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Esophagitis
June 26, 2008 |
Recently 19-year-old Chase Walker experienced some unique symptoms when it came
to swallowing food. He says, “My throat just felt really weird. At one point I
couldn’t swallow any more. It felt really different and finally when I couldn’t
eat, my family took me to see Dr. Trope.”
Once Chase sat down with the gastroenterologists to discuss his symptoms they
proceeded with tests to find out what was causing the problem. “They put a tube
down my throat so they could get a good look at my swallowing muscles and my
esophagus. That’s when they realized it had to do with my white blood cells and
allergic reactions to certain things,” Chase says.
Dr. Trope is a gastroenterologist with Lee Memorial Health System. He says,
“Another condition that we see more frequently is called eosinphilic
esophagitis. This probably has some relationship to the increasing amount of
food allergies that are occurring today.” He says it’s important for young
people to get examined by a physician or specialist especially if they are
having trouble swallowing for a prolonged period of time.
“What this is really is an allergic type esophagus it’s more common in younger
people and generally will present with difficulty swallowing or a central chest
discomfort. A younger person with difficulty swallowing especially if they have
an additional history of any allergic conditions including food allergies ought
to be checked for espoghagitis. The diagnosis is made with how it appeared and
what the biopsies look like. The treatment would entail potentially an inhaled
therapy that gets swallowed.”
This type of esophagits is an inflammatory condition of the esophagus that
affects both children and adults and it affects men more than women. Esophagitis
stiffens the esophagus so that solid foods have difficulty passing through the
esophagus and into the stomach. |
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