If you have heartburn - See a doctor.

[Sportymonk]

Just got home from the hospital Monday Oct 13th. Over the years I have had moments when eating something like steak would cause my throat to seize (now I know due to a stricture in the esophagus) . When this happened, NOTHING could be swallowed, not water, not a chewed up Tums, not even saliva. Eventually I could feel my throat relax and all would be well. Also I have had heartburn for years. When I started taking allergy shots this past summer and we discussed my health (generally good I thought), he told me to get to a GNT now. well I put it off. My regular doctor had always said simply to loose some weight and the heartburn would go away and the throat seizures were not often enough to do anything about.

Sat Oct 11th, I cooked some steaks on the grill and overcooked my a little more than usual but it was OK. About the fourth bite, my problem occurred. Off to go throw up until it clears. About the third time, it looked a little red. Steak is red. A little more red, Heinz 57 is red. Next, "Honey does that look like blood to you?" Tried to tell her that if I could lay down and relax it would be OK. No, off to the hospital. Grabbed a plastic cup and proceeded to fill it about a third of the way with bright red blood in ten minutes. Gee its funny how they put you at the head of the line when you come in like that.

Tubes up nose and down throat; morphine, EKG, X-rays, etc. Stabilized. By Monday they pretty much knew what the problem was. Esophagus had ripped due to weakness from acid reflux. (Name for it is Weiss-Davis or something like that; drugs kind of kept me from all the details, wife filled me in.)

They ran an endoscopy ( camera down the throat to look. They suspect they will find strictures due to scar tissue from acid reflux (the cause of the seizures). They planned to inflate the esophagus (like in an angioplasty) to stretch the scar tissue apart

Found a small place in the esophagus that needed some more attention but could not do anything about the strictures, the esophagus was too inflamed and irritated to do anything with. Back out and try again in 6-8 weeks.

BOTTOM LINE: If you have a Sam's Club bottle of Tums by your bed with 6-8 on the clock radio for during the night occasionally, and a small bottle in the Pilot, and some in your desk, and some in your briefcase. GET TO A DOCTOR - NOW. Wish I had some time ago, at least when the allergist said to. Need to dump my regular doctor.

I am not out of the woods yet but the trees has stopped falling. Will know more in 7 weeks. For now, no salsa, no grapefruit juice, etc. (Definitely no steak no matter how raw and tender)

[krygny]

YIKES!!

That's scary. Most of us guys have a "football" mentality. Little heartburn, little gas, joint pain, get a little winded working in the yard, etc. It's only pain. I can take it. Why go to the doctor? I can live with it, and he might find something "wrong"?

Take care of yourself.

[malmon]

Hi Sportymonk, there's a possibility you have a Schatzki ring, which can be alleviated by using dilators. Another possibility would be Barrett's mucosa, wherein the lining of the esophagus has been replaced by intestinal-type mucosa due to acid reflux. This is our body's way of defending itself by converting into a specialized mucosa that can handle all that corrosion . This is considered pre-malignant specially if there's dysplasia.

So if your GI doctor tells you its Schatzki, then a balloon dilator may suffice. If he mentioned Barrett's, first thing you ask is if there's dysplasia present.

[rocky]

Yikes!

Anyone else get the acid reflux adverts on this thread?

[Sportymonk]

I think it is how costs are defrayed by allowing advertisers. They note the subject of a thread and post ads relating to it. Since we are on acid reflux and heartburn, thats what they are inserting. Not sure if it is based upon title or subject in the thread.

Wonder what would happen if we started a thread on Studebaker pickup trucks (always wanted one. Have only seen a few)

Originally posted by rocky
Yikes!

Anyone else get the acid reflux adverts on this thread?

[Tim]

Damm......Sporty , glad to hear your all right, although too bad you can't have Barbeque any more.

On another note, I always liked the Avanti.........

[Scoobs]

Sporty,

Sorry to hear about things but glad it seems to be working out for the better now. Had my own bout of acid reflux problems @ 9 years ago that was causing of all things, get this -- atrial fibrillation of the heart. Had several severe atrial fibrillation attacks, heart-rate racing like a rabbit and irregular. Went through 3 cardiologists , did all of the tests, holter monitor etc etc. I was on so much sotolol that when I was working I had to get up from my desk to walk around to get my heart rate back up over 45 bpm. Always told all the doctors that my worst attacks happened @ 1 hour after eating but they weren't interested in hearing about it .. too fixated on the atrial fibrillation to check to see if that was just a symptom rather than the problem. Went to my family doctor one day for regular check up and told him I was still having atrial fibrillation despite the fact that all of the tests showed no problem with my heart. He had copies of all my charts and tests so he knew everything possible had been eliminated so he said " I wonder if you have acid reflux" ? He sent me away for some tests and sure enough that's what came back, although mine wasn't nearly as serious as yours. He put me on Prevacid for @ 6 months and guess what, atrial fibrillation disappeared entirely and hasn't come back in 9 years.

Three years ago a secretary in my office started to have bouts of idiopathic atrial fibrillation. Same thing as me doctors couldn't figure it out. I said to her one day at work " get yourself checked for acid reflux" Guess what? She had acid reflux. They put her on prevacid and her atrial fibrillation disappeared.

As far as my family doctor could figure out the acid reflux was causing me to feel a pain and pressure in my chest which caused a bit of an involuntary panic attack which in turn exhibited itself as atrial fibrillation. Once the underlying cause was dealt with the fibrillation just went away.