# Esophogeal Cancer?



## emmi331 (May 24, 2012)

I admit I have a bad habit of panicking easily, but....! I think I have had mild acid reflux for several years, but it never bothered me much. Lately I've had more prominent symptoms - bubble in throat occasionally, pressure in chest, mild difficulty swallowing, light burping. I've also had longer-term symptoms of episodes of hoarseness and dry cough. I don't know what heartburn feels like, but I'm not in serious pain. Then I read an article in the paper this morning about heartburn/acid reflux leading to esophogeal cancer; when the symptoms were described, I realized I had some of them. However, these are also symptoms of acid reflux, I believe. I'm trying to get an appt. with my gastroenterologist, but red tape is creating some problems. In the meantime, I'm afraid if it's cancer, it's progressing even as we speak! The only thing I'm taking is Zantac, which doesn't seem to help much. And I'm willing to bet my anxiety is making the symptoms worse. Any words of comfort or advice? I really need to stop reading so much.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Only a small percentage of people with chronic GERD ever get cancer, and usually cancer comes with symptoms in addition to the heartburn.Anywho, it is good to get into see the doctor about this, usually it takes a long time to develop and they can spot if you are showing the signs of heading in that direction or not.Usually you see the changes of Barrett's esophagus in men much more often than women who have had GERD for a long time.If you have Barrett's (which is not everyone with GERD) you have a higher than normal, but still fairly low chance of getting cancer.http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/cancer-risk-from-barretts-esophagus-lower-than-thought/So while it is something you want to get checked out, chances are it isn't anything serious or you may just need to be on more routine screening.


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## emmi331 (May 24, 2012)

Thanks, Kathleen! If your quote is showing up below, it's because I didn't know how to eliminate it. Anyhow, I have an appt. with my doctor in less than a month. The symptoms have lightened up quite a bit over the last couple of days - I wasn't aware they could come and go. But I still need to talk to someone. I realize I probably don't have cancer, which is a relief. (Crossing fingers, of course!). One thing I do know is my GERD is unlikely to get better without help.


Kathleen M. said:


> Only a small percentage of people with chronic GERD ever get cancer, and usually cancer comes with symptoms in addition to the heartburn.Anywho, it is good to get into see the doctor about this, usually it takes a long time to develop and they can spot if you are showing the signs of heading in that direction or not.Usually you see the changes of Barrett's esophagus in men much more often than women who have had GERD for a long time.If you have Barrett's (which is not everyone with GERD) you have a higher than normal, but still fairly low chance of getting cancer.http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/cancer-risk-from-barretts-esophagus-lower-than-thought/So while it is something you want to get checked out, chances are it isn't anything serious or you may just need to be on more routine screening.


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