Get it checked out..! After years of suffering, a ray of hope appeared when it was reported that, in some cases, the cause could be treated by a single dose of a specific antibiotic. The GP sent me for an endoscope that revealed mine wasn't going to be an antibiotic cure, instead I had something called Barratt's Oesophagus. This is where the body tries to defend itself from the pain of having the oesophagus regularly burnt by stomach acid ('heartburn') and allows acid proof stomach-lining cells to grow into the oesophagus so as to form a defensive layer. Very clever, except that you now have an interface of cells that should be there and an alien invader that shouldn't be there, which together create a pre-cancerous situation. The NHS was most reassuring that there was nothing to worry about; I'd be called back every 5 years (this is now done every 12 months) for a check up. In 15 years that followed, I didn't receive any call back and a life of careers, growing children, motorcycles, universities, motorcycles, wife, motorcycles, holidays, motorcycle holidays, not getting divorced regularly and motorcycles, I also overlooked nagging the doctors for a check up on the Barratt's. Oesophageal cancer is, in almost 100% of cases, Barratt's gone bad. On 10 Dec '21 we sat down to a roast dinner and I found I couldn't swallow anything. My GP immediately referred me for a series of tests. On Christmas Eve I received the diagnosis of a 5cm malignant tumour in the oesophagus. Starting in early March, five weeks of daily radiotherapy, with chemotherapy on each of the five Tuesdays, followed. These passed with no ill effects, but within a couple of weeks of the treatment finishing, I was confined to bed with the most unbearable nausea - the smell of anything, even freshly made coffee, bacon, or mown grass would have me retching and gagging! As soon as this passed and I felt able, I attended some supervised workout sessions run by one of the local hospitals. These are labelled Prehab, they are designed to build strength and get you into the best physical shape before major surgery in the expectation that your recovery will be best aided by being fit and strong. Mercifully, I was both, so getting back into good shape after the ordeals of the treatments wasn't much of a challenge. On June 6 I was admitted into hospital for surgery and they cut a 40cm long arc from just above one hip, following a line just below the bottom ribs to the other hip in order to remove most of the oesophagus and lymph nodes from the top of the stomach through that opening. After this part, they turned me onto my side and made another incision under the right arm, about 6 inches below the armpit, that then went diagonally across the shoulder blade almost to the spine. The right lung was collapsed and an opening created by splitting the ribs between No5 and No6 so that the surgeon could get his hand into the chest cavity and pull the stomach up into its new home. The stomach was then stitched, just behind the right collarbone, to the remaining stub of the oesophagus. The whole operation took 10 hours and is called an Ivor Lewis Procedure, after the man who first performed it, I imagine. All went swimmingly for the first week, or so, until they discovered a small rip in their stitching of stomach to stub. This resulted in a further 9 procedures, each under general anaesthetic and kept me in hospital, Nil By Mouth, for 8 weeks in total. I got home August 3 very gaunt, having lost 15kg of muscle, as I'd been warned at the outset would happen. I am now right as rain, rebuilding strength, walking the dog a few miles every day, eating meals in smaller portions up to 5 times a day, but luckily nothing is off the menu, so no pain and no hardship. After agonising long and hard about sharing this, I decided that I would do so, not for any sympathy, as I don't need any, but as a salutary tale for those who suffer the symptoms and dismiss them, as I did, as something you just live with, taking Rennies, Settlers, Gaviscon, or my favourites, Remegel. Don't muck about, get it checked out, at best, it could be the curable variety, at worst, something that needs attention before you get to the stage I got to. Good luck and God Bless
@Borgo Panigale Thank you for sharing and that your doing well. What a journey you have been on. I can empathise with the nausea blurghhhh The more you men open up the more others will be encouraged to check pain out. I have gastris it's kept under control with Lanzoprazole I got to see it in action during an endoscopy before being diagnosed with myeloma Stomach lining very inflamed but no cancer detectable I had a cough from the acid escaping while sleeping and burning my throat along with pain that would come and go out of the blue
Borgo, thank you for telling us about your medical problems. My you have had a tough time and you are doing well my friend. My very best wishes to you.
Thanks for the heads up, I too suffer from heartburn and will try to see my GP to get diagnosed. Glad to hear you're on the road to recovery.
Dam, you have been through the wringer; very glad to also know you're almost out the other side. Almost a year dealing with this qualifies you for an outstanding Xmas! You must have some great scars? I have loads too and I think they are what drives me to attend toga parties... All the very best,
After my brain tumour operations 2017, I had major acid reflex. In the initial weeks I was vomiting upto double digits per day. After drinking tea, eating & from meagre walks lost the will too live nearly. I was prescribed mainly omeprazole to control the stomach acid production, around six-seven months & having a burnt throat continually. I eventually went to a chiropractor because of the way my operation was performed, me out cold slumped over chair with surgeon sat behind going into brain from rear. I suspected that it was trapped nerves in my neck and it was, a compression injury. From walking like a penguin side to side; over a dramatically short period felt my spine & body reset. I was told I'd be living with taking pain killers & drugs for the rest of my life; absofuckinglutely wrong. The medical industry would love the american system brought over here, with insurance premiums been raised annually. Suicidal people jumping off of bridges because of bankruptcy & no future. Never vote tories as they wish to destroy the NHS.
For those on the Omeprazole Proton Pump inhibitor tread mill with no other treatment/relevant surgery options offered from the NHS , try eating a sweet red apple a day. I had that PPI scenario for a number of years and the PPIs just turned my stomach into a non-digesting wasteland (dramatic extrapolation for effect) . I found that sweet red apples were like an elixir for an acid reflux burnt throat and gave a calming balm to the stomach. Over time it seems to have got my stomach into a better balance though I can still trigger instant acid upset if I dare a Gregs Pasty or other high fat pastry I've not have a PPI or ranitidine tablet (now banned) for over 5 years. Its probably not a miracle cure for everyone but its blooming worked wonders for my long abused guts (mostly self-inflicted).
Apples make it worse for me I love apples but can't eat them Omeprozole doesn't work as well for me as Lanzoprazole The hospital keeps changing it to ome everytime im admitted and end up with it twice a day and having to have gaviscon
I get it occasionally especially if I eat late on. I have some esomeprazole tablets which I will take if I know I'll be eating late. I used to drink pinot grigio wine, but apparently this is quite acidic so I switched to chardonnay and I rarely have reflux now. I used to take a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with a glass of water which worked quite well too.
I found it had to be red /sweet apples as green/sour had an opposite effect. I wasn't a fan (of apples) before stumbling across their benefits, I had also heard apple vinegar may also benefit but as the apples worked for me I've stuck with them & at that time I was only getting short term relief from ranitidine as the ppi seemed to have become ineffective. though my GP of the time said it was that or nothing (not a great surgery, and not the worst of their crap diagnosis's). Maybe some truth in that old phrase of an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
I was getting regular heartburn for years and accepted it as normal. I used to carry Rennies with me wherever I’d go This was until I found out the benefits of live yogurt Now every morning I make a fruit smoothie using live yogurt, Haven’t had heartburn or felt the need to have a Rennie for years
Thank you for being brave and spreading the word about the dangers of excess acid. We lost a work colleague to Oesophageal cancer just before he reached 60 so it’s an emotive issue. I remember clearly him telling me that he had stomach acid issues years before and that had led to his condition. I had a knee injury quite a few years ago and was prescribed an anti-inflammatory - I believe it was Naproxen. This triggered me to start suffering from excess acid and I have never been able to get rid of it. It got to the point that I couldn’t bend over or lay down without serious discomfort and Rennie etc wouldn’t control it. I now have to take a omeprazole daily and that completely fixes the issue. However, long term use of such drugs can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency - which in turn can lead to pernicious anaemia which in turn has links to alzheimer's. There’s always a trade off between the side effects and benefits of any drug and in this case I have chosen to reduce the risk of excess acid related cancer over potential B12 deficiency. I just have to get my B12 levels tested - if I can remember to…..
The more prescription medication I have, the more i’m convinced pretty much anything get’s through drug trials because there’s so much money involved!
Thank you all for the good wishes. However, please don't be lulled into a, potentially, false sense of security by the meds that ease the pain. Once I started on Omeprazole, probably those 15 years ago, I only suffered heartburn on really very rare occasions if I didn't take the capsules for whatever reason. The wonderful effectiveness of the daily Omeprazole made it all too easy to overlook the condition. So if you're taking anything mentioned in this thread as a remedy, ask your GP to arrange a test for you, you have nothing to lose - better to get the all clear, or an early diagnosis, than let it ride until you too need your gizzards rearranged.
