If you have it, what do you know about it and what are your plans to mitigate medical risks ? If you're an MD, or a patient, do you believe in the "wait and watch" medical type of advice, or would you rather try to seek surgery early before it turns to esophageal cancer ? I was just diagnosed with it, after I asked my gastro doc to followup with another upper endoscopy from a few years earlier. My suspicions were correct. It pays to pay attention to your medical risks. I don't always trust contemporary medical practice, after seeing people get sick or die after following the advice of their doctor contrary to what their common sense or gut judgement was telling them.

What do you think ?

I had some swallowing episodes a few times a year for the last 5-6 years. When I went for my first colonoscopy, they did an upper endoscopy too - a two-fer. They stretched out my schlotzky ring and said I'd be fine. Nine months later I had an episode that was so bad, I ended up in the ER with another endoscopy. They put me on Omeprazole and it's been fine ever since. Never want to go through that again.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
They put me on Omeprazole and it's been fine ever since.

That was me. Throat spasms with difficulty swallowing. I also have a small hiatal hernia. I was put on Omeprazole indefinitely. All the problems stopped. But it didn't work out long-term for me.

Omeprazole is not supposed to be taken daily forever. It is good for treating inflammatory conditions in the esophagus from acid reflux, but it does have side effects. For me, it screwed up my liver enzymes. That has the visible effect of turning your turds tan instead of brown. I and my doctor decided it was just better to avoid quantities, and types, of food that were hard to swallow instead of dealing with messed up liver enzymes, which can result in long term liver damage and reduced function. I stopped taking Omeprazole. Within a month of so my liver enzymes returned to normal, which had the visible effect of having brown turds again.

After that, I had an episode of getting a piece of chicken stuck in my throat and having to got to the ER to have it removed. Two weeks later i had my throat stretched. I still have occasional difficulties, but I decided to lose weight and work out 3 days a week and that has help as much as the Omeprazole. I still have a hiatal hernia that needs to be fixed. But I am off Omeprazole. (BTW, I had a biopsy done at the time of the endoscopy and did not have any signs of Barretts. Just scar tissue from years of refux.)

Just watch your bowel movements. If you see an obvious lightening in your turds, it is likely that your liver is acting up. The lightening effect is because your liver stops production of bile which is needed for fats digestion. Bile gives your turds the dark color. Omeprazole reduces bile production in addition to reducing stomach acid production.

Instead of Omeprazole, you might want to try Zantac on an as-needed basis. And just watch what you eat and exercise and lose weight. Maybe that will work for you, maybe not. It worked for me.

Thanks for the good info. I was diagnosed about a year and a half ago. All symptoms disappeared with Omeprazole, and the doc reduced my dosage. I'm due for another EGD, putting it off cause I hate anesthesia. Will go in soon.

I've been on Nexium for a long time now, Barretts has checked out ok. I literally cannot go for more than 24 hrs without Nexium.

I have chronic GERD and have been dealing with it for 25 years. Like Micropterus, it started with difficulty swallowing caused by a restriction at the distal esophagus. I had to be scoped and dilated twice before this issue was resolved. It’s probably a fair assumption that punching through the distal esophagus can worsen reflux issues, and I have it pretty bad. Fortunately, it has never advanced to Barrett’s Esophagus. I made it a practice to have an endoscopy at the same time I had a colonoscopy, and it’s always looked good. The first Rx I was put on was also Omeprazole, but it produced some side effects that I didn’t like, so I switched to Lansoprazole (Prevacid) and have been using it ever since. I take 15mg/day and it controls the reflux very well. I understand that there may be long-term issues with PPIs, but I have to have it. All the best in your treatment of Barrett’s, obviously, it’s nothing to mess with. I have no advice for treatment going forward, but hope that there is a non-surgical Tx that works for you.

Before I knew Omeprazole was OTC, when my first script ran out, I let it slide for a while, wanting to see if the issues would return. I definitely noticed a difference without the Omeprazole. So I went back on it after about a month. All seems fine now. I've had blood work done once since I got on it, and all came back fine. But I'm due to get bloodwork done again soon.

I also started out, believing this was a hiatal hernia issue. I had the barium swallow test done and the doc just said to lose some weight. I lost 25 lbs. on the keto diet and that made a difference. But that one episode that put me in the ER was bad. I was thin and in shape when that happened. While doing my blood work before scoping me, they said my triglycerides were high. I said that couldn't be, as I hadn't touched a grain of sugar or carbs for the last month. They said it could be caused by job stress too. And I was in a pretty bad spot in my job then and very stressed out.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Before I knew Omeprazole was OTC

I used to buy it OTC, but then got my PCP to prescribe a 90 day supply, for which I pay $12 copay. Much cheaper than the OTC prices.

I would be hesitant of taking protein pump inhibitors. I have a friend who died of Kidney disease caused by the little purple pills.
I have minor kidney problems and I believe it was caused by those as well.

On the flip side, my brother is being treated for Esophageal cancer right now, chemo and Radiation.

Long term PPI use should be supplemented with Magnesium and B12

While I've never had a full blown episode of food getting "stuck", I have noticed that an episode of night time reflux will result in a bit of "tightness" or slow transit when swallowing for the next few days. My solution has been to significantly cut down on food intake in the evening. I usually pop a Tums before bed to neutralize things even a bit more.

My mother just died of esophageal cancer. She was diagnosed six weeks ago. Drank too much and smoked. An especially cruel way to go. The chemo was aggressive and she just wasn’t strong enough. Untreated, the tumor would have suffocated her. I have GERD and am at risk of Barrett's. I’m on Prilosec for a couple weeks until I get my diet straightened out.

I don’t smoke, and I’m quitting alcohol just to be safe.

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
My mother just died of esophageal cancer. She was diagnosed six weeks ago. Drank too much and smoked. An especially cruel way to go. The chemo was aggressive and she just wasn’t strong enough. Untreated, the tumor would have suffocated her. I have GERD and am at risk of Barrett's. I’m on Prilosec for a couple weeks until I get my diet straightened out.

I don’t smoke, and I’m quitting alcohol just to be safe.

Sorry for your loss. I'm curious about how long she may have had this condition before it was diagnosed. Seems to me, this stuff starts out pretty small and long before it becomes terminal. And it's kind of hard to ignore the warning signs, well, in my case at least. Had she really had no issues at all, then one day had one, got checked out and first learned of it all then? I made sure to ask 1) at my barium test, 2) first upper scope and 3) second upper scope if they saw any signs of lesions or esoph. cancer. All negative. But it's obviously something to keep an eye on. I drink more than a moderate amount, smoke at most a pack per week, sometimes with months of nothing in between and exercise religiously.

Ear ache she ignored in February. Then a constant cough, hoarseness. I kept telling her to go in. She kept putting it off. When she was finally diagnosed, the tumor was stage 4 and 8 cm.

But yes. There were obvious signs something was wrong. Especially given her history. Such a waste.