Can erosions in esophagus heal?

Yes the esophagus can heal, Im no expert on erosions but things like bleeding ulcers in the stomach and esophagus will heal in time so the body is very capable in rebuilding itself.

Alexandra,

I'll second Andy's comment. Yes, erosions in the esophagus can heal, but its a long process. The omeprazole will not heal anything. It only helps to prevent further damage by reducing stomach acid. But learn of its long term side effects. You should supplement with calcium, magnesium, Vitamin D2, D3, and B12 while on it.

Gaviscon and melatonin are also good. But keep in mind that, as long as your are on omeprazole, Gaviscon's main benefit will be the alginic acid that forms a "raft" that stays on top of your stomach contents, keeping it from rising to the throat. So it will not be of much help taking it at bedtime. When you lie down your stomach contents goes horizontal with you, putting the "top", and the raft, in a different place that wont protect your throat. If night time reflux is where your issues are, much better to make sure you do not eat or drink within 3 hours of bed time, and raise the head of the bed 4-6 inches. Not just pillows- raise the mattress.

I was diagnosed with Barrett's short segments last Sept, and have my follow up endoscopy in June. Was on Zantac for a while but got off that as the damage to my throat has come only from nighttime reflux while lying down. I never have heartburn during the day. So I take Life Extension version of Gaviscon after dinner. I also take melatonin, and have for years, but just to help me sleep through the night due to an enlarged prostate. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant as well, but I don't expect you need it for sleeping. It won't hurt, but at your age, your body should still be producing plenty of it. Not so for me.

Other things I take to hopefully help heal my esophagus are manuka honey, DGL, and beta carotene. After an extensive search for Barretts treatments, I could find no real recommendations. I did come up with one, and only one, scientific study that was done in 2000, and then done again in 2012 by a different team, involving beta carotene in does of 25mg/day. The first study was declared invalid due to procedural mistakes. The second one did not have those errors, and the results were just as promising. But this is a very high dose. Higher than recommended as a dietary supplement, and there can be some side effects of too much, so please proceed with caution if you take this route. The study involved only 6 people, but all 6 saw their Barrett's segments decrease in length and number, and two people had them disappear entirely. I hate to base much hope on such a small single study, but the dramatic result made me feel it was worthwhile to increase the level of a nutrient that I needed to get anyway; and beta carotene is known to act on the outer layers of skin, so it all made perfect sense.

Good luck and don't stress over it. Stress can cause heartburn

rjdriver, thank you so much for your informative post!

I take melatonin because i saw two studies in which the 100% healing was achieved for the esophagitis. In one the dose was 3mg melatonin + 20mg omeprazol, in the other - 6mg of melatonin without omeprazol but with some other additives.
As i take omeprazol, i chose 3mg melatonin + omeprazol. But unfortunately, after 6 weeks of the trreatment i feel the same pain daily . So 3 days ago i doubled melatonin and now i take 6mg of it.

You mention Life Extention version of Gaviscon... Is it Life Extension Esophageal Guardian? I bought it in Vitacost recently. I use it sometimes also.

I also take DGL regularly - not before meals, but rather when i feel worse chest pain. And i am going to order manuka honey.
For the vitamin A i try to eat more liver, carrots (as juice) and i ordered seabukthorn oil incapsuled.

Hopefully something of these will help...

My esophagus took a long time to heal last time I had a bad reflux period. It wasn't even badly damaged, just mildly inflamed although at the time my esophagus was extremely sensitive so it felt awful.

It took me a long time to feel like I'd recovered from it, maybe 6 months, but as I say I was hypersensitive. I have heard stomach ulcers take 3 months to heal in normal people.

Alexandra -Thanks. That article is treasure trove of information. Everyone in this forum should read it. Not just for the melatonin section.

Pompadur said...
rjdriver, i'm glad to provide you with some new information. This forum is extremely helpful!

The section on the LES and how and why it opens when it shouldn't confirmed a theory that I think not many are aware of. So many of us with GERD and reflux also complain about bloating belching and burping. And we write it off as either a consequence of our general digestive issues due to GERD and/or the meds we take to control it, or to totally unrelated IBS/Crones/Gluten sensitivity, etc.

But this article proposes that more than half the GERD and heartburn we suffer is specifically the *result* of the three B's, the pressure of which opens the LES, often silently. Later in the article, it explains how controlling carb intake can greatly reduce the 3 B's, and therefore reduce or even eliminate GERD for many people.

There's a book called Fast Track Digestion by Norman Robillard that could be very helpful in taking this approach to curing GERD, or at least making the quality of life much better while you use other methods to treat your specific issue. He explains the "bacteria fermenting carbohydrates producing gas and bloating" process in great detail. But he goes one step further in analyzing carbs by categorizing them based on a fermentation factor (how much gas they cause). You can just reduce carbs in general and have success, but with his method, not all carbs are bad. For example, Russet potatoes are OK, but all other varieties are not. Jasmine rice is OK, but most other types are not. The first half of the book explains the science behind it all. The second gives detailed meal plans and recipes. If you find the idea of giving up most carbohydrates unappealing (I would), it's an interesting read that still allows you to have some "sinful" carbs in your diet.

We all react slightly different to various treatments. I have taken some of Robillard's dietary advice, but not all, combined it with pro biotic, fiber, and digestive enzyme supplements and gotten *most* of my gas and bloating under control.

It's such a frustrating condition. No easy answers. Trial and error seems to be the only way to figure it out. And while most of them are not willing to admit it, Doctors are of little help passed giving tests and opinions and declaring that we have this syndrome or that disorder and jumping right to the PPI "cure". Often they are just as baffled as we are.

Hello to all!
A few days ago i had another endoscopy and it ahowed that erosions "are in the process of healing" after 8 weeks of treatment with 40mg of PPi's but the LES is not closing properly and the esophagus is red and inflamed. My gastro doc tells that endoscopy was not accurate and he doesn';t understand the term "in the process of healing" (what does it mean - are the erosions healed or they are not? ).
Also unfortunately these endoscopy showed a lot of bile in my stomach. And biliary reflux can worsen with using of PPI's because thea affect the work of galbladder (and mine is alredy lazy).

Well.. My doctor prescribed 20mg of omeprazol instead of 40mg and go on with Ursodeoxycholic acid (to dilute bile).

I am depressed because biliary reflux is worse than acid reflux and it has much less options to treat. Also I am afraid that the health of my gallbladder will continue to decline destroynig other organs (liver, pancreas, stomach...)

Not easy story :(