Kitty Lady: I also have a lot of swallowing troubles. I went for my upper/lower GI tests...colonscopy and endoscopy. I had explained to the dr that I had difficulty swallowing most likely caused by my MS. While doing the endoscopy he took some kind of tool (sorry for the non technical lingo lol) and he stretched my esophagus ..... it is a lot better now. think of one of those shoe-stretchers....it worked. I have less trouble swallowing and less spasms in my esophagus. I don't know if it lasts, I doubt it but it has definitely helped. I wish I could remember the name for that particular procedure but a gastro doctor should know it off the top of his head.

I have felt exactly as you feel in your post .... my worst relapse which did leave some damage, I couldn't think, I couldn't explain things to anyone and everyone had a freakin opinion. and I didn't have ins for 4 years. I feel your pain. So sorry you are going thru this.

Take care of yourself and know you are not alone ....
janet

Sounds like some folks were OK with the tube test. I would not consider it for myself without general anesthetic.
I am just completely out of steam myself. Life has become just a coda to what it once was, even though it always was a struggle. Just hoping for reunion with my husband in Heaven, that's my hope.

My husband had one of those esophogeal dilitations and it worked fine. He had conscious sedation and wasn't aware of anything. That's what conscious sedation is, you are out and it'sa n amnesiac, meaning you don't remember anything. I was going to tell you the name of it but it slipped my mind! I wanted to be a nurse in the lab that did all that.