Reflux and GERD is nothing to dismiss lightly. I know. My husband died 3 years ago at age 56 from esophageal cancer. It is deadly. You do not survive it. And this was from a lifetime of reflux and GERD. He did not smoke or drink. They knew he was high risk because he developed Barrett's esophagus (a precancerous state) so it was caught very early(from yearly endoscopies). Didn't matter. There is no effective treatment or cure. You die. Period.

So, even if you are not having heartburn with your reflux you may still be damaging your esophagus. No foods or liquids are meant to be in the esophagus. If when lying down at night you get reflux, your esophagus is getting damaged.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to get endoscopies from time to time and if you develop Barrett's - take measures then.

Nancy - Barrett's esophagus is a precancerous condition of the esophagus. It results from food and acid splashing into the esophagus. The esophagus is not made to have these things there and cells start to change. The pictures of his endoscopy would show a pink esophagus with large Patches of red (Barrett's) and they would biopsy every year. They will tell you that only a small % of Barrett's turns into cancer. Doesn't matter if you're one of them. Because it's a death sentence. It is more common in men and more deadly for some reason. And more common in smokers and drinkers. My husband was neither.

My husband died at 56, his dad died at 58 of cancer of the stomach/intestinal area (he was a heavy smoker) and his grandfather died in his 40's of some type of stomach problem (we don't know for sure if it was cancer - it was so long ago). So 3 generations of men died early of cancer - something not lost on my son. Both he and my daughter participated in a study at the Cleveland Clinic. They had to send blood and I gave permission for a sample of my husband's tumor to be sent to them. They were looking for genes for esophageal cancer. This is why I am so concerned about my reflux. I know it's nothing to mess around with.

I got breast cancer 7 years ago. I have never been a smoker but blamed my weight gain as an adult for it. Yes, smoking and coffee are bad for reflux as well as chocolate, mint and alcohol.

Hope your husband gets checked and good luck.

I looked at my results from the endoscopy I had done and they only took tissue from my stomach polyps. They didn't make a big deal about the esophagus but put me on one of those standard reflux plans and on the medication. I had an irregular Z line but I suppose that's not a problem and redness in the first part of the duodenum.

I mentioned to my husband today about it and I'll have to work on him. He'll be 49 this year, his dad died when he was 46 and like I said everyone on his side died young of heart attacks but they tend to smoke and drink a lot. My husband quit smoking many years ago and doesn't drink often but I know when he drinks a beer in the evening once in a while that's when he gets reflux issues at night so it makes sense.

Did they test your kids to see if the gene for that specific cancer? I know my sister, her breast cancer was about 4 years ago was thinking her daughters should get tested to see if they had that gene but then there was a scare that if that information was in the insurance/medical system they might have a hard time getting insurance. They never had the test. My sister isn't really what you'd call overweight like I am but like I said had smoked for many years, probably since she was 12. My mother died when she was 51 of lung cancer which metastasized into a brain tumor.

Scary things to have to worry about. But my husband always thought he'd die of a heart attack just like his dad but to me this is more worrisome. When I was in the hospital for the chest pains the woman next to me was there because of chest pains also. She had a heart attack about 2 years ago and wasn't over weight at all. Her husband had died of one 4 years ago. So they had her there for precautionary reasons like I was but I thought it was odd how they both had heart attacks like that.

Anyway thanks for warning people of something that most bandsters seem to brush off but also that most seem to suffer with. I know I read somewhere that just where the band is placed has something to do with the acid washing up abnormally. Take care and hope you all stay healthy, Nancy.

Nancy - how do you put another poster reply in the gray area. I am so hopelessly computer illiterate.

My kids participation in that research was completely anonymous - they even talked about the insurance issue and reassured us that no identifying info is given out. Also the research isn't specific for individuals - it's more general. I probably should do a follow up call.

My husband and I were fighting our cancers at the same time although I was done with surgery and radiation and was on meds when he was diagnosed but it was only 11 months after my diagnosis. I was all over the internet at the time and was emailed by a man in Wisconsin who had seen my posts and had EC. We became friends. He was a smoker. He was an eternal optimist, though. Then he died 8 months before my husband. I now write to his oldest daughter - who emailed me about his death which was sudden. My husband's was slow and in the end the cancer went to his brain.

Esophageal cancer is like pancreatic cancer in that it is deadly, it doesn't matter if you catch it early, and there is no effective treatment. I just hope all of those who have developed reflux after banding take it seriously.

Good luck in getting your husband to a doctor. Demand an endoscopy and not an upper GI. You need to see the esophagus and take a biopsy. Just taking a PPI is not enough. Good luck.

Go to the left side of the top of your screen where it says "userCP" and press on that then go to "Control Panel" on the left top and go down to "Settings and Options" where it says "edit ignore list" then I believe you can put in the name of the person whose posts you want to ignore. I hope that helps!

I can't imagine you and your husband going through cancer at the same time. I remember flying down to MD to be with my sister when she was having chemo and the nurse was not very good at getting the needle into her port. This was before I got the lap and and at that time I remember how much pain she was in with the jabbing and afterwars how I worried what a fill would be like. But her port for chemo was placed over bone so I think it was much more painful. So far she's clear and it's going on five years so that's a good thing, you're on seven and that's good too!

You really don't hear much about EC, PC yes and I knew that was a death sentence. I wonder if certain people should just get the endoscopies if they are at risk, like my husband's older brother who still drinks and smokes very heavily but he's not likely to listen. Anyway if you ever have a problem you can email "Alex" directly for an assist. Take care, Nancy.

Edited February 21, 200917 yr by Nanook

With Patrick Swayze in the news with PC it brings it more to the public's attention - and did you hear of Randy Pausch? He was a young man (40's) with this wonderful wife and kids who got PC and did a last lecture for his college students that became a world wide sensation on the internet. He was on Oprah. He was amazing. He died in July. When these kind of people get media attention, so does their cancer. Like Lance Armstrong. But until some celebrity or some politician gets EC you won't hear about it. It's more common in Japan and that is where much of the research comes from.

Who is Alex and how do I email for an assist. I feel so dumb.

Go up to the top right corner where it says "Welcome" and your screen name and there will be a number where there's a private message press on that number and see if you can read the private message from me.

I sent it so look where it says up at the right corner under your name "your notifications" and a number and click there.

Edited February 21, 200917 yr by Nanook

I have a similar problem...started to notice I was putting on a few pounds so I got a little fill. Since then I have acid reflux...never had it in my life before. I am not too tight because I can still eat - probably more than I should. Starting taking Zantac but it doesn't seem to help. Read somewhere that I need to stop eating 3 hours before bedtime and drink fluid to clear out the pouch before bed. I am going to try that.

I have a similar problem...started to notice I was putting on a few pounds so I got a little fill. Since then I have acid reflux...never had it in my life before. I am not too tight because I can still eat - probably more than I should. Starting taking Zantac but it doesn't seem to help. Read somewhere that I need to stop eating 3 hours before bedtime and drink Fluid to clear out the pouch before bed. I am going to try that.

Hi this response is directed to Dustkicker and LoisinStA

In my experience with the band, when my reflux kicks up, the band is too tight. Even though I can still eat and sometimes feel I could be a bit tigher... messing around with reflux and recognizing the signs are very important. Early last sommer I had been filled up to 6 cc's in a 10 cc band. thought I was doing great. Then all of a sudden this crazy reflux started, keeping me up all night no matter what. Two months in a row I had .5cc unfills and after a full cc was removed I felt relief. (I had just hit my 100 pound mark around this time).

Then 6 months later during this holday season the reflux kicked back up bad. Even on Water, anything I ate came up my throat. All night long no matter how many hours before bed I stopped eating. I have been sitting sleeping up right since christmas. This last episode then progressed into crazy 24/7 heartburn and nothing would help it. I'm already on 40 mg's of Aciphex daily. I added 150 mg Zantac twice a day and was still in burning hell. I was on fluids for a week while I waited to get in and see my dr, and that seemed to quell most of it. I went to see my surgeon in early Jan and he removed 1 cc of fluid and ordered an upper GI. He thought I had Mega Esophogus (where my stomach uses my esophogus as an overflow resivoir basically) Mr surgeon said if this was the case, it would need to be removed.

The upper GI came back and showed that my band had actually slipped. I'm dealing with that now... and working on getting unfills to see if that releives the reflux and heartburn, now i'm just at risk of having a revision surgery.

The esophogial cancer threat scares me. I was so worried about damanging my espohogus as I know you can't fix it.

My advise is not to mess with and just suffer through the reflux at the sake of wanting a tigheter stomach to eat less or be more restricted. It's not worth it. I totally felt I could control the reflux and I couldn't.

I don't want unfills and I don't want another surgery. But I have to do what I have to do not to damage myself at the sake of keeping my weight loss.

Thank you so much for your response. I will call the doctor's office on Monday. I will not mess around with this...I did buy some generic prilosec which I will take but will definitely go for an unfill. It's amazing to me that I can eat as much as I do and still be too tight. However,,your story was most compelling. I have to travel 1 1/2 hours for a fill but it will be worth it to get rid of this problem.

Thanks again for your help....