hi Candice,

Y'know, I read this earlier, and I was stumped. Never heard of stomach convulsions before. Then I read back through a thread you'd posted a couple months ago, about feeling sick and nauseous, aversion to food .. and "butterfly" sensations when you swallow. Then it clicked.

Achalasia ... Esophageal Spasm.

In this condition, the sphincter where the esophagus joins the stomach is in constant spasm, and it fails to relax and open properly when food is swallowed. As a consequence, food sits in the esophagus, which becomes distended and uncomfortable, leading to nausea, difficulty swallowing, aversion to eating and chest pains.

Nitroglycerine helps by dilating the blood vessels around the esophagus, which can help the muscle to relax and stop spasming. For some folks though, they have to have a tube put down to help dilate the opening ... and this often brings relief.

You can read more about achalasia at Medline Plus.

hth,

Doreen