Dear All,

Having been sleeved a whole 17 days, I have noticed a very nasty side effect to this surgery - Reflux.

I have been given the PPI, avoid fatty/surgery foods, limit caffeine and chew like the proverbial cow chewing the cud. None of this seems to help things. If I'm gonna get taken out with it, I'm being taken out.

On academic research, I have learnt that VSG increases the likelihood of GERD due to, in short and without doing the 'science bit', the Lower Esophageal Sphincter being weakened. Subsequently, all your gastric juices - PPI or not - jump above that valve and languish in your esophagus causing general discomfort, pain and misery.

Consequently, what I'd like to ask all you good people, is a) have you had this (before or after surgery) b ) how did your surgeons/doctors deal with it c) have your symptoms improved with the surgery, weight loss, or just got worse over time?

Any opinions, particularly from the long-term sufferers, are very much appreciated. x

I'm on omeprazole, 20mg twice a day. I take one first thing in the morning and I'm holding off on the second dose till 10pm, to attempt to stave off the acid until the morning.

The weird thing is that I didn't have reflux or indigestion prior to the surgery. So it's definitely the surgery that has caused it.

I have cut out all the usual suspects for causes (even reduced my smoking - which is miraculous!) and am taking to glugging Gaviscon before sleep to coat my throat - as Blue suggested.

Peggy, you're absolutely right about the pneumonia and it scares the living hell out of me. The last thing I need is a full on chest infection when I'm so fresh out of surgery.. My fiance, who is a former EMT, ordered this evening (because he's less than impressed that I can't see anyone until Tuesday) that if I wake up tomorrow morning and the same thing happens again - I go straight to the ER and get them to mainline antibiotics into me.

I have done so much reading on the issue today, the only glimmer of hope I'm holding onto is that with the weight loss, this goes away naturally. Right now it feels like I've got a lifetime of eating baby-food in baby-portions ahead of me, with the reward of excruciating discomfort afterwards.

Yay, me!

Ok this thread isn't to scare you it's just for info the op on this thread had to convert but she still comes here and is very nice of you have questions

http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/77969-sleeve-revision-to-gastric-bypass-tomorrow/page__fromsearch__1

Thanks, LV. Sadly, I am only too painfully aware of the sleeve revision to bypass if all other options fail.

As it stands, I'm early days. From what I've read, this is common at the 3 week mark when the food transitions happen. Hopefully though, and in a good proportion of cases, episodes become less frequent as the weight comes off and you learn what you can and can't do.

One ray of sunshine, is that last night I got 10 hours sleep and no reflux. So, what has this told me? a) I can't eat certain things for right now I have to go nil by mouth for 3 hours before bedtime c) I don't get reflux during the day - so being up and about helps move things along d) there is a correlation between not going to the toilet for a couple of days and an attack (so motility is a factor) and e) sleeping significantly elevated, certainly did the trick last night. Clearly, after 10 hours sleep! In fact, I feel marvelous!

I guess I'm going to be one of the people who has to pay particular attention to this aspect and hope, that in the next year and when my sleeve naturally stretches a bit - it gives me some digestive 'wiggle room'.

Fingers crossed until the next time!

Classic symptom of GERD. I have it, have had it for years and the only reason my surgeon is allowing me to continue on with having the sleeve is because it's been controlled by protonix twice daily for over six months.

Being propped when sleeping really does help, but I'm a tummy sleeper, so my daily ppi was doubled. I tried omeprezole but it didn't work for me.

Also, I wasn't to take any other acid reducer like tums or liquid mylanta, as my doctor said it makes my protonix less effective.

Good luck, I know how scary and painful it is.

April

My center said no over the counter meds without a call to them first. I know we aren't supposed to take Tums. Also, you may want to see if you could take the Ompremazole in a single 40mg. dose at night instead of 2-20mg. doses.

I always take mine around 11pm and never have a problem with it. Now, twice I forgot to take it, and I was miserable into the wee hours of the frickin night. (Last night being one if them -.-)

I hope you get it worked out, as it certainly isn't fun.

Sorta kinda on the same topic...my having the surgery is in jeopardy. I have Crohn's disease so the sleeve in my only option. When i had my upper GI it showed hiatal hernia and reflux (never had any symptoms). Now Oct 25th i am having an endoscopy. the findings of this will determine if my surgeon is comfortable or not doing the surgery. I cannot even put my mind in that place if the surgery cannot be done. I feel like I have worked so hard for this. I guess on the other hand, it is a good thing they are being very cautious. Has anyone else been in this situation?

Well, I'll see what I can do until I see the main man on Tuesday. Maybe he'll double the dose - maybe he'll issue me with something else?

I was permitted to take Gaviscon yesterday, due to the horrendous nature of what happened. However, I was told the same thing - no OTC because it reduces the efficacy.

Ho-hum.. Guess we all have to plug on through and wait to see what happens.. In the meantime, I have to say I'm now actually scared of eating. Wasn't, before the attack...

Yoghurt for Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Delightful!

Revs! Good news on the sleep! I'm glad you found a fix until this sorts itself out. Yes food choices, I'd keep it a bit bland for now. your stomach sounds like it's just not ready for much yet...

I raise my yogurty spoon to yours in a show of solidarity!

(Yes I'm eating yogurt)

Edited October 12, 201312 yr by laura-ven

Dr put me on Reglin and I've been on it all week. Has helped a lot. The lump in my throat is gone. Taking both omeprozole and ranitidine. Best wishes for you, Rev.

I had reflux before the surgery, right after the surgery it wasn't bad, but at about 3 months it came roaring back with a vengence. I've had the same episodes as you, I got acid in my lungs and was coughing up blood for 2 days. My doc increased my PPI to twice a day and had me raise the head of my bed by 4 inches. So far it seems to be working, I'll be very interested to hear if the vinegar thing works for you. However, even though the reflux is bad, I still would have gotten the sleeve. It works when nothing else did for losing weight.

Yep, I think tomatoes are off the menu.. As is hot chocolate, cream cheese, raw onions and certain carbs - which is dependent on the time of day. Weird.

Trial and error, decent drugs, nil by mouth for 3 hours before bedtime, lots of pillows and hopefully i'll be golden.

As this thing is evaluated by the Rome criteria, you have to have more than a few symptoms and regular 'episodes', for it to be classified as GERD. Thankfully (?!) I have only had a few night time episodes. Nothing during the daytime since the first week and that was the globus feeling in the throat.

Makes for interesting reading: http://www.romecriteria.org/assets/pdf/19_RomeIII_apA_885-898.pdf

Lets see if I can go a few days without incident! Fingers crossed! x

<holds up a pot of Total in salutation to LV> Cheers!

I am 14 days out and in the past week it is bad. I am taking what my doctor gave me but don't want to continue. Prior to surgey I rarely got it but when I did I would take a cap full of apple cider vinager. It always worked. It helps as an alkalizer. I plan to do this again. I was just was not sure if vinager would be too hard on the tummy so early on.

Madam, how are things? Keeping my fingers crossed that you are doing better!

Madam, just checking on you....are things getting better?

So' date=' this morning, at 05:00hrs, I awoke, choking on my own bile. I actually inhaled it. Cue 1.5 hours of rolling around on the bathroom floor, crying/panicking, desperately trying to cough up battery acid out of my lungs - gagging, burning, dry heaving. As it went into my lungs, I now have burning all up my esophagus, throat, vocal chords, sore gums/teeth and the pain radiates from the middle of my back. Not to mention the wrench of my stomach and incision sites. I contacted my bariatric providers and they are having me back in to see the surgeon on.. Tuesday. I was also reliably informed that if it went into my lungs, I would likely have to take a course of antibiotics... Now, after answering questions, i could understand it if I had eaten something which hadn't agreed with me. However, my attacks are not during the day/evening. They're in the middle of the night, where my PPI has obviously worn off and the valve just opens itself and lets all the bile escape into my throat and lungs. This, to me, indicates an over-production of bile and the valve malfunctioning. Anyone have any experience of this? What did you do? What did your med team do? Any advice or assistance would be very much appreciated x (One fairly miserable girl)[/quote']

The same thing was was happening to me before surgery. It was one of the reasons I decided to have the surgey. It was always in the middle of the night, waking me , choking on it. I would take Prevacid and it would help. After surgery (five months) I still take Prevacid every morning. If I forget I am miserable and can hardly eat all day. I hope you feel better soon.