Does L-Arginine help with esophageal spasms?

[Bobby]

Hi,

I've found some information on the internet that suggests that the non-essential amino acid Arginine relaxes smooth muscles and can help reduce esophageal spasms. At this stage of my post-fundo recovery (approx. 13 weeks) I am still getting mild to moderate esophageal spasms. Up until now I have been taking a very low dosage of Lorazepam (an anti-anxiety drug) which helps relieve these spasms. If at all possible though, I'd like to stop taking this drug. Has anyone on this board had success with limiting their esophageal spasms by taking the amino acid Arginine?

I bought some this morning and have already taken one 500mg dose. This is probably a fluke, but the spasms that I had about 45 minutes ago have subsided somewhat (not completely). Supposedly, from the information that I have been able to collect, there are no known drug interactions with Arginine. I'm going to start with 2 doses a day for now and will continue to take Lorazepam if needed. If anyone can provide more information, either good or bad, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Bobby

[Bobby]

In case anyone is interested, the L-Arginine did help some with my spasms. However, I learned something from taking three 500mg doses a day. Don't take Arginine as a supplement if you have Herpes Simplex (cold sores) unless you take a larger supplement of Lysine. Arginine assists the growth of Herpes Simplex whereas Lysine suppresses the growth of it. I haven't had a cold sore in years, but a few days after taking the Arginine supplements I had a big cold sore in the back of my mouth. I guess that you can purchase both as one pill because of this. I stopped taking Arginine because of the cold sore and also my spasms have subsided, but am providing this info so that no one else makes the same mistake I did. I've posted a link to a site that explains this.

http://www.joot.com/dave/writings/articles/sores.html