By Annette Campbell
Murray Corbett appreciates a good steak, perhaps more than most! The 41-year-old recruitment company director and father of three from Newcastle, north of Sydney, has spent about 18 months of his life being unable to swallow properly — a condition called dysphagia.
“A few minutes after I’d eat or drink anything, I’d have to race to the toilet and vomit,” he explains. “If ever we were at a restaurant, I’d have to do this maybe seven or eight times throughout the meal.”
Murray first had trouble swallowing in 2002. He suffered a range of conflicting symptoms, which made his condition difficult to diagnose. He saw several doctors to try to find out what was going on, but no one had any definite answer — he was even told it could be cancer of the oesophagus.
In the meantime, Murray existed on only small bits of food, so was losing lots of weight and almost permanently dehydrated. “I lost about 10kg, and the fact that I didn’t know why made life pretty difficult,” he says.
Murray then decided to see another specialist who he’d heard was the “top” doctor in this area. Dysphagia is usually a symptom of other conditions, and the specialist diagnosed Murray with something called achalasia straight away.
“The oesophagus is like a ‘sausage case’, and when you swallow, the muscles work in unison to push food down into the stomach,” Murray explains. “Then a valve, where the oesophagus joins the stomach, opens at the right time and allows food to drop into the stomach.
“But with achalasia, that valve clamps shut because nerves in the lower oesophagus die, so there’s no signal to the valve to open. Therefore anything you eat or drink backs-up in the oesophagus, because that ‘trap door’ is not opening. So then you’ve just got to expel it.”
The treatment for achalasia was a procedure where they insert a “balloon” down the oesophagus. When the balloon straddles the valve it is inflated to stretch the valve to the point where it partly tears. Then, because it’s torn, it becomes loose and doesn’t clamp shut again.
Murray was told his treatment should correct the condition permanently, but he may need to have the treatment repeated in about 10 years. Now steak and his other favourite, chicken foccacia, are back on the menu.
“It’s such a relief,” he says. “Not just to be eating normally again, but simply to know what was wrong. For a while there I was scared because some of the earlier prognoses were pretty bleak.
“My whole outlook has changed. I have a lot to live for … I am a happy man.”
What is dysphagia?
Dysphagia is the medical term for any symptom of swallowing difficulty.
It can be caused by neurological conditions affecting the muscles of the pharynx (throat), such as Parkinson’s disease, MS, stroke, cerebral palsy, head and neck surgical procedures, and certain medications. It can also be caused by a wide range of problems with the oesophagus such as achalasia, acid reflux disease and cancer.
People of all ages can be affected, and to various levels of severity – from difficulty swallowing certain liquids, foods and saliva, or even a complete inability to swallow.
This means sufferers may not be able to take in enough food and fluids to nourish and hydrate their body.
If you’d like a free booklet called Living with Dysphagia, phone: (02) 9928 1516 or e-mail [email protected]
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