Esophogeal Cancer

[Sue Brenneman]

Hello Celiac friends!   I just want to touch on something that may be very rare,...but something to be aware of!   I am now 54 years old,...was diagnosed with Celiac when I was 30...I was diagnosed with Celiac disease and diabetes type 1, due to my immune system attacking my pancreas.   As long as I can remember, I was anemic,...I had no intestinal issues and was just told to take iron.  The only other medical issue I had was problems swallowing pills....After I was diagnosed with Celiac, I realized that my grandma succumbed to all the symptoms of Celiac,...arthritis, thyroid issues, weight loss, weight gain, diarrhea, constipation, heart disease and lymphoma, Shogrens Syndrome .  She was even declared mentally ill many times and sent to a mental institution.  I worked at a healthcare facility when she passed and her chart was full of letters from her that stated "I am in so much pain,...please do something to find out what is wrong,...I am not crazy...etc."  I cried...knowing that healthcare has changed and they realized that Celiac is truly a common disease that has been dismissed until recently.  She could have lived such a better life had she known!   Fast forward to about 5 years ago, and I still suffered from anemia and had problemss swallowing,...not choking,...but food and pills not going down.  I ended up having an EGD to see if I had silent reflux and I woke up to the gastroenterologist saying that my esophagus is totally blocked and that he doesn't understand why I am able to swallow.  After more testing and I was diagnosed with Esophogeal Cancer.  The ENT doctor that I saw, stated that it is very rare to see this these days and that I had a condition called Plummer-Vinson Syndrome.  This is a syndrome where lifelong anemics develop webs in their esophogus,...mine happened to become malignant and I developed a 7+ cm mass in my esophogus.  I was lucky enough to have amazing doctors who found the right treatments, chemo and radiation, that cured me of cancer and I am now 5 years out of treatment.  I just want to let everyone know that this is a reality with Celiac disease and if ANYONE has to go through this treatment,...please let me know and I will be happy to talk to you! 

[cyclinglady]

Thanks for sharing!  ?

Life-long Iron-deficieny anemia was my symptom that caused my GI (referred for a routine colonoscopy because I was over 50) to screen me for celiac disease.  While my esophagus is fine, a repeat endoscopy five years after my celiac disease diagnosis  revealed a healed small intestine and autoimmune gastritis (new) which usually leads to b-12 deficiency and cancer ☹️.

My advice to readers is to find out the root cause of your GERD and not just medicate!