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I would like to add my two cents worth to the debate about stomach acid and the effects on the esophagus.  Like many celiacs, I have had a history of heartburn.  Because of the constant refrain in forums like this that "stomach acid is good for you," I did not seek systemic treatment, and after a while, the pain did indeed seem to recede.

I have been waking with some hoarseness and dry coughing for the last few weeks and decided to get it checked out.  As an undiagnosed celiac, heartburn, though often severe, had been the last thing I worried about, I was so sick with diarrhea, dehydration, and neuroligical problems. I was a blues singer a couple of years ago, had to stop because my voice would give out after about ten songs, because of this history, my family doc suspected my thyroid problem might be involving my larynx, so sent me to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist.  Dr. Pasquale, the ENT, sprayed some awful tasting solution up my nose which dripped down my throat, numbing it, and stuck a tube up my nose within fifteen minutes of my entering her office and noticed edema (swelling) all around my larynx, and throughout my esophagus.  She said it would takes months on medication (Prevacid since I don't tolerate Prilocec), to reduce the swelling, and that I might well be able to sing again.  She didn't know about
 other complications of this symptom, she told me to ask my GI, so I went home and looked it up.  I found that a precursor of esophageal cancer was the thickening of the esophagus which can be due to constant acid reflux.  Ironically, the thickening causes the esophagus to be less sensitive to pain, so a patient might think he or she is getting better while actually  getting worse.

The day she looked down my throat, I went next door to have a glass of wine with a neighbor. While I was there, her other next door neighbor came in to tell us her husband, a friend of ours, had just been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He had so many tumors that it was inoperable, and he had to rely on chemo and radiation to shrink them.  There was already lymph gland involvement, which, of course reduces his chance of survival dramatically.   O.K., he is not celiac as far as he knows, and he does smoke cigars and drink scotch, but it was a real eye-opener.

With the recent post about the high incidence of esophageal cancer and intestinal cancer in treated celiacs, I thought it might be good to convey my experience.

Enough said,
Kit Kellison


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