What caused your EC?

Tina Blondek

Hello Lee and welcome to you
Hello Lee and welcome to you and your husband. I was a caregiver for my dad. He was dx with EC in 11/08. He had had chronic acid reflux for many many years. The drs. always treated him for acid reflux. Not one dr. saw a red flag to send him for a scope. My dad himself knew something was not right in 8/08 when he had a lot of trouble swallowing. He himself went to the gastro dr. and asked for a scope. By the time he was dx, he was at a stage IV. Too far gone, not able to have surgery, could only have chemo and radiation for palliative care. I only wish the drs. sent him sooner when it was only at a stage I. I advise anyone who has chronic heart burn or acid reflux to get a scope done at the first sign of it.
Hope this helps.
Tina in Va

cher76

My husband Rickie, age 55,
My husband Rickie, age 55, was fairly healthy when he was diagnosed in Oct. 2010. He smoked on and off since he was 12. Always amazed me because he could go for years without lighting up and then just as easily start up again. Never smoked in the house or at work, mainly on the way to and from work the last few years. He also enjoyed a drink or two in the evenings, not daily, but 3 to 4 times a week. He suffers from adenocarcinoma EC, so that is not suppose to be a big factor, however I am sure it did not help. He suffered with reflux for years, (between he and I we use to joke that we should buy stock in Tums!)but once he was diagnosed with sleep apnea 17 years ago and began using a C-Pap machine, he never had reflux again. The MD Anderson website has some good info about EC and Barretts, and from what I read many times people think their reflux went away, when actually it is just that the lining of the esophagus has changed to the same type as the lining of the stomach, so the symptoms of reflux are not occurring, even though the reflux is still there. The doctors at MDA told us he probably had had the cancer for 8 years or so. He was a big guy, weighing around 275 lbs carrying most of it in his abdomen, and is about 5'10" tall. As you can see from our new picture, that is not the case anymore. The old picture was taken a year ago the first of August and the new one the beginning of this August. He now weighs 145 lbs on a good day. He loved food, and eat mainly meat and potatoes as well. Never touched fruit, and vegetables hardly at all. I have several brochures I picked up at MDA's learning center put out by the head and neck cancer association, and one of them mentions that eating lots of processed meats, like lunch meats, sausage, salami, as well as red meats really increases your chances of EC. Who knew??? Something else possibly in common is that Rickie had a total hip replacement at the age of 36. This was after suffering from hip pain for about 5years. There was never any injury and all the doctors could tell us about why he had this problem was that it was "bone loss". No clue as to what caused that. His ancestry is also German. He also suffered from allergies all of his life (dirt, dust, grass, etc) as well as skin allergies that he seemed to grow out of in his late 20's. I know there are doctors at MDA (as well as other places I am sure) working to find out what causes this disease, as we have participated in their surveys. We are only too happy to do so if it will help to find what causes this dreaded disease.
Cheryl, wife of Rickie, dx EC stage IV Oct. 2010

jojoshort

cher76 said:

My husband Rickie, age 55,
My husband Rickie, age 55, was fairly healthy when he was diagnosed in Oct. 2010. He smoked on and off since he was 12. Always amazed me because he could go for years without lighting up and then just as easily start up again. Never smoked in the house or at work, mainly on the way to and from work the last few years. He also enjoyed a drink or two in the evenings, not daily, but 3 to 4 times a week. He suffers from adenocarcinoma EC, so that is not suppose to be a big factor, however I am sure it did not help. He suffered with reflux for years, (between he and I we use to joke that we should buy stock in Tums!)but once he was diagnosed with sleep apnea 17 years ago and began using a C-Pap machine, he never had reflux again. The MD Anderson website has some good info about EC and Barretts, and from what I read many times people think their reflux went away, when actually it is just that the lining of the esophagus has changed to the same type as the lining of the stomach, so the symptoms of reflux are not occurring, even though the reflux is still there. The doctors at MDA told us he probably had had the cancer for 8 years or so. He was a big guy, weighing around 275 lbs carrying most of it in his abdomen, and is about 5'10" tall. As you can see from our new picture, that is not the case anymore. The old picture was taken a year ago the first of August and the new one the beginning of this August. He now weighs 145 lbs on a good day. He loved food, and eat mainly meat and potatoes as well. Never touched fruit, and vegetables hardly at all. I have several brochures I picked up at MDA's learning center put out by the head and neck cancer association, and one of them mentions that eating lots of processed meats, like lunch meats, sausage, salami, as well as red meats really increases your chances of EC. Who knew??? Something else possibly in common is that Rickie had a total hip replacement at the age of 36. This was after suffering from hip pain for about 5years. There was never any injury and all the doctors could tell us about why he had this problem was that it was "bone loss". No clue as to what caused that. His ancestry is also German. He also suffered from allergies all of his life (dirt, dust, grass, etc) as well as skin allergies that he seemed to grow out of in his late 20's. I know there are doctors at MDA (as well as other places I am sure) working to find out what causes this disease, as we have participated in their surveys. We are only too happy to do so if it will help to find what causes this dreaded disease.
Cheryl, wife of Rickie, dx EC stage IV Oct. 2010

Hi Cheryl,
I agree with you about the Barrett's masking the symptoms of acid reflux. I've read that as well. sounds like MD Anderson is on the trail of all this; would love it if you find anything new to post.
And your Rickie looks quite fine I think in this new pic.
Jo-Ann

ritawaite13

Candy??
Hi Lee,
My husband was 6' 265 in April 2011. He was diagnosed with EC on July 11 and is now down to 220. He never had any acid reflux, quit smoking in 1978 and was not a drinker. He had a big appetite and was not a picky eater at all. His biggest vice was eating candy - and lots of it. He would keep boxes in his truck, in his nightstand and in the cupboard. I've done a lot of reading about EC and it looks like sugar could be a contributor. The only other thing we can think of is the fact that he's a Vietnam veteran and was exposed to Agent Orange.
He also has sleep apnea and has had a CPAP machine for several years.

Frumpy

Causes of esophageal cancer
my husband smoked a lot for forty years drank a lot also when he was younger as we grew older not so much but we did enjoy wine with our dinners or a cocktail or two. He had been told he had Barrets also. My husband also hates vegetables did not eat much fruit.

sandy1943

LeeinLondon said:

What caused your EC?
Hmm... thanks for writing everyone; Hardly a scientific study with so few people but yes there are similarities. It would make sense to me that if the principal trigger is an ongoing erosion of the esophageous, like acid continually splashing around, makes sense. The tissue would be less healthy in a smoker, and would be likely to mutate sooner.

Not sure what the male/female ratio of sufferers is (Any idea, William?) but I wonder if the large abdomen plays a role (snug pants, tight belts) - there's only so much space down there, so add the pressure from the abdomen jamming everything together and forcing more acid/bile up into the esophageous. Our M&P diets would certainly require more processing than a fruit/veggie diet and would generate more bile, we could also presume that fruits/veggies would provide more fibre, more healing options simply due to diet diversity, etc.

The good news is that this study quickly showed us that EC sufferers are extremely attractive, so perhaps this cursed thing is limited to those of us that are startlingly beautiful.

best,
Lee

Hi Lee, I had silent acid
Hi Lee, I had silent acid reflux. I would have indigestion, which tums would usually help. I never had the acid come up. I would experience pain in my back and a couple of times Pain in my chest that lasted a few days. At this time the dr. checked my heart and of course it was ok.Only after my food stuck was I scoped and diagnosed.I know now that the pain I had was silent acid reflux.

I don't know the ratio of women and men, but when I was diagnosed with adiocarcinoma, my dr. said it was rare in women and the drs were still trying to find out what was going on.
I had stopped smoking twenty years before and the dr. said this wasn't the reason. I did unknowingly have barrettes.

I ate meat and vegetables but no fruit. I ate a lot of sweets.I ate anything I wanted and rarely would the foods cause me to have indigestion. Because of the symptoms being so mild, it was really a shock to hear I had Ec.

It is so sad Drs wait so long to scope. My daughter, who suffers daily acid reflux, was recently told by her dr. there wasn't anything to worry about unless her food stuck. What a joke-Even drs need to be educated.

Sandra

jojoshort

Frumpy said:

Causes of esophageal cancer
my husband smoked a lot for forty years drank a lot also when he was younger as we grew older not so much but we did enjoy wine with our dinners or a cocktail or two. He had been told he had Barrets also. My husband also hates vegetables did not eat much fruit.

One more thought here
For years, I was bugging Steve about his night eating habits. Every night while watching tv he would munch. I wonder now if his having food in his stomach and the acids working on it all night were a contributor. I'll bet it didn't help, anyway.
Jo-Ann

TerryV

jojoshort said:

One more thought here
For years, I was bugging Steve about his night eating habits. Every night while watching tv he would munch. I wonder now if his having food in his stomach and the acids working on it all night were a contributor. I'll bet it didn't help, anyway.
Jo-Ann

Interesting addition, Jo-Ann
Nick has a late night munchies addiction also. He's constanting snacking and often will trek to the fridge in the wee hours and snitch a bite of food on the way back to bed.

It's a solid possibility.....

Thanks for the thought,

Terry