Quote:
Originally Posted by Super_Dave_D
What Is a Stricture?
The lower esophagus can open to the size of a quarter or wider. When recurrent inflammation occurs in the esophagus, scarring develops, underlying tissues become fibrous, and the opening narrows. In advanced cases, this narrowing, or stricture, can be severe. The opening may be reduced to the size of a pencil or even smaller. Food and fluid are delayed and only move slowly across the opening into the stomach. A large piece of food, such as meat, may completely block the esophagus. As mentioned, cancer can narrow the esophagus in the same way. Therefore, it is critical that the physician rule out this diagnosis.
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I've been on that routine since I was 10. The Drs say that my esophagus is too straight at the junction with the stomach - too easy for acid to get up there and cause scarring. Scarring = dilation every two years or so as to avoid a visit to the ER for them to fish out whatever got stuck. Down side is when at the ER you don't get as much of the good drugs that you do on a scheduled upper GI. Not exactly pleasant.
Daily control of the stomach acid helps slow the progress. While Nexium is (for me) the gold standard, the generic prilosec works pretty well. Only difference is that I get rebound heartburn with the prilosec. It seems to flush from the system faster than the Nexium. Unfortunately the HMO thinks the high dollar stuff is too good for me, so generic OTC it is...
Visit your gastroenterologist! Things can go wrong there that are no joke. Esophageal cancer is one of the less pleasant ones from what I hear.