As many of you know, my husband has been having some health problems lately. He says it feels like an elephant is sitting on his heart. This has been going on for quite some time. He has had 2 hospital stays of 2+ day and a couple of ER visits. The Drs have run SO many tests trying to figure out what is causing the pressure/pain.
At one point the Cardiologist said it is not your heart - it is something else in that region. So my husband has had a lot more test run. One of the test being an upper endoscopy. This ended up being a blessing. They discovered that he had - Barrett's Esophagus. Barrett' Esophagus can only be diagnosed with having an upper endoscopy and biopsy done. Why this was a blessing is that if a person has Barrett's Esophagus and does not keep it under control with the help of medicines like Nexium, it can go into cancer.
They say only about 10- 15% percent of people with chronic symptoms of GERDS develop Barrett's Esophagus. And of those only a small percent will develop cancer.
The Dr had to take 3 biopsies, there was already that much damage done. We are praising the Lord that there was no cancer found at this time. He will have to take Nexium for the rest of his life and he will have to have the upper endoscopy done every year or two - to keep an eye on it.
Although we have not found what is causing the pressure and pain that my husband is experiencing, we are thankful that this was found. It is a real blessing.
The main reason why I wanted to make sure and do a post about this is because my husband has not complained about having heartburn and the rest of the GERDS symptoms. And I felt that this was something serious and the information needed to get out there. I had never heard of Barrett's Esophagus before this. I am hoping that by sharing about our experience that it can help others.
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Hi Lisa, I thought I would visit this post too after your current post. I too do not have the typical esophagus or heartburn symptoms. Mine was only pain like a heart attack but after the biopsies was not Barrett's but like I shared with you in your next post, a narrowing esp. So glad your hubby has a good doctor and being taken care of and you now know what the problem is.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and prayers.
Hugs