NancyH

It's has alot to do with the individual! Myself, I didn't start having classic heartburn til about 5 yrs ago and then it was only when my hubby had a heart attack(stress related) of which he has had 3 over a course of 10 yrs. So I never gave thought to it cuz once the stress was calmer I had no more problems, then about 5 yrs ago I'd get it when I ate peanut butter or something so I'd not eat it for a long time. I always had a problem clearing my throat and associated it with asthma. I went in for a endoscopy once a year, last year it showed esophagitis and this year I ened up with Barrett's esophagus without any cell change thank goodness. I tried several meds and they haven't been full proof, I'll be seeing my gastro next week to try nexium this time. so time, well mine it took about 5 yrs steady tho I'd had symptoms not related to the classic heartburn more years than I knew. I've known people who seemed to have it for 20+ yrs and their esophagus looks just fine and then me with a few years of the heartburn I've already got the start of Barretts. Oh and my biggest problem is that when i didn't have heartburn which was most of the time I didn'take the meds not knowing my symptoms where more than heartburn. So it depends on the person. Like smoking some people smoke for 40 yrs and never have problems and some for a few years and end up with cancer, it's the genes.