Could this be anything else than oesophageal cancer?

[Soccermum13]

I know I need to get an appointment but I have scared myself silly so in the meantime am looking for reassurance that it could be something else…

I’ve always been prone to heartburn but in the last year I’ve had 3/4 sporadic incidents of severe acid reflux (feels like a burning throat/chest pain). Deep scary pain. I also get a hoarse voice every now and again. I ignored it as it happened so I frequently but the other day it happened at work with no triggers at all. That is new.

I also know I’ll need an endoscopy but have a fear of choking so don’t know if I can do it. I wondered if anyone had had this severe acid reflux and hoarseness/growly throat and it was anything less deadly. It would css as km me down a lot while I try to get an appointment.

Thank you!

I had the same symptoms in 2012. I also recall having to force myself to be sick as I felt like my food was “stuck”. One one occasion being sick resulted in me bringing up blood which was enough for the GP to refer for an urgent endoscopy.
simultaneously I also had some bloods taken and those results came back to show I had H Pylori.
I had a super dose of antibiotics and my symptoms cleared.
this was 2012.

the endoscopy was fine because of the sedation

Good grief… sounds like reflux. Long term reflux CAN lead to esophageal cancer or ulcers. Get it checked ffs. Surely investigation is no more terrifying than treatment.

I've had the endoscopy to check it was nothing major and have been on lansaprazole a few years. Best thing I did the heartburn was unreal and that's all it needed.

Thank you for all your helpful replies, much appreciated.

Could be helicopter pylori, in which case antibiotics should clear it up. You've jumped to worst case scenario, though Barrets oesphagitis can increase risk of cancer there, it takes years to develop so if you get the issue sorted, you should be fine. Lots of benign conditions cause these symptoms.