Gi Doc Wants An Endoscopy

[Laurelf]

I had an upper gi a week or so ago and they found scarring in my esophagus. The dr said it was from acid reflux and left it at that. I just got a call today and the radiologist suggests that I have an endoscopy to make sure reflux is the cause of the scarring. No one thinks I have a problem with gluten b/c my blood test came back ok (despite Enterolab coming back with positive stool sample and genetic test and gas/diahhrea symptoms no one can explain).

Has anyone had an endoscopy for acid reflux? Can they diagnose or see signs of celiac at the same time even if they are not looking for it? Can gluten cause scarring of the esophagus?

Thanks,

Laurel

[Darn210]

My daughter had acid reflux. The GI was almost positive that is was caused by Eosinophilic Esophagitis (Open Original Shared Link). As it turned out, it was caused by Celiac disease. If you end up having an endoscopy, you should have them take samples for Celiac disease . . . that's what my daughter's doc did since he was "in the neighborhood" so to speak. I would have them check those samples for damage and for Disaccharidase Deficiencies (Open Original Shared Link) which can also be an indicator of Celiac. In addition, they should also probably check for EE.

Now, on the other hand, my husband required an endoscopy because he had so much scar tissue build up where the esophagus joins the stomach that food was beginning to have difficulty passing through. They had to "stretch" the opening back to the correct size. He is now on a pretty strong acid reflux med.

They may be looking for a cause (EE or celiac disease or some sort of physical reason why acid is getting up into your esophagus or an injury or ulcers or something else) or they may be looking for the amount of damage. I would hope that they would check out everything they can think of even if it's not their leading theory . . . that's how we were surprised by my daughter's diagnosis, he was just trying to be thorough while he was scoping.

[StacyA]

When it comes to your health and a major change in your diet - you should get as much accurate testing as you can get. Ask for biopsies while you're getting the endo - and don't rely on your GI doctor just 'looking' while s/he's there. Plus you'll have to be eating gluten for awhile first (opinions vary, my GI told me that 3 weeks was okay.) I just had a scope and right afterwards my GI told me that to the naked eye my intestines looked just fine, but the pathology report came back a few weeks later and I had 'mild blunting' - which was indicative of celiac's.

[Laurelf]

[i've been gluten-free for about 2 weeks. I hope that doesn't mean the test for celiac will be falsely negative. Maybe I should have some gluten tonight before the test?