Another endoscopy....

My dr. wants to do another endoscopy since the loss of pressure in my esophagus is caused by connective tissue diseases (which I don't have), or long-standing severe GERD, which it would then appear that I do. But the ph tests always come back normal, and although the barium swallow showed "spontaneous gerd", my dr. said it isn't too significant.

So the dr. just wants to make sure I don't have barrets or anything. I have had fairly constant heartburn for the past 8 months and have been dealing with the problem for the past 3 years, most of the time easily, with just nexium. But these past 8 months I have not found anything that could work...

Mr dr. says the surgery is a bad choice for people like me who have atypical symptoms and no luck with PPI's...I have no idea what to do next. I have been doing much better the past few days so I don't want to do an endoscopy right away and get GERD from it, as I have heard that possibility kicked around on this forum from time to time. At the same time, I haven't had one for 1.5 or 2 years, and my dr. wants to check for barrets, so I am a bit afraid of not checking....

This saga just gets more and more frustrating. At the end of the day I am glad it isn't scleroderma or something like that....but I am always left just suffering damage to my body and waiting with no answers...

And I don't think its my dr's fault....my diagnostic tests have been all over the board so really I don't know if any dr. would be able to figure out what/why I am having this problem.

IMO, I think you need a 2nd opinion. An EGD to check is not a bad idea; does an EGD cause GERD; I guess that's a first for me. Many of us have atypical symptoms; has the outcome from the surgery been ideal..I'll say no, but is the outcome better than what would have been absolutely.

My symptoms were atypical, mostly showing up as pulmonary issues; the idea of living the rest of my life on oxygen because of the acid was pretty much a certainty.

All of us can give you a recommendation for someone who is skilled in challenging patients; please think about doing this before just following this path.

just my opinion...
Janice