In others, it feels like going very slowly down through the esophagus. Frequently no narrowing or stricture of esophagus is found. This is referred to as non-obstructive esophageal dysphagia . Patients with nonobstructive esophageal dysphagia have some neuromuscular dysfunction involving the esophagus. Some of these have a well-defined motility disorder of esophagus, but no specific treatable abnormality is found in most of cases.
Acid reflux causes intermittent dysfunction of the contractions of esophagus.
This is analogous to the heightened sensations or perception seen in irritable bowel syndrome, noncardiac chest pain and many other chronic pain syndromes. Symptoms tend to get amplified if there are psychiatric issues like depression, anxiety or panic disorder. Almost half of the gastroenterologists perform dilation of esophagus even though there is no overt stricture. It is felt that dilation helps many of these patients. Literature on this issue is controversial.