What is Achalasia?

The other day I came face to face with this question, "What is Achalasia?"  I can tell you that at first I was a little perplexed by the question.  But first let me tell you why I was faced with this question.  I have been having issues with swallowing for a few years now and at first the doctors diagnosed me with GERD in 2007.  They started me on medication to deal with Acid Reflux but all those medications seemed to do was make me feel worse and never really help the swallowing issue.  So I lived with the condition for the next 4 years, as it got worse and worse.  Finally, I got tired of the now constant vomiting and went back to the doctor and complained some more about what my current symptoms were.  This time after going through the same battery of tests they changed the diagnosis to Achalasia and that brings me back to the question of "What is Achalasia?". So I sat down at my computer and went to my trusty friend Google and asked.  Google responded with a list of results and the first link I visited was another trusty friend Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achalasia  As I started following the links and reading about what Achalasia was I started asking the questions "How?" and "Why?"  Well to my disappointment no one had the answers to those questions.  So then I followed a link to http://achalasia.net thinking that it maybe a support group or something.  On that site, the author offered a natural way that seemed to work for him to "cure" Achalasia that involved taking Vitamin B Complex supplements.  So I read the testimonies on that site and thought well why not try it and see.  While I have had some reduction in some issues, I would have to say that it is no cure but helps provide some comfort while I wait to be scheduled for surgery.  Then I came across another site http://achalasia.us/ that is more of a support group then the other site.  Both sites though helped me feel like I was not alone in my battle with this condition or disease of Achalasia.  My plan for this blog is to chronically record my Life with Achalasia.  I hope and pray that some will find this blog helpful and informative as they deal with Achalasia in their own lives or the lives of loved ones they support.