I was just diagnosed with this today after my endoscopy, my paper that they send ya home with said to call in a week for the pathology results. I don't even know how I got this, I've had heartburn on and off for years, it will last amonth or so and be gone for months on end, this last bout started in August and it is still going so when I get it I wait awhile and then take prevecid or something. Last fall it was esophagitis and now it is full blown Barretts, I don't know which type as I know there are three types of barretts. How do you live with this stuff? Everything I eat affects me anymore and my throat is sore (especially today after the procedure of course)and also he found a mucosal nodule, apparently he wasn't too concerned or he didn't care to mention it at the time. are we barrets people destined to be on the pills forever or can it be cured or just stop the progression? I know Barretts was a dirty word way back when but now the medical field says it is rare that it turns to esophagal cancer but it can later in years and it is a serious disease even if it doesn't progress to cancer. Anybody here an expert on living with this or rather keeping it stable? Surgeries are not an option right now as I have neutropenia and the immune system is not built up yet to withstand a surgery. Any helpful advice?
After the endo yesterday, he wrote on the slip, preliminary diagnosis is barretts, took 4 different biopsies from each side and the nodule to, said my "flap" was rounded, told me to take the PPI til pathology report and he doesn't want to see my "pretty face" again for 3 yrs. He is considered one of the best and I've seen him for over 4 yrs now. He seemed pretty light about it, mine is column or non circular, when I looked at the pictures, heck they looked better than last year, last year was red as an apple, this year just a little red but the small darken line 1 cm and the little nodule closer to the top of my esophagus. whatever does non cirular have to do with it anyway? I am considering the new bed style now that I have this. I know people who have daily heartburn for years and I have just occasional and I have the Barretts, seems unfair to me and I even deleted caffiene from my diet and I love Starbucks, decafe isn't much better or tea because of the acid and it is the acid we want to stop right? I really don't know how to fix this one. So please tell me what to change in my diet. I don't drink caffenated anything, eat low fat so I spice up a bit, stopped my peanut butter habit which is one of my favorite flavors and a real instant trigger, cut my orange juice drinking to the low acid, slowed down on the chocolate also, I'm actually underweight stopped eating ice cream after 7pm if I have it at all, do you think yogurt ice cream is better on barretts? this diagnosis shocked me more than when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2000, I even stopped taking my actenol and arthritis meds last spring and I still get it, sorry if I am acting like "why me" but I just want to know how to get myself to feeling better and stop the progression, I'm already at high risk for gastric and breast cancer since I've had benign growths removed there over the years. Are some people just more susceptable to this?
Hi Nancy - so sorry for your troubles. I was diagnosed with Barrett's back in '99, but went for 2 years just taking double doses of PPIs. I got real sick of doing that with no real change in my reflux patterns/symptoms. I found out that my lower esophageal sphincter was weak and no amount of medication was ever going to change the fact that it wasn't staying closed. So even if my gastric acid was reduced from the PPIs, I was still refluxing other digestive acids, e.g. bile, which is just as irritating to an already inflamed esophagus.
To make a long story short, I had Nissan fundoplication done in 2001, and my Barrett's is gone. I had yearly endos after it was done, and this year my surgeon told me I don't have to come back for 3 years.
I know surgery is not an option for you right now, but you may want to consider it for future if your immune system gets built up. Fundoplication has its disadvantages too (and I've discussed my situation fully several times on this board), but it kept my Barrett's from progressing. I know the medical stats say that only about 10% of patients with Barrett's develop cancer, but 95% of those who do develop cancer had a primary diagnosis of Barrett's before it became cancerous. So no, you won't necessarily get cancer in the future, but your doctor needs to be diligent and schedule regular endos to keep an eye on things. Esophageal cancer is slow growing, but if not caught early is almost always fatal.
Barrett's is a red flag that your GERD is severe and should be monitored carefully. It may require you to be on PPIs for the rest of your life.
Thankyou. I've deligent with taking the PPI since the diagnosis, I should have been more deligent before and it may not have come to this. I'm a drug phobic in a way, think I can always do it the natural way but sometimes that just doesn't work so I am experiencing, always afraid of the drug side effects and all but once I've taken a drug and know it won't affect me it's no problem. I stopped taking my actenol and mobic cuz they may have had something to do with it. I'll talk to the rhuemy about it when I see him next month. This stuff is scary, that surgery you mentioned, was a hard recovery? It may be down the road for me once the immune is built up. Curious, scared of it to.
Re: Barretts esophagus 
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