I just had my first endoscopy done. the people there were SOOOO nice i couldn't believe it. and whatever they gave me to put me to sleep, IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! They actually give you some sedation before they took me into the procedure room. I told them i wanted to talk to the doctor before hand but by the time he got in there i felt like i had drank about a bottle of wine!! The doctor asked me if i had any questions and i told him yes i did but in the midst of my slurring I told him i completely forgot what i wanted to ask! I don't remember anything past them putting the spacer in my mouth and that was it!! My throat is just slightly irritated and i even ate dinner without any problems at all!! They showed me pictures. doctor said everything was normal! i didn't get to ask him too many questions as i was still coming out of sedation. he did mention they found a small polyp in my duodenum and they took a biopsy. he doesnt think it is anything to worry about. my follow up is in three weeks and i will ask more questions then. so if my esophagus is normal does that mean i don't have GERD. And what about all the pain and discomfort i've been having between my shoulder blades? Maybe i do have GERD but caught it in time before it could do extensive damage to my esophagus and that's what the doctor meant. OR, maybe this was all psychological!!! I didn't take any prevacid this morning cause i couldn't drink anything prior to my procedure and i haven't taken any since i came home and i ate dinner and no heartburn!!! My ENT even said he saw signs of slight LPR but then proceeded by suggesting i start taking Nortryptalin. Kind of get the idea he thinks i'm a worry wort! Lastly, maybe my pain isn't even from my esophagus. I've been having horrible problems with my neck somewhere between c-5 and c-8, don't know exactly where but it around that section. I keep saying it feels like a pinched nerve and it is set off by either turning my head the wrong way in bed or by moving my left arm over my head the wrong way and it will be a week of hell! I've had this for about 4-5 years now and been to the chiro 2x for it. they x-rayed and said about acute torticollis. But in the 2x i went there and got treated and never once felt any relief and just developed an opinion about them and that was that they were scam artists. So i'm really not sure what to think about them! Maybe i didn't go enough! But they never said anything about a nerve. Also, when i swallow it feels like the lump in throat sensation except it is in the same area of where my neck discomfort is except swallowing is in the front and the neck discomfort is in the back and i get this slow burning sensation that i always just thought was reflux with acid. I feel tons better knowing i don't have cancer or barretts but i'm still frustrated as to where these pains and discomforts are coming from. I will write everything down and discuss them with the gastro at my follow up, in the meantime anyone have any input?

I had an upper endoscopy as well and the doc said everything looked normal. You can have acid reflux, GERD, or LPR without having erosions. It takes time for erosion to occur. My doc said I would probably have to take prevacid for life but I chose to go the natural route instead.

For over 2yrs I have had massive heartburn,trouble swallowing as well as I choked easily on liquids and even on my own saliva, on a few occassions I have stopped breathing in the middle of the night (choking), I was eating tums/rolaids, prevacid, prilosec, etc like candy they didn't even help for long periods of time just for the mere moment for slight relief, well, just about a month ago I had gone for an endoscopy/colonoscopy. I received the results my colonscopy came back ok but however my endoscopy didn't ..they found pre-cancer cells ( I have to go for yearly check ups), I am taking carafate to help repair the esophagul lining (hoping it will repair to get on the good side and not the other way) and taking aciphex for the acid reflux to help reduce any more damage which I have to take it the rest of my life if I miss one dose believe me I will know it (massive heartburn). When I was told the results I cried and became depressed but now I am trying to deal with it mainly for the pre-cancer cells I have decided to go for monthly check ups that way each month goes by and the results are good then I have more of a positive outlook to get me through without any worries and also if the tests do come back with bad news I can be right on it to get it taken care of and in the mean time I just pray it is the best I can do..

Heavnly, what tipped off the doctor to biopsy your stomach lining? did he suspect something because you had erosion or Barretts or was it something he could just see with the scope? I also asked my doctor how long i would have to take prevacid and he said he had no way of telling me that, everyone is different. I asked him about the long term use of PPI's as well and he said in his experience he has seen osteoperosis and bone problems from it. But if i need it to stop the acid (which i do) then i guess i have to take it. if i don't then i will eventually damage my esophagus and i'll tell you something, I'd rather take meds then to chance getting cancer. I had to start taking Nortryptalin too because i was just getting so caught up and overwhelmed by this GERD that it impacted my outlook on life terribly and i just didn't want to deal with it anymore. I'm extremely against taking anxiety and depression meds but i also wanted my life back too. Also remember that things can turn around after awhile too. Did they biopsy more than once?

I've had GERD 5 years and my esophogus looks normal.

KMlong......It first started that May '05 I started having chronic diarrehea up to 10x's a day anything that I ate went through me like water on 2 occassions I had blood in my stool (no it wasn't hemerroids) I have gone through test after test , done stool samples everything come back fine was working our (under Dr) way up to a colonoscopy but alot of things came up, I moved etc. During the course of this time I have had massive heartburn and from stress kept having panic attacks all around I was just feeling miserable and not sleeping right due to heartburn etc. Back in Dec 2006 I had trouble breathing I was figuring it would either be pneumonia or brochitis well it was bronchitis and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) I was telling my doctor (new doctor due to me now having insurance and no longer public aid) he referred me to another doctor to check me for GERD and dysphasia whom I was seeing about 2 yrs ago things started to move alot faster this time than before ... got a colonoscopy/endoscopy test done at the same time the esophagul lining was really bad and scoped further which told more than enough I guess. I told my doctor that the aciphex was a miracle drug at first back in Dec 06 I was taking 2 pills (20mg each) 2x's a day then down to one a day now it was relief for me It is nice to sleep soundly again. I can't change with what is going on with me now but other than pass the word on to others if you have massive heartburn for more than a month don't wait get it checked out immediately it is very serious or even if your eating tums rolaids etc like candy and your still not getting relief get it checked out don't let it go if your doctor isn't doing anything to help your relief then see if your doctor can refer you to someone that can help you like a GI doctor...if you let it go like I did it is very serious which I didn't realize that not til now but it is too late for me now , as for now I have to deal with the consequences...I am only 39 yrs old take care