I suffered from acid reflex for 10 or more years. I should also say I never smoked or drank. Just a 50 year old heavy coffee drinker.
After explaining my condition to my primary doctor, he ordered an endoscopy for me. The test showed a possible tumor, but the initial biopsy was negative. The doctor who performed the endoscopy was so sure of what he saw and surprised by the negative biopsy that he performed another test a month later and took more tissue samples. This time his suspicions were right on. I had esophageal cancer. If you do a little research, you'll find that this type of cancer is usually fatal. After hearing the diagnosis, I thought I was a goner. But fortunately it was caught in an early stage and a month later (1/07) I was having surgery to have my esophagaus and part of my stomach removed. Subsequent tests showed that the cancer had not spread outside my esophagaus, so I was spared.
Now a little over a year later, I am 120 lbs lighter due to a change in my eating habit, much of which was caused by the surgery. (I weighed 330 lbs at the time of surgery.) My blood pressure and chlorestoral is now normal and I no longer have any syptoms of pre-diabetes. The botom line is that I am healthier now than before I was diagnosed with cancer. It's ironic that having cancer will probably extend my life and not shorten it.
I realize that my story is rather unique, but I tell it to give others hope and to show that early diagnosis is the key. Most doctors will agree that the acid reflux directly was responsible for my cancer and had it not been caught when it was I would not have lived another 5 years.
If you have any sypmtoms of acid reflux, treat it NOW! Talk iwht your doctor or at least use the over the counter remedies. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Good luck to all!
