u can get cancer in your esophagus b/c of the acid that rises…but like u said, im sure that has to hurt…but yeah it can kill u if left untreated…

If your esophagus gets ruptured or torn, you could actually bleed to death from it.

Yes, the person probably suffered a lot and was probably on med but if a person continues to eat the acid and drink acid causing products then the esophagus can actually bleed through. A hole can turn into a bleeder, we have veins and arteries close to the esophagus, so it is possible. more people than you’d think have this complication. It’s usually someone that insists on eating and drinking as usual, doesn’t change and do as Dr. says and then it’s just too late. why see a Dr. if you don’t do what they say. A pill doesn’t cure anything.It may help some with symptoms and then the rest is up to the person.

He probably had esophogeal errosions aka his esophogas was eroded from all the acid that had backed up that he died from that. I can tell you from experience that you may not know that you have it. My dad never complained of heartburn or other problems but wound up that he was having some bleeding from some place causing his blood levels to be dangerously low. After lots of checking they found out that his esophagus was eroded and he never new it. I can full well believe that your friend knew someone that died from these kind of complications.

The GERD patient might have died from one or more of the following complications:-
Inflammation of the esophagus
Stricture
Esophageal ulcer
Hoarseness, bronchospasm
Chronic pulmonary disease
Barrett’s esophagus (a change in the lining of the esophagus that can increase the risk of cancer).
Please see the webpages for more details on Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

It is also possible to die from the medications for this disease. Medicines have terrible side effects and doctors seem reluctant to warn thier patients when they prescribe them.
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Originally published October 27 2004
Some heartburn and ulcer drugs like Nexium, Pepcid and Prilosec increase pneumonia risk

Just revealed: another drawback to using heartburn drugs. A study of more than 300,000 patients concludes that using these heartburn drugs makes people more susceptible to pneumonia. That’s what happens when you start suppressing natural stomach acid.

What people need to be doing, of course, is modifying their diets to shift to healthier natural foods. Then they can get off the heartburn drugs and, simultaneously, boost their immunity to infectious diseases like pneumonia.

Widely used heartburn and ulcer drugs such as Nexium, Pepcid and Prilosec can make people more susceptible to pneumonia, probably because they reduce germ-killing stomach acid, Dutch researchers found in a study of more than 300,000 patients.

The highest risks occurred with more powerful acid-fighting drugs called proton pump inhibitors, which are sold in the United States under such brand names as Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec.

Over nearly three years, users of these drugs faced almost double the risk of developing pneumonia compared with former users.

Users of another class of acid-fighting drugs that includes cimetidine and famotidine — sold in the United States as Tagamet and Pepcid — also faced an elevated risk.

The study was led by researcher Robert J.F. Laheij at University Medical Center St. Radboud in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association (news - web sites).

The acid in normal stomach fluids generally kills harmful bacteria; suppressing it with drugs to treat heartburn and ulcers may make the body more hospitable to such germs, which may then infect the lungs and cause pneumonia, the researchers said.

These heavily promoted medicines are among the most widely prescribed drugs worldwide, with almost $13 billion in sales in 1998 alone, according to a JAMA editorial.

The researchers said their findings translate to about one case of pneumonia for 226 patients treated with the more potent acid-fighting drugs and one case per 508 patients treated with the other drugs.

Patients using the less potent drugs were 63 percent more likely to develop pneumonia than former users of those drugs.

Nevertheless, the findings are reassuring because the apparent increase in the risk of pneumonia was small, said Dr. James Gregor of the University of Western Ontario.

Regardless of which medication a patient is taking, heartburn, or Acid Reflux disease, can cause a person to accidentally inhale regurgitated stomach acid, increasing the risk of pneumonia, he said.
http://www.newstarget.com/z002288.html
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Doctors fail to communicate drug side effects to patients
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 by: Jessica Fraser

NewsTarget) A study published in Monday’s issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that doctors frequently prescribe medications to patients without clearly explaining dosages and side effects.

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine examined surveys of patients and doctors and analyzed audiotaped outpatient visits with 44 physicians in 1999. The taped interviews were checked for five instructions from the doctors: the name of the drug, the reason for taking it, length of use, side effects and the frequency of use.

The researchers — led by Dr. Derjung Tarn — found that in the taped visits, doctors explained an average of 3.1 out of the five instructions. The name of the drug was explained 74 percent of the time and the purpose was given 87 percent of the time, but side effects were only explained 35 percent of the time.

Including the results of the patient surveys, the researchers found that physicians gave full medication dosing instructions for fewer than 60 percent of prescribed medications, and informed patients of side effects and how long to take a drug about one-third of the time.

“This study demonstrates spotty physician counseling about new medication prescriptions,” says Tarn. “Although physicians educated patients more about psychiatric and analgesic (painkiller) medications, the overall quality of communication was poor even for these medication types and could contribute to patient misunderstandings about how and why to take their new medication.”

The researchers also found that drug explanations were particularly poor for over-the-counter medications. Information on side effects was given less than 15 percent of the time for antibiotics and skin medications.

The UCLA study’s authors noted that patients frequently obtain medication information from pharmacists, nurses and drug package inserts, rather than from doctors. The researchers say more research is needed to determine whether or not doctors spending more time to educate patients on proper medication use and risks would result in more appropriate use of prescriptions.

http://www.newstarget.com/020566.html