I started to get the same symptoms you've shared, and then I finally got it out of my mind. In my case, I can say that I believe I was becoming too conscious about how I swallowed. Once I quit thinking about it consciously, it went away.

Just food for thought (no pun intended). I was actually freaked out for awhile that I had some kind of esophagus cancer... I've gotten out of THAT hypochondriac stage, lol. Sorry I couldn't be of any more help than that.

No help but no harm either, which is more than I can say about some doctors. Appreciate the info and thanks, but it's not in my head but an actual symptom two family members are having that started within the same time frame.

I get sores sometimes that I used to think were exclusive to me, but a few other people have shared experiences with. One of them actually claimed they were related to 2012, and how it's our bodies preparing to weather the biological storm ahead.

Not swallowing, but it is something I've heard.

joecamel, what did these sores look like? There are a lot of old bacterial infections that were once thought on the verge of obliterating that are coming back with a vengance. One such infection would be Syphilis. I knew a few people who had this supposedly "rare" disease and the symptoms were very non-specific. So basically what I'm trying to say is when trying to figure out what is wrong with you, it's vitally important to rule everything out even sexually transmitted infections even though it may be unlikely.... you never know.... sometimes all that's wrong with you can be fixed with a little penicillin.

[edit on 15-6-2008 by sardion2000]

undisclosed disease or looking for something can be anxiety, depression and or hypochondria

Im a pretty self aware person of how my body is and reacts and i pay way too much attention to it, plus suffering from pretty awful asthma

i dont freak as much cause i just try to relax and not focus so much on what im feeling

i think alot of this is just some being hypersensitive to ones self

just my opinion though

reply to post by sardion2000

Thanks. I could definitely use a penicillin shot.

Well, I AM a hypochondriac, .... careful what you say!!!


Anyhow, sometimes i do have trouble with swallowing and strangely enough my doctor asked me if i had trouble swallowing My skin also now gets irritated over just about anything.

They're slowly killing us.

[edit on 16-6-2008 by dgtempe]

I was browsing another topic on topsecret when the title of this thread caught my eye. I am not a registered user but I would like to contribute to your discussion by letting you know that I have experienced the exact same thing you are describing.
I felt it for the first time about 8 years ago and it's important to note that the spasms started when I became ill resulting in a lot of time spent with my head in the toilet bowl. The spasms, however, continued after I got better. I was in college at the time, with no health insurance to speak of but got scared enough by its frequency, painfulness and duration to go to the on-campus physician. I am and have been over weight, heart disease is in my family history on both sides and I too wondered if it was a minor heart attack. The physician had no answers for me, but told me this,"Well, your 21 years old. Your age group don't normally have heart attacks without other factors like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. I wouldn't worry about it unless it persists into your 30s."
So I just dealt with it and tried observing possible causes for the spasms. Like, how was I feeling, what did I eat, when did it happen, where did it happen most, etc. I discovered that whenever it happened I was stressed, overwhelmed, depressed, anxious or angry.
I didn't want to write this much, I apologize, but let me ad that I learned to control the spasms by controlling my moods. I don't have them anymore and I really hate to sound hokey but the best way for me to describe how I controlled it is by explaining the 4th chakra. The heart chakra deals with issues such as love, hate, anger, forgiveness, trust, commitment, betrayal, fear, and self-centeredness. All were issues I was dealing with on a grand scale. I was struggling financially and intellectually through college and got married on a whim to a man I hardly knew who began to beat me (btw that ended when I almost put him in the hospital and I not him was arrested for domestic abuse). It took a few years, but I learned to approach my life in a different way. And soon the spasms stopped. I only learned recently about the chakras and it all seems to make sense to me. If chakras are too hokey a subject for you, just analyze your situation like I did. You already know that when you relax you are able to control it to an extent. Same thing happened with me only I wanted to figure out how to get it to stop. If relaxing and taking deep breathes calmed it down before it went nuts, which with me was often, then I figured that whatever was making me tense in the first place was the cause.
You are the only other person I know of who has suffered this and there are only question marks from the medical community on my end. I tend to think we don't give our minds enough recognition or credit for our health issues. If thought originates in our brains and our brains are vital functioning organs in our bodies then logically whatever our brains produce will effect the rest. Thoughts included. So good luck and I hope this helps.
M.R.Jacquard

I also have been having some kind of swallowing issue, and like one of the above posters, I was thinking it is some kind of cancer or something really bad! I still have not even brought it up with my doc, but , sometimes it is like I have forgotten how to drink or swallow, I start to guzzle something down and I just can't do it. I have to sip. If I try to force it down quickly I get a pain, like a cramp, in my throat.

I get the throat symptoms if I eat too fast and the food is too dry. It refuses to go all the way down the pipe. Try taking sips of water as you eat and slow down.

Other than that you sound like you may be describing a food alergy. I would not be surprised. Genetically Modified foods are causing allergy problems with lots of people. When I was a kid peanut allergys were unheard of. Now every school has a number of kids who would die if they smelled a jar of peanuts in the same room.

Originally posted by dgtempe
Well, I AM a hypochondriac, ....

careful what you say!!!


Anyhow, sometimes i do have trouble with swallowing and strangely enough my doctor asked me if i had trouble swallowing

My skin also now gets irritated over just about anything.

They're slowly killing us.

[edit on 16-6-2008 by dgtempe]

That is strange 2 years ago my doctor asked me if I would like liquid medicine instead of a pill even tho I had not mentioned it.

I have had this happen just recently....throat was spasming every time I tried to swallow. Scared the crap out of me.
I also am crious about Morgellons...in fact...that is how I found ATS..searching about Morgellons.
Scary stuff and alot of info out there about it.