I burned my esophagus

[JHolcomb]

Last night as I was settling in to sleep after taking my nighttime meds, it felt like I had a pill caught in my throat, and I thought "Oh, I'd better get up and swallow some more water" but I was really tired and fell asleep before I could get up and do it. I woke up an hour later with a burning so severe from my soft palate to my stomach that I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital. I drank a bunch of H2O and some milk, took some Advil (with about a gallon of water) and I was able to go back to sleep about 2 hours later, but I am still in pain today. It feels like heartburn, only about 10 times worse and antacids only make it feel worse. Anyone done this? Have any solutions for easing the pain while my esophagus heals?

[DmOrtega]

Acid reflux, where the stomach acids back up into the throat can cause that. However, you really should talk to your doctor.

[SandyM]

I was also going to suggest that it could potentially be acid reflux. Have you tried Pepcid? I agree also that you should see your doctor if this becomes routine. This isn't something to mess around with.

[canter]

It sounds less like acid reflux than like the pill you took dissolved in your esophagus, before reaching your stomach -- is that what you were trying to describe? This happened to my mother once when we were on a long car ride. She dry-swallowed some ibuprofen for a headache, and after 10 to 15 minutes, she had an agonizing burning in her esophagus as the pill started to dissolve. I've never experienced it myself, but it looked pretty darned painful. She had to pull over and take a swig of the bottled water she keeps in the trunk in case her radiator overheats!

Anyway, as with any soft-tissue burn (like when you burn the roof of your mouth with pizza), it'll just take 2 or 3 days to stop hurting, and there's not much you can do in the meantime. Soft, moist places like your mouth (and esophagus) tend to heal pretty quickly. However, since this is more a "chemical" burn than a heat-induced burn, you may want to visit a doctor just to make sure that the pill didn't actually bore a hole through your esophageal wall. Unlikely, but you can never be too safe -- good luck!

[SandyM]

Ahhhh Jen you edited your post - when I posted, I didn't realize it was after you had taken meds. Sorry.

[JHolcomb]

Ick. I was afraid I'd have to go see my doctor. I'll call the nurse and see if he can fit me in before the holidays. If not, I'll just keep an eye on it and if it's not better in a couple of days I'll call again or go to a doc in the box or something. DH said he did this with Tetracycaline once and it was so severe that he couldn't swallow, and seeing as how he survived that, I'm going to assume I'll make it through this (he didn't have any tips on easing the pain either).That's the last time I swallow my pills without a full glass of water.

[Grace]

I would still take some Pepcid, which eliminates the acid in your stomach which can aggravate your burn and make it hurt worse. You might also want to suck on Sucrets lozenges (get the wild cherry ones - they taste good, but not the menthol cherry ones -they're gross!), they have a numbing ingredient in there that is really great.

I burned my esophagus not too long ago drinking too much pop actually - it was REALLY painful, so I know how you feel. It lasted for a long time, actually, and I had to eliminate pop entirely now since then (not actually a bad thing!). But the Pepcid really, really helped with the pain a lot.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

[nutribeat]

How is it feeling now?

This happened to me about 20 years ago. I got no diagnosis despite going to my family doctor every day for 4 days. I couldn't even eat pudding or drink water without excruciating pain. He sent me home each day with no advice. I lost 7 lb in one week. Finally on the fifth day, he prescribed darvocet and librax, I slept for 24 hours and woke up feeling better.

To this day people, including medical professionals, seem not to have heard anything like this!