Does Esophageal Spasm Cause Chest Pain

Does Esophageal Spasm Cause Chest Pain

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QUESTION: I have been having chest pains on and off for the past year. My
doctor has done test after test to find out if I was on my way to having a
heart attack, but he found no cardiac origin for my problem. After more
testing he told me I have an esophageal spasm, and this was causing the chest
pain. Does this make any sense to you?
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ANSWER: Yes, it does although the problem is not a common one. Esophageal
spasm has been documented as the cause of atypical chest pain in a number of
patients. The pain is atypical because it produces no characteristic pain,
and its symptoms vary far more than heart problems such as angina.
Esophageal pain is often described by patients as a "pressure,"
"constriction," or "burning sensation." The attacks are often related to
eating. Doctors are not 100% sure of why abnormal contractions in the body of
the esophagus produce chest pain.
The best way for a doctor to treat the problem is with reassurance that
the cause of your pain is not life-threatening. Various drugs have been used
to treat the pain such as calcium channel blockers, hydralazine, antacids or
nitrates, but the results have been less than dramatic. An operation which
surgically dissects the muscle of the esophagus is helpful to a very limited
number of patients with this condition.
You may find that the knowledge of the nature of the problem can reduce
your own natural anxiety about such pain, and may even reduce the frequency of
the attacks. Be careful in your use of pain medication, it is easy to get
hooked in situations such as yours.