Tricia, my first Newf developed myasthenia gravis at about 13 months of age. The megaesophagus is a symptom of it, along with hind-end weakness; the first sign for us was Juno regurgitating water right after she drank. This was probably 9-10 years ago, and I don't know what protocols have been developed since. Your friend should see an internist, not just a regular vet. My Juno was put on prednisone and another med called Mestinon; we weaned her off the Pred pretty quickly, and kept up with the Mestinon at lower and lower levels as she improved. She did improve and was fine until about six months before she ultimately passed (at 9-3/4), when she was put on some arthritis meds that seemed to bring back the symptoms. The biggest problem with this disease is the possibility of aspiration pneumonia -- we went through one bout of it and it was totally scary, not to mention expen$ive. I fed her balls of food while she sat, and massaged her throat to make sure they went down. The other thing that I am convinced really helped was to divide her Mestinon into three parts so that she got a more even dosage. A Google search will get your friend up to speed.
