29 years old diagnosed with B/E

I had finally beat GERD/LPR, after 6-7 months of constant and agonizing reflux I dropped 60 whopping lbs and it went away. That was 2 years ago.

Now, I gained back 35lbs, after months of stress eating because of work and school, I did enough damage to my esophagus that a week ago I was diagnosed with Barret's Esophagus at age 29.

I had worked so hard to beat GERD/LPR and I let myself go and now it has become worse.

I am back on PPI, and am making all of the necessary life changes once again to lose the weight that I gained.

My doctor said that B/E typically develops at my age, but it isn't actually diagnosed until age 50+ because that's usually when individual's get scoped. He told me not to worry about it, and to just get scoped every 3 years, but it's so hard not to worry about it when this is a disease that is labeled as "precancerous".

So since I got it so young, is this basically a death sentence, that guarantees esophageal cancer within the next few decades of my life, if not sooner?

I no way should BE be considered a death sentence, I don't know where you got that information. Your doctor has advised you to have endoscopies every three years as a preventative measure. The risk of esophageal cancer in patients with Barrett's esophagus is quite low, approximately 0.5 percent per year.

Sharon

Thank you for your responses.

I called the doctor for more information, he said that there was no dysplasia found in the cells. I can't believe he told me not to worry. I am living in upstate new york at the moment, are there any centers of excellence around here that you guys would recommend? I am closer to Albany.

Proton, If my barret's does progress to cancer, is there a chance for me to survive if it is caught on time? Can it be surgically removed or ablated?

Those statistics make me feel better SharonZ, thank you for that.

WJF, you're right, I can't focus on the future or the anxiety will get me before this disease does! Good wisdom.