Hey everyone,
I'm about 4 1/2 months post surgery. I never had trouble with acid reflux/heartburn BEFORE surgery, but since the surgery, it has been REALLY bad. It always happens in the middle of the night when I'm sound asleep, I jolt out of bed with a sour burning taste in my throat and then I usually gag/spit up some yellow acid (like the xenomorph in Alien) and it just feels unbearable for about 15 minutes or so and then goes away. At first it happened about once a week, but now I'd say it's more like 2-3 times a week. They put me on 40 mg of prevacid or one of those pills right after surgery and I took it for the first month, but then I stopped because the reflux didn't seem too bad and I was worried about the side effects. So of course it came back and that's when it's been getting worse. I just got my rx refilled and yesterday was the first day of starting back on medication, but last night I still woke up with the reflux from hell.
I have mentioned this to my doctor, and he basically said "drink more, eat less, get back on the prescription". But I'm worried about this acid either causing esophogeal cancer or literally burning a hole through my esophagus. Maybe that sounds silly, but that's what it feels like and I've already had Breast Cancer, so I am worried about being susceptible to other forms of cancer.
Anyone have experience with this and advice or anything that stopped it completely? The assistant in the Doctor's office said that the hernial repair they did during the surgery usually helps with GERD/Reflux, but I told her I never had issues with it prior to the surgery and she sounded surprised.
Thanks for any suggestions.