Very worried about esophageal cancer

[Mindprison]

I’ve been taking a PPI for reflux wouldn’t you think if it was just reflux it would have helped by now? That’s what worries me I’ve been taking medicine and eating right and my symptoms just keep getting worse.

---------- Post added at 21:58 ---------- Previous post was at 21:39 ----------

Another thing I find odd is after I drink cold water it makes my chest pain worse and really hoarse all the time..

It's not just about taking a PPI, it's about the dosage. At one point I was on 80mg Omeprazole my reflux was that bad. Most doctors didn't even want me being on 40mg so to them going on 80 was almost outrageous. It was only because of the gastrologist's recommendation that they agreed to it.

Since then, if my reflux ever plays up and 40mg isn't working, I have their permission to go up to 80 for a week until it settles.

I have a terrible feeling that when you get the all clear and it turns out to be reflux, you won't accept it. You're not even looking at other options or reasons despite all our reassurance, every post has been about this cancer, that cancer, right down to the specific name for it, which tells me that you're feverishly googling all these ridiculously rare cancers that people our age just don't get.

Contrary to what stupid newspapers would have us believe, doctors are not idiots. They know when something is serious enough to warrant further testing and they know when it's urgent. They haven't deemed this as urgent because you just don't fit the criteria.

I'm not trying to be harsh here but there is nothing left for us to do to try and convince you. Every post you've made we have done our best to reassure you that this is 99.9% sure to be nothing serious and it always ends the same way, reassurance then a few posts later asking the exact same question again.

Really, it's down to you now. You can either let health anxiety ruin your life or you can try and do something to get a hold on it before it goes any further because we can't keep this reassurance cycle going on forever, it's not helpful for you in the short term or the long term.

I'm not saying this to be bad, or make you feel guilty, i'm saying it because i've been where you are and i'm still there. Let me tell you, once you cross the threshold into letting it grip you like this it is extremely difficult to shake it off and no amount of reassurance from us will make it better. So please, do something about this health anxiety now because life is far too short to spend precious years dealing with this as I have.

[AntsyVee]

B, you need to follow their advice. Remember when I had GERD even though I'd never even had heart burn before my friend died? Well, I did. I developed GERD because I was so anxious that my body produced so much excess stomach acid it couldn't help it. Just with your last ALS scare alone you were anxious enough to have developed this, too.

The likelihood you have cancer is remote while the likelihood you have GERD is high because it's happened to many of us anxious people on here. You need to take a PPI like omeprazole and eat a better diet for a couple of weeks to a month, and if you see improvement, you'll know it's not your worst case scenario.

[Hypo27]

Well I went and saw the doctor yesterday. She’s trying me on omeprazole 20 mg twice a day and Zantac 150 twice a day and she said if it doesn’t get better in a month I need an endoscopy. She asked if I wanted to go ahead and get the referral to a GI I should have done it... I’m nauseous 24/7 now and that pain still isn’t going away. I can’t see how this isn’t cancer it keeps getting worse :(

[AntsyVee]

Your doc doesn't think it's cancer, she thinks it's GERD like we all said.

You are in a spiral of catastrophic thinking, B.

Every time you have a health concern, you let it spiral out of control until you think you're dying. When are you gonna stop this for good, B?

[Hypo27]

If this was simple gerd it would be getting better by now not worse. I shouldn’t feel nauseous all the time and now I’ve developed this deep stinging pain between my shoulder blades. This sucks so bad knowing that this really could be cancer..

[utrocket09]

It isnt cancer..

[Hypo27]

It isnt cancer..

I sure think so I don’t see this being just gerd

[nomorepanic]

Well if it is cancer then you will have to deal with that won't you?

There is no point being so negative and ignoring all the advice you get on here then posting again saying it is cancer.

Get it checked out and get an answer then come back and tell us what it was.

[Hypo27]

I’m not trying to be negative I’m really not.... I’m just scared beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. What else could cause the new constant nausea I’m experiencing and the constant chest pain going through to my back?

---------- Post added 15-01-18 at 02:01 ---------- Previous post was 14-01-18 at 23:58 ----------

I’m not gonna be able to wait another month to see the doctor... I just wish their was a way I could see a GI specialist tomorrow!

[AntsyVee]

I’m just scared beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.

You're scared beyond the ALS thing? With that, you claimed your speech was failing and you couldn't hold your daughter anymore.

B, you didn't learn anything from that episode...like how you tend to catastophize? like how you tend to think you're dying when you're not?