Developing acid reflux after VSG

[amandalynn76 15]

Has anyone developed acid reflux after surgery? I have been doing more research and I'm finding that the longer you have been sleeved the more prone you are to having esophageal issues. What I am finding is roughly 25% of patients are getting this and the number may grow the longer you have the sleeve. Is this true for anyone? My biggest concern is esophageal cancer.

Amanda

[notmeanymore 629]

I never had acid problems prior to surgery but have needed to take a PPI every day since surgery. I was on a 30mg dosage and now am on only a 15mg dosage. Ive been told that this can occur after surgery because the body is used to producing so much stomach acid and even after surgery may still be producing the same amount which then blocks up into the esophagas causing the acid reflux. The PPI in a sense put out the fire and reduced the amount of acid. Have you talked to your surgeon about this? Im sure they can recommend a remedy or make suggestions for you. Im hoping one day not to have to take a PPI any longer but so far Ive been on them for 3 1/2 months.

[PdxMan 4,292]

I had reflux issues prior to surgery as I had a hiatal hernia. This was repaired during my VSG and I have not suffered since. 20+ months post-op here and doing well in this department (and most others, too!)

[amandalynn76 15]

I never had acid problems prior to surgery but have needed to take a PPI every day since surgery. I was on a 30mg dosage and now am on only a 15mg dosage. Ive been told that this can occur after surgery because the body is used to producing so much stomach acid and even after surgery may still be producing the same amount which then blocks up into the esophagas causing the acid reflux. The PPI in a sense put out the fire and reduced the amount of acid. Have you talked to your surgeon about this? Im sure they can recommend a remedy or make suggestions for you. Im hoping one day not to have to take a PPI any longer but so far Ive been on them for 3 1/2 months.

I will definitely talk to him about this, I just wonder what long term acid production will do to the sleeve over the years. I will be scheduling my surgery as soon as I get my pulmonary appointment cleared, so I'm guessing it will be scheduled mid May.

[Taradawn15 148]

I get it since my surgey, I never had it before. However it only happens to me when I eat spicy foods. So I only eat it on occasion and take meds before hand.

[mokee 588]

I got it 4 weeks after surgery when I was starting to eat regular food. Did not have it before.

[FishingNurse 1,211]

I had it before and it only got worse after. :-( but that's my only complaint. I have to take Prilosec 20mg twice daily. It's worth it, I'm very happy 20 months post op.

[sharonintx 1,275]

It must be a very common issue. I never had it before except when I was pregnant but now it's a problem. I take 2 Zantac a day and it's working pretty well. If I forget the Zantac my stomach reminds me pretty quickly.

[nviveros 3]

How do you know you have this? I've had a very sore burning in my throat for about a month now. Beside that I've been perfectly fine and have no complaints from being sleeved. Although my dr. Thinks my throat pain is from reflex? Weird, I think he's mis diagnosing me?!?

[rybecca20 160]

I took my grandma to a stomach specialist for a procedure and they looked down in her stomach. I mentioned to the dr about my surgery and he said ohhh u will be visiting me soon. I was surprised he said he gets so many patients with stomach issues. He said mostly reflux he also said he would never tell a young person to take this route unless their weight was going to kill them. He really did not make me feel very good. But he did say cancer is not found more in people with gastric surgeries. Your chances of getting cancer are the same as if you did not have surgery. Just a little bit of information I was surprised about.

[MYW 0]

@Krunchy KittenI had a Sleeve Oct 8-2013. My surgeon also repaired my Hiatal Hernia. He told me I would probably not need my Nexium after the surgery and plan to try discontinuing. I had my GERD well controlled for years. I tried coming off the Nexium in November but I could not.

#1 By December I had aspiration pneumonia - woke up at 4am coughing up blood and having asthma type symptoms and crackling lungs and breathing though a straw. Was admitted at the hospital that morning with a temp over 102. Had my Internist and a Pulmonologist come lecture me on how to eat - and support groups - and properly chewing my feed. I was clueless - but after the 2nd day of hospitalization, it dawned on me that I never eat after 430P anyway. I think I eat properly (as a nutritionist would recommend). I had gone to bed at 730P because I had to get up at 420A.

#2 By January I was back in the hospital and got lectured again on aspiration pneumonia. Ditto from the previous paragraph (#1).

#3 I had another case of walking pneumonia - aspiration pneumonia again, but my internist understands the issue and is supportive.

#4 I had another case of aspiration pneumonia (April?) and the radiologist did not send reports to my doctor for almost a week so I walked around with fever and wheezing - ongoing horror.

#5 & #6 - have been diagnosed with two cases of pneumonitis in addition which is due to aspirating in my sleep.

Went to see the GastroEnterologist and had a scope. He saw bad reflux, erossive esophagitis, but a normal pouch. He never met with me after the scope, but left a note with my husband to stay on my Nexium in the morning, add Dexilant at an early dinner time, and sleep semi upright in a recliner.

I went to see the ENT to see what she saw in case there was something that was missed. She scoped my throat which was sore and my looked at my ears which now are sore, and told me I had moderate to large nodules that had developed on my vocal cords. Where do they come from you ask? ... Chronic acid running over them.

Since that time I went to see the surgeon who did not have my test results - no progress. He said we would see how I was doing when I saw him next. My next appointment he set in the October (I just want help - I am worried he thinks I am going to sue so is not wanting me to see him before then. I have no plans to do that so I just made a more recent appointment. I would like to go in with names of other physicians he can contact to get more information to help me - some with more experience with patients with ongoing aspiration and treatment and outcomes).

I now have Chronic Bronchitis - I aspirate even sitting up while I sleep. Every morning I awake with a sore throat and during the wee hours I feel it as it gets more irritated and I cough and use an inhaler (now with my doctor's advice up to 5+ times a day and a nebulizer. I used to have an inhaler and used it once a year. I awake and cough and wheeze. It scares my husband who runs down and sleeps to watch me. He thinks I will keel over.

I do not there this anything that can be done to fix this surgically. I am seeing my Primary Care Internist Monday morning. Then I am going to see the GastroEnterologist and ask questions. I am wish I had the films of my pouch and reflux filling my entire esophogus - I will try to share them later when I see the Gastro MD. I know if this is not resolved (at age 50 and previously relatively healthy and at a weight of 256). I am not at a weight in the mid 190s. Soungs great, but if this continues I will succumb to pneumonia, COPD, even Esophagial or Stomach cancer in my pouch. Not to mention that I may go crazy sleeping in a chair for the remainder of my life.

If anyone has advice, please post - please know am not a smoker or drinker. I do not eat spicy food as I cannot do so anymore. No peppers. I eat high Protein, egg white omelets, cheese (low fat), non fat milk products and cottage cheese, nonfat greek yogurts, lowfat chicken and ground turkey. I gave up sauces and tomatoes and most fruit. If someone has advice please send it. I worked so hard to have this procedure so I could live longer and suffer less. I did not want to die the way I saw my mother die and suffer when I hospiced her. I wanted to avoid the estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer that runs in my family. I told my mother I wanted to do this before she did. I worked since 2008 to have this procedure and qualify - I worry I have made such a mistake.

I am so happy for so many people whose lives have been improved - I dont want to scare anyone away - just make them ask more questions. If your doctor says this is not a possible complication, get another. My doctor told me he never heard of this (my continual aspiration of stomach acid - yes it is the acid that causes a chemical process and eats at the lung tissue - not food in stomach contents). Talk to your doctor talk to him and consider another procedure if you have GERD or a Hiatal Hernia if advised by a gastroenterologist - see a couple doctors first. . Remember, getting the hernia fixed (as I did) may not stop the GERD. Feel free to email me. I am so worried and want as much info as possible to learn and research. There is little in the current periodicals since the use of the sleeve is quite new as a single part procedure (it used to be used as a part 1 of a 2 part procedure in the super morbidly obese).

[MYW 0]

I apologies for the many typos - I typed to fast. The words "before my mother did" should be "before my mother died". She died.

I meant in latter paragraphs to ask your doctor if this is something that might be a complication for you - My bariatric surgeon insists he has still never heard of this until me. He really wants me to disappear into the woodwork - I would if I could.

Be well people. Eat healthy. Make wise decisions. Love long. Be Happy - MYW

[MYW 0]

How do you know you have this? I've had a very sore burning in my throat for about a month now. Beside that I've been perfectly fine and have no complaints from being sleeved. Although my dr. Thinks my throat pain is from reflex? Weird, I think he's mis diagnosing me?!?

That throat pain is reflux - mine is so bad I cannot sleep. Get a primary care physician or stomach doctor to look at your stomach and perhaps get something to protect your esophogial and tracheal lining from ongoing damage. Be well. Good luck.

[lisa2job 130]

I too never had an acid reflux issue before sugery and now have to take a PPI daily, doesnt bother me in the least , a small price to pay for 112 lb loss !!! I take mine with my Vitamins in the am

[SuNMooNStaRS816 423]

Did the nexium not work or were you taken off of it? Did you ever take anything else for this? What did your surgeon do for these things before u ever progressed to getting pneumonia? This is scary?