For new members with concerns about Barretts

Wow...this is very interesting. I'm a 56 year old woman diagnosed with Barrett's about 6 years ago. I had no symptoms of heartburn, etc until we returned from a cruise and I was very nauseous for several weeks. After testing I was found to have silent reflux and Barretts. I've been having endoscopy's every 2 years, but now my GI says every 3 years is enough. So far there has been no dysplasia, but I'm not comfortable waiting 3 years. My last scope was April 2010. I've been on PPI's since diagnosed and I definitely have reflux now. Every now and then I get some heartburn, but it's the reflux, horrible acid taste in mouth, etc that bothers me the most.

I also take a pepcid at night; nighttime seems to be the worst time for me. I've done all the obvious tricks, (raised bed, no soft drinks, no eating before bed) but sometimes I still wake up with reflux. It's because of this that I would like to continue to be tested every 2 years.

How often are you all tested?

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Different studies give different results, the truth is elusive. Also, those percentages do not add up each year. A person with Barrett's has a 10 percent lifetime risk. Because this type of cancer develops slowly, you are more likely to die of something else.

Hmmm..... until they find a way to test without posting a tube down one's throat, I still won't be happy!! (just seen ARM's link to the light test)

Came across this today: -

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22262413

A study dated this year looking to correlate mineral levels in toenails (as a measure of intake over time) with risk of BO or risk of adenocarcinoma. High zinc or cobalt were associated with risk of Barretts. I haven't been able to access the full article, but for anyone interested please bear in mind: -

~ your levels of zinc may be depleted by long term use of PPIs
~ your zinc levels may be reduced whilst taking iron supplements
~ you may (I believe) have lower zinc levels if you have any form of skin disease (like eczema or psoriasis)
~ copper and zinc are mutually antagonistic (if one goes up the other goes down) - other minerals can be antagonistic to zinc too (including iron, calcium and cadmium*)

*we don't intentionally consume cadmium but it's a contaminant and has recently been linked with breast cancer (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/72/6/1459.short) - jury still out on that.

I guess it depends what you're most worried about - if you're a bloke you might want to be careful with your zinc to reduce chances of Barretts - if you're a woman you might want to take zinc to reduce chances of breast cancer!!

MMM

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Thanks, MMM, for your continued diligence on this topic. Thanks to you and this information, I have been able to choose to not go back for that annual endoscopy, and get off the ppi which had scary long term side effects for me given the reduced condition of my bones. I was able to put my GERD in the proper perspective in my life.

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