My lover has just been diagnosed with diffuse esophageal spasm. i am worried but she acts like it is not a problem. who can tell me what it means?

DES can be bad: Des is a motility disorder of esophageal function. The muscles of the esophagus forcibly tighten, typically unpredictably, resulting in severe chest pain. Distinguish this from situational esophageal spasm, "nutcracker esophagus", & of course non-esophageal causes of chest pain. She needs her gastroenterologist's advice about rx's to minimize attacks, where to go/ what to take when pain develops.

When in doubt...: Not life threatening. Based upon severity there may be various degrees of pain which can be treated satisfactorily. It is often mistaken for heart problems. Also people with esophageal spasm may ignore symptoms of heart disease since they are used to having chest pain. A high degree of awareness to any change in the nature of pain helps. When in doubt have it checked out.