Hi,

I am a 54 year old male and was diagnosed with Barretts 4 days ago after a Endoscopy at hospital, it has come as a big shock to me, they did not even really give me any infomation on it at the appointment. I am now just full of worry and regret of not going to doctors sooner and pushing for it to be looked into.

I started getting indigestion and trouble swallowing certain foods probably from the age of 38 on and off,it was mainly just bread, I always thought it was caused after a night out drinking as the acid reflux use to mainly kick in then so I just relied on Tums and Rennie and Gaviscon for relief, I did kind of mention this to doctors a few times over the years at appointments I had for something completely different so it was kind of just glossed over.

I now wonder how long I have had barrets and not known as he said I have a 7cm long segment and put me on 20mg of Omeprazole a day now and took 8 biopsies which I now need to wait for the results and sent me on my way. I have still been going out drinking every couple of months for the past few years without even knowing this was probably a bad idea and taking Rennie before going to bed.

So now for the past 4 days I have been searching the internet for infomation and answers to see what my risk is of it turning to cancer, its just a lot to take in.I am a natural worrier and just keep thinking now my life is going to be cut short by this, my wife keeps telling me not to worry but its hard.