Thank you for your reply. I have asked my doc about the Nissen fundiplocation but he said I was not a good candidate. I have another EGD scheduled in a couple of weeks and will ask more specific questions at this time. Was your Barrett's with dysplasia? My Mother died of cancer of the esophagus so we are watching mine very carefully.
I have a long history of GERD, including a hiatal hernia and Barrett's esophagus. In the fall of 1996 I became very hoarse and felt like I had a splinter in my throat. An ear,nose & throat specialist who diagnosed & removed a polyp on my vocal cords.In February 1997 another one developed. I went to my family doctor first and asked him what could be causing these to develop, and asked him if he thought it could be acid reflux. He sent me in for tests which included an EGD, which showed that I had serious Barrett's esophagus. The GE specialist who did the EGD recommended that I have the Nissen fundoplication, sent me to the surgeon, etc. I had the surgery in May of 1997, took my bed off the concrete blocks which we had used to raise the head, threw out two of the three pillows I had had to sleep on, and finally got a good night's sleep! I use Prilosec 2x-3x weekly just as a good precaution. I only have to have the EGDs every two years now. The one I had done a couple of weeks ago showed improvement in the Barrett's, with better biopsies than the previous ones. Come to find out, I had had acid reflux since I was about 12 yrs old, but it was never diagnosed. There is always hope! Drawback--cut down on coffee(all caffeine)
Thank you for the info...much appreciated! Mary
also a good web that I got from this site....http://www.gastro.net.au/diseases/barretts.html and http://www.fhcrc.org/science/phs/barretts/plain.htm
I was diagnosed with a Hiatial Hernia and Baretts in 1995. I had had the reflux all of my life and was missdiagnosed all of that time. I had a nissan wrap done in 1995 and have not had reflux (into my esophagus since) I have endoscopys done every 18 months to check the Barretts so far everything is fine. I still have to take acid reducers when things act up. I do believe that their was a history of cancer in either the stomach or esophagus in my family tree...not sure. Their is a lot of information about barretts within this med site and in reading this and talking to my G.I. Dr after all of this time I do beleive that if you take care of your self and get checked the risk of barretts getting worse is not likely..good luck