APS AND BARRETTS ESOPHAGUS ANY CONNECTION?

[Nanny23]

Hi I read a post today from a new member. She has very similar symptoms as I have. I have Barrett’s esophagus and APS. I’m wondering if there is any connection. Anyone out there have same problems. Arthritis like pain and horrible digestive issues. Also hypothyroid. After a car accident where air bag hit my face I lost hearing in my left ear. Feel like I’m in an airplane on the left side. Some permanent hearing loss. Weird thing is dr. Ordered an MRI of my brain to check my ear and found I had a silent stroke in my right cerebellum area which was chronic. Which means old happened years ago. Could this have been from APS. this disease is so weird. This is second time I’ve had tests to check one thing and they find something else. Checked on ulcer and found Barrett’s esophagus. Checked in hearing loss found I had a silent stroke. So far I’m only on aspirin but I need to see a neurologist to see if I need something stronger. It’s really strange finding things you don’t realize happened to you.

[MaryF Administrator]

The connection may be Thyroid related, and so many of us have a Thyroid problem, and many of us may not even know due to the over reliance on the TSH test in clinics and GP surgeries, rather than a proper and detailed range of testing. I went on Thyroid UK and pinched what one of their various skilled administrators had had to say:

J Clin Gastroenterol. 1982 Aug;4(4):307-10.

Reversal of lower esophageal sphincter hypotension and esophageal aperistalsis after treatment for hypothyroidism.

Eastwood GL, Braverman LE, White EM, Vander Salm TJ.

Abstract

A 65-year-old woman suffered from both chronic gastroesophageal reflux, which was complicated by columnar metaplasia (Barrett's epithelium), and profound hypothyroidism. An esophageal motility tracing showed absence of peristalsis in the lower esophagus and the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) could not be identified. Thyroid replacement therapy, in conjunction with antacid and cimetidine treatment, was associated not only with improvement in the gastroesophageal reflux symptoms, but also with a return of esophageal peristalsis and LES pressure to normal. To support our clinical observations, we rendered four cats hypothyroid with 131I and documented a fall in LES pressure. We propose that abnormal smooth-muscle function of the esophagus may be another manifestation of the gastrointestinal motility disturbances which are associated with hypothyroidism.

PMID: 7119407

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/711...

Klin Med (Mosk). 2006;84(2):71-4.

[Hiatus hernia and gastroesophageal reflux disease as a manifestation of a newly revealed hypothyroidism].

[Article in Russian]

Savina LV, Semenikhina TM, Korochanskaia NV, Klitinskaia IS, Iakovenko MS.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to reveal hypothyroidism (HT) in patients with hiatus hernia (HH), treated at Russian Centre of Functional Surgical Gastroenterology. The subjects were 64 women: 18--with HH and diffuse or diffuse nodular goiter, 36--with HH, and 10--without endocrine or somatic disease background. The examination included the evaluation of the thyroid and metabolic status, endoscopy, and 24-hour ph-metry. The results show that one of the early signs of HT is HH and gastroesophageal reflux disease. The latter in HT patients is associated with gastrointestinal motor-evacuatory disturbances rather than with acid exposition in the distal esophagus.

PMID: 16613012

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/166...

BMC Cancer. 2007 Jan 10;7:5.

Expression of the Na+/I- symporter (NIS) is markedly decreased or absent in gastric cancer and intestinal metaplastic mucosa of Barrett esophagus.

Altorjay A1, Dohán O, Szilágyi A, Paroder M, Wapnir IL, Carrasco N.

Author information

1 Department of Surgery, St. George University Teaching Hospital H-8000 Székesfehérvár, Hungary. [e-mail] <[e-mail]>

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) is a plasma membrane glycoprotein that mediates iodide (I-) transport in the thyroid, lactating breast, salivary glands, and stomach. Whereas NIS expression and regulation have been extensively investigated in healthy and neoplastic thyroid and breast tissues, little is known about NIS expression and function along the healthy and diseased gastrointestinal tract.

METHODS:

Thus, we investigated NIS expression by immunohistochemical analysis in 155 gastrointestinal tissue samples and by immunoblot analysis in 17 gastric tumors from 83 patients.

RESULTS:

Regarding the healthy Gl tract, we observed NIS expression exclusively in the basolateral region of the gastric mucin-producing epithelial cells. In gastritis, positive NIS staining was observed in these cells both in the presence and absence of Helicobacter pylori. Significantly, NIS expression was absent in gastric cancer, independently of its histological type. Only focal faint NIS expression was detected in the direct vicinity of gastric tumors, i.e., in the histologically intact mucosa, the expression becoming gradually stronger and linear farther away from the tumor. Barrett mucosa with junctional and fundic-type columnar metaplasia displayed positive NIS staining, whereas Barrett mucosa with intestinal metaplasia was negative. NIS staining was also absent in intestinalized gastric polyps.

CONCLUSION:

That NIS expression is markedly decreased or absent in case of intestinalization or malignant transformation of the gastric mucosa suggests that NIS may prove to be a significant tumor marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of gastric malignancies and also precancerous lesions such as Barrett mucosa, thus extending the medical significance of NIS beyond thyroid disease.

PMID: 17214887

PMCID: PMC1794416

DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-7-5

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/172

MaryF

[Nanny23 in reply to MaryF]

Wow. Thanks Mary that’s a lot of information to digest. My doctor needs to see this. It makes sense. Thankyou so much. I have been hypo for st least 5 years that I know of.

[Nanny23]

Thanks for your reply. My Barrett’s esophagus was just diagnosed in 2017 but who knows how long I’ve had it. My GERD is silent did not know I had reflux disease. It was found checking on an ulcer. I was supposed to see a neurologist after I found I had a silent stroke but never got around to it cause my stomach was giving me fits. I am now in Canada 🇨🇦 for the summer. Have a cottage in a lake there. I’m on Dexilant supposedly one of best PPI’S. My hemotoligist said if neurologist wanted to put me on a blood thinner he was on board with that. But I never did get to see a neurologist. I think you are probably right that I need something stronger than aspirin. Thankyou so much for replying. Health unlocked has helped me and my sister tremendously. Thyroid conduit improved so much because of this site.

[Lure2]

Hi Nanny,

Good answers from APsnotFab and MaryF I think!

I hope you have got a Hematologist who knows autoimmun illnesses as several are linked together in some way sometimes. We have found that the Neurologists often do not understand that the main issues for us is our sticky blood which has to be properly and steadily anticoagulated.

Give your sister Debby a hug from me!

Kerstin in Stockholm

[Nanny23]

Thanks Kirsten so good to hear from you. My hemotoligist is excellent Debbie has same doctor. An ENT told me to see a neurologist because of silent stroke. Haven’t gone yet. Really confused I had a silent stroke dont even know when

[Debbweb01]

Hi Nanny 23/ hope u feel better!