Acid reflux and cancer worries

[Julesbeachy]

Hi there. Please looking for any advice. I’ve had a lump feeling in my throat now for ten weeks. It actually wasn’t worrying me it was just annoying. So I rang the dr who said to increase my omeprazole from 20 to 40. I’ve been on omeprazole for 14 years now. When she said if it is no better in 4 weeks we will do an endoscopy. Now this is when my anxiety kicked in. I went from not being worried to full on anxiety. I’m now hyper aware of every sensation. Panicking what will be wrong with me if this feeling of a lump when I swallow Doesn’t go away. I’m trying to reassure that is just my acid reflux flaring up. And that the anxiety is making it worse. But now I keep thinking. All those years of having acid reflux what damage has it caused?. I’ve always taken a ppi. Never smoked. But I do gavd A few glasses of wine at the weekend and a Saturday night takeaway. But Have my ppi been enough to stop me getting oesophageal cancer or Barrett’s. I’m now 48. A bit overweight due to menopause stuff. But an on a diet and losing it again.

Do the ppi protect against long term problems like Barrett’s and cancer. Before the lump sensation. This never crossed my mind ever. So now I’m thinking back to all the times I ate badly and got a bit of heartburn. And times,,,Probably twice a year where it was really severe I couldn’t sleep properly.

What damage have I done. It doesn’t help that at the moment I’ve got dreadful earache. Headache cough and sinus pains. There is a virus going round at my work with same symptoms. But of course for me it just compounds my fears

[serith]

Just think about it this way: Your doctor gave you a time frame. If its not better by then, you will get the endoscopy. It's not like you're the kind of person who would ignore the doctor. So for sure you will get the endoscopy. And then you will know one way or the other. So until it's time to schedule the endoscopy, you can just stop thinking about it. There's literally no point in thinking about it. You can't change anything by thinking about it. I know that's hard to believe, but it's true. "Worrying about something that may never happen is like paying debt that you don't owe." You've already done, or you will for sure do, anything you can do. We have this magical thinking that tells us that "continued worry even after action has been taken" is a wise thing. But it's just that, a magical and irrational belief.

It's much scarier to think there are people out there who ignore their doctors completely. Their doctors say, "get this test", and they just don't get the test. Or they have weird symptoms but never go to the doctor at all... Luckily, you're not that kind of person. So you're inherently safer for that reason.

[ErinKC]

"Worrying about something that may never happen is like paying debt that you don't owe."

I love this!!

[Flapj]

But Have my ppi been enough to stop me getting oesophageal cancer or Barrett’s.



Almost certainly, yes.

I get this lump sensation sometimes. It's either a little bit of excess acid or post nasal drip.

[Julesbeachy]

Thank you so much for your kind replies. Absolutely needed to hear that this morning. “You are paying a debt you don’t owe”. I need to get my head out of the what if game. It’s ruining my life. Thank you again