You might could have a Schlatzky's ring. I've got one, maybe several. If you do have one, they tend to show up when you are in your late thirties. My dad had one, my sister had one, my brother has one. They are strictures in the esophagus. They are easy to fix, apparently, the doctor basically uses an endoscope and stretches it, and that fixes it. (Mental image, stretchin a hymen, don't go there, right?) OK, now did I ever get mine fixed? No, even though I've got a referral from my primary to have it done, I am reluctant to swallow an endoscope.
My mental image of having it fixed is about what you described, swallowing a "big black thing" and then being roto-rootered by the endoscope. So far I have learned to live with having the food just get stuck and waiting patiently for it to go down, getting up and walking around works most of the time, although sometimes I have had to go to the restroom and spit up. |
