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Newly diagnosed with Barrett's

matrixjs
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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.

Parents
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    Hi Matrixjs,

    A very warm welcome to the forum.

    Your post sounds very similar to my husband's case. He was diagnosed with Barrett's Oesophagus by letter a few weeks ago, following a Gastroscopy. Like you, he was given no information about this. He had 9 biopsies taken, but all were thankfully benign. We were simply referred back to his GP and told that he may need to be referred back for a further Gastroscopy, if the  condition worsens. He also had an endoscope on the same day and was diagnosed with Diverticulitis (I'm not aware of any connection between the two). Two days later he had a CT scan. 

    We saw his GP last week and he was unhappy with the report, which he claimed, was contradictory to the first letter we received after seeing the Gastroenterologist. He has requested a Barium swallow and results from the CT scan, which we still haven't had. 

    If you use the search facility at the top of this page and enter Barrett's, you will find other people who have had this diagnosis. Fortunately, this is a pre-cancerous condition and should mean that you have caught it early. I do hope that you get your results soon and that it is still benign. Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine 

  • Offline in reply to Jolamine

    Hi Jolamine,

    sorry to hear your husband also got diagnosed with Barrett’s, but great news his biopsy results came back benign.

    I will read through a few more posts on here but I am slowly coming to terms with it already, I found just typing about it into google brings good and bad news so it’s best not to bother with that route now!

    I will update when I know my results and the next steps

    thanks

Reply
  • Offline in reply to Jolamine

    Hi Jolamine,

    sorry to hear your husband also got diagnosed with Barrett’s, but great news his biopsy results came back benign.

    I will read through a few more posts on here but I am slowly coming to terms with it already, I found just typing about it into google brings good and bad news so it’s best not to bother with that route now!

    I will update when I know my results and the next steps

    thanks

Children
  • Offline in reply to matrixjs

    Hi Matrixjs,

    Try to stick to the more respected sites. Some Google information is poorly researched, out of date and aimed at the more spectacular cases - this will only increase your anxiety. Have you looked at Guts UK? - there is some useful information about Barrett's there .I look forward to your update and hope that you get your results soon.

    Jolamine

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