Question:
Anyone had or been diagnosed with Barrett's Esophagus?
Need to know how serious my diagnosis of Barrett's Esophagus would be? Found an ulcer during an endoscopy last week and they did biopsies and found this problem. Didnt have any ulcers prior to this and also had the last endo before this one in June and they found no ulcers. Had bad reflux before my surgery, which was 3/3/04. — majorjohnson (posted on September 29, 2004)
September 28, 2004
Before I had wls, several years ago my doctor had said he could see the
damage the acid reflux GERD did to my esophogus, and that I had several
areas that didnt have the parastolic movement to move the food through my
esophogus to my stomach. I was put on prevacid (helps heal the damage) I
have been on prevacid for about 10 years now, I tried other proton pum
inhibitors but they dont seem to control the acid or discomfort. sorry I
couldnt be of more help, but I did find a site in the net with a lot of
info on it. I hope this helps, good luck to you.
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Pointe/5958/otherdisorders/be/
— wizz40
September 29, 2004
I have Barrett's Esophagus. I used to have really bad reflux, but have had
none since my surgery on 3/5/03. The way I understand it is there are
pre-cancerous cells in the esophagus caused from the reflux. I just hope
and pray it doesn't turn into any more than that. Good luck. JoAnn
263/128
— JoAnn A.
September 29, 2004
I was diagnosed with mild Barrett's about 10 years ago. I was put
on Prilosec and must have an endoscope every 2 years to check the
progress. The last one I had (a year ago, just prior to my RNY) he told me
he could barely tell where the cells had been before. The cells are
considered pre-cancerous but that does not mean you will get cancer,
you just have to get monitored as often as the doc recommends. The amount
of
time between endoscopies depends on how much of your esophagus has
Barrett's cells. Patient's with more than what I have, need to do it
yearly.
I will be on the acid inhibitors for life because of this, regardless of
the
WLS I had. I now know that all of those symtoms I had as a child were acid
refulx,
and all of that acid caused those cells to form. In those days there were
no
medications for acid reflux, even if they knew you had it. Good luck with
yours, and don't
fret, keep it monitored and you will keep on top of it.
— Debbie B.
September 29, 2004
I have also been diagnosed with Barretts post RNY. I was told I just have
to have an endoscopy every two years to check on it. It is the results of
having suffered from years of GERD. As long as you get it checked
regularly, you should be fine.
Best of luck,
Kathy
Open RNY 2/10/03
215/125 at goal
— kathyb
October 1, 2004
I was diagnosed with Barretts this April while going through my
pre-surgical testing for sx. My RNY hadto be changed to lap-band because
ialso had stomach polyps.ihave been taken nexium 40mg twice for the GERd i
mever thought i had.i have to scoped every three months according my
doctor.Hope this helps. All the Best! Tracey
— traceybubbles
October 2, 2004
I have Barrett's. Unless some unusual cells have been seen- it just means
that you will be scoped every couple of years. It is a precursor to
cancer but having weight loss surgery improves the reflux problem anyway
and improves the integrity of the esophagus.
— Anita K.
October 5, 2004
I have Barretts. I had surgery for it in Aug. 2000 before my husbands ins.
covered WLS. FOR ME, my surgeon wouldn't do an RNY and did the DS because
there were added complications in taking down the Nisson(For the GERD).
Anyway, I'm now scoped every 3 yrs. and all's fine. Prilosec and all those
other drugs didn't work for me so I actually needed the surgery.
— Linda M.
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