Haven’t been told about schatzki ring? Though I did a Go...ogle and wow the symptoms all make total sense. How long have you had it? Maybe they will find that instead of hiatus hernia.
At the beginning of fibro I got a gastro- = endoscopy, and the doc found nothing.
Altho I've had these esophagus blocks for years.
After I got a short gastritis, puking twice, they changed, got more of a problem.
My wife kept pushing me to get my esophagus re-checked.
I was thinking it was something to do with mast cells from the MCAS or a form of EoE Eosinophilic esophagitis altho the symptoms didn't quite fit.
When my doc saw it this time, he was quite astonished, he called the stricture / constricture "impressive", the ring was now a 3rd of my esophagus. Comparing to the old pics he said it wasn't really visible then, but now he knows what it's developed to he can see
He very much recommends getting it dilated. But I'm wary of hospital for several reasons, and even this last, or better past, wave of CoV this winter, have stopped me, even my wife isn't pushing now.
Thing is it might be nec. to dilate it regularly.
So I do as many workarounds as possible, I'm wondering if there are some that might work for you.
Apart from chewing most things to liquid, esp. certain foods like raw carrots,
and gulping each pill with a big mouthful with a certain technique,
I wait in between, I stop eating if I feel the slightest pressure until I've got it to subside, I use a massager on it - sometimes good, sometimes not at all, sometimes a bit of movement helps.
and always I get it out again if it takes longer than 20 mins, that's the absolute maximum.
I can always see it's not cos I wasn't chewing enough, but I think in some combinations the mix is just too "thick", sometimes I think a pill might get stuck sideways too, or I may have left it in my mouth too long, so it dissolves and then the stuff starts getting sticky.
Pity about the supps, like yesterday, but it's just not worth it. And it's usually immediate relief, unless I waited too long. Sometimes I think I should wait 5 mins. max. If it was just the last morsel and that comes out immediately, as is very often the case, I can then immediately continue eating without the least problem, as if the "cramp" reset it. Sometimes I don't need to use my finger, I just move in a certain way or press on my stomach or encourage it, and it'll come by itself.
Best also not to wait too long, because that way I don't have any stomach acid coming up, which is probably one of the reasons for the Schatzki ring to develop.
Someone a few weeks back told me they know people who have to be dilated so often that they have to learn how to do it themselves. There are 2 youtube videos, I think both from India, and can see it's possible, but like a gastroscopy awake this would be pure torture for me, because I'm very sensitive all around my throat....
