Cancer of the esophagus??

[Anxiousanne555]

Hello all

I’ve just joined and would really like your advice. I’ve not been right since September. I have had two bouts of tonsillitis, persistent throat pain and a burning mouth. I’m due to have my tonsils out.

Anyway, I was starting to feel better until last Friday. However Since then I’ve had a persistent pain in my chest. It is probably like a heartburn pain although I’ve never suffered with it so can’t be sure. I also have pain between my shoulder blades. I have a cough, hoarse voice and feel like I have mucous in my throat, but it is clear when I cough. This chest/shoulder pain has been constant!

I went to the doctor and he has taken some bloods. He also took a swab of my throat as he thought I could have thrush. I doubt this, as I saw an ent surgeon who put a camera up my nose a month ago and it was clear. I have had a couple of courses of antibiotics in the meantime though. He has given me daktarin oral gel to take in the meantime.

If the pain is constant isn’t that alarming and suggest it’s ‘C’? Thrush in the esophagus seems to be rare? Would the pain be constant?? When would the daktarin start to work. I’m going out of my mind. Please if you can offer any advice I would really really appreciate it x

[SarahAmy]

Hey,

I had something a bit similar to this last year with bad bronchitis. I spent 12 weeks coughing and eventually came to the conclusion (with the help of Dr Google) that there must be something seriously wrong with me. Turns out I just had bad bronchitis, but during the 12 weeks I had managed to convince myself that I had all these other symptoms like shortness of breath and heart pain that must have meant I had lung cancer! In reality, it was just my anxiety inventing these symptoms and once my bronchitis cleared up they totally went away!

Anyway I have a feeling your situation is pretty similar and if you’ve had a clear scope then there’s definitely nothing wrong with you! Your mind can do crazy things, and if you haven’t already spend some time reading the help sections of the website because they definitely calm me down.

Also my grandad had esophogal cancer and he like couldn’t swallow anything and was in really intense pain so it doesn’t really match your symptoms.

This was longer than I though :doh:

Try and relax now and I’m sure you’ll feel much better when you’ve had your tonsils out x

[Anxiousanne555]

Thanks so much for your response. The scope only went as far as my voice box. It was for tonsils/throat issue rather than my chest/esophagus which didn’t develop until last week. That hasn’t been checked out yet. Doctor says that he needs to do blood and stool test first which was done today. Feel so anxious. Thanks so much for trying to reassure me and I’m sorry about your grandfathers diagnosis. Xx

[SarahAmy]

Hi again,

Ah I see, well all I would say is that again when I had bronchitis and was coughing a lot it really did put a lot of strain on my chest, and like with any bad cold I also got this pain you describe that feels like it’s further down into your chest, and it went away by itself eventually!

I completely understand your anxiety but I have had all of these symptoms with just a normal chesty cough before, turns out they can be pretty painful. Also don’t forget anxiety can cause even more chest pain.

Also even if thrush in the oesophagus seems unlikely, it seems reasonable to me that it could develop in a month since your scan, and is still much more likely than oesophageal cancer which is actually incredibly rare :)

[Fishmanpa]

As a Head and Neck cancer survivor, I don't see anything of concern in your post. Especially in light of exams that were clear. What stands out to me are your chronic tonsil issues. I believe, once you have them removed, these chronic symptoms will abate. The pain you're experiencing now could very well be reflux, especially in light of the stress you're putting yourself through.

I'm sure all will be fine :)

Positive thoughts

[Anxiousanne555]

Thanks for your reassuring words Fishmanpa. X

[somethingsomething]

i've had the exact same symptoms and more for a while but now i am better, sounds like silent reflux. from my experience, this was caused by a bacterial infection h pylori. other causes are indigestion and gastritis which is caused by the infection or also caused by stress and anxiety. i had a mix of all and my anxiety just made this 100x worse than it really was.

have you asked to test if you have it?

meantime i suggest including probiotics in your diet. Activia is really good. hope this helps :)

[Anxiousanne555]

Hi somethingsomething, funnily enough I am due to be tested for h pylori. However my doctor has said that I need to wait two weeks before a sample can be taken because I was taking lansoprozole (sp?). Your message has really given me some reassurance thank you so much. This forum is excellent, I no longer feel alone and like I am suffering in silence xx