Just got my Upper GI results-Scared

I just got results in the mail about the ,Endoscopy I had done last week. It says Esophagus-reflux carditis. When I looked it up it says Carditis is an inflammation of the heart caused by acid reflux? I am totally freaked out. Anyone know about this?

Thanks!!
Kristi

[doublevision1]

Sorry I don't know anything about this, but IMO this is a good example of why test results ought to be delivered by a physician in person to the patient, and not directly to the patient in the mail.  Sorry that you are in this position and the worry this is causing you.  Hopefully someone else here will know something about this condition and be able to share some insight.   How soon are you able to see your doctor to discuss this?

[twopack]

RELAX!!!  This refers to your digestive system NOT your heart.  It is most likely about GERD (GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease).

Doublevision is right.  As nice as it is to get test results directly in the mail, if you don't understand what they say, you can end up more worried than before you had them in hand.  The internet is a wonderful tool for self education.  This time, an automated search engine has misguided you by letting you believe there is only one meaning for the word you "googled".

I'll explain more shortly.  I want to get this posted NOW before you stress yourself into a REAL cardiac event.

Mary

[Starryeyes2]

I am sooo relieved to hear you say this!! This Endoscopy Dr asked me AFTER I had been given medication if I wanted paperwork sent. I vaguely remember being asked this and couldn't even make this decision. I looked up this dx and totally freaked out.

I thought it was bad timing to get this on a Sat when I can't even call to ask questions. Meltdown for me.

I will try and relax about this.

Thanks again!!
Kristi

[twopack]

Hi again Kristi.  I guess I need to work on the "shortly" part of,  "I'll post more shortly".  But I'm here now and here it goes.

The language of the body and how it works was created over many centuries by medicine men from around the world.  It can be difficult to understand.  Breaking phrases down to discover their meaning is a wonderful strategy BUT it can get us into as much trouble as traveling overseas with nothing but a This-to-That Language Dictionary for communication.

(This reminds me of the broken English used for the instructions tucked inside money-saving, off-brand electronic gadgets.  Apparently Japanese doesn’t do well in word-for-word translations either.  But I’m drifting.)

So, the medicine men named the body parts, the parts of the body parts, the parts of those parts and…… get the on and on idea?..... until you can’t even actually see the parts anymore.  The stomach has sub-parts named FUNDUS for the top (the uterus has one of these too), BODY for the middle (even less original), and PYLORUS for the bottom (I suspect it’s foreign or needed a fancy name because it leads into a thing called the duodenum).

The stomach is OCDish about the comings and goings of what passes through and wanting ‘stuff’ to generally keep moving in the same direction at a speed allowing top-notch performance.  Its control tools are two valves (bands of muscle actually), one strategically located at each end of its expandable self.

The body part (stomach/intestinal sub-body part) in change of outflow carries the name, PYLORIC SPHINCTER.  It maintains conventional body part naming word flow well too, don’t you think?  When it malfunctions, it’s usually a righty-tighty variety of problem and the ‘stuff’ gets trapped so long that the stomach considers it might be easier to do an upward ejection maneuver.

Like the pyloric sphincter, the body part (stomach/esophagus sub-body part) in change of inflow also maintains naming word flow.  It borrows from its neighbor, a narrow checkmark shape created when the stomach fundus rises above the esophagus, named the cardiac notch.  It is known as the CARDIAC SPHINCTER.  I’m not sure of this but it certainly seems possible the strong cardiac name was borrowed twice over from a very different structured but close geographic body part cousin (the same one your ‘google’ search used for its scare tactics).

As the doc sent his camera down your esophagus, before entering your stomach, he would have paused at this muscular upper portal long enough to take a tissue sample.  As you were relaxed from sedation at the time, this tissue may have looked no different than the non-muscular tissues above and below it.

But the pathology report (Esophagus-reflux carditis) indicates individual cells are showing signs of inflammation from repeated failure of the cardiac sphincter to keep stomach acid in the stomach and out of the esophagus.  Yup, the mirror opposite of an overly righty-tighty pyloric sphincter (on the way out) is demonstrated by the laxity of an overly lefty-loosey cardiac sphincter (on the way in).  

Fortunately, I believe the chances some cruel hand of fate would readjust flow rate at both ends of your bread basket simultaneously is highly unlikely.

As an interesting bit of info, that nice line they draw between one body part and another in books?  It is seldom all that clear.  It looks more like the natural earth contours that are the reality behind boundary lines on a map.  Of course, that doesn’t mean guards don’t know when lines have been crossed and there isn’t sometimes a price to pay for infractions.  

Your carditis is likely the response of border cells irritated (inflamed) by acid they were never meant to have contact with. These cells recover with treatment but you may need to provide additional protective forces (diet, Rx and positioning).  Sometimes, even if the acrid enemy crosses in silence, repeated assaults will result in a response that changes the actual structure of cells.  When that happens it is called Barrett’s.  That’s a condition your doctor would monitor with scopes every year or two.  

Rest easy but follow-up with your Gut-ologist and make sure you do whatever you can to help your border guards. 

Hope that helps even if wordy can't make up for late.
Mary

[Lulu54]

this is where I wish MH had a "like" button as they do in facebook.  I really like this explanation, Mary.  Well done.

For the record - I am treated for GERD and have stage one Barrett.  That means I get to have an upper GI every two years.  I just had one last month.

Lulu

[twopack]

Thanks Lulu.  Nothing like having it to help in understanding it.  I too am on the (seems to be) lifelong GERD treatment.  In fact, I'm still double dosing as a consequence of the IVSM course I took (and passed with aces!).

I too have Barrett's.  My cardiac sphincter (also known as the LES or lower esophogeal schincter) was so lax in it's job performance that a surgeon fired it, wrapped the fundus of my stomach around my esophagus, sewed it in place and gave it a job as a permanent full-time LES replacement.

My biopsy didn't show the Barrett's last December.  That's a good sign the treatment is working but I believe it's like MS --- lack of visible evidence means quieted, not cured.

Mary