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Hi.. I just celebrated my one year and ever since my last fill in December - I have been dealing with horrible reflux at night and sometimes during the day. I am not tight with my fill - I am still able to eat. I stop eating around 5pm otherwise I will have a horrible night.

I constantly pop zantac and tums. I have an appt with my surgeon next week and I am afraid that he will tell me something is up. He corrected my hiatal hernia during my surgery. I had my esophgram done last week and the tech said that my hernia returned..

Has anyone experienced this? Do I have anything to worry about???

Thanks

You may or may not have anything to worry about, but you should get it checked out and treated. Over time reflux itself can damage your esophagus.

It may be band-related or it may not. But you owe it to your health to find out what the problem is and act to make it better. Good luck!!

You might want to ask about a proton pump inhibitor. Those are more effective than tums and zantac usually. If it is a hernia then that could be fixed, I would imagine.

I had read before I my initial consultation that in rare cases the band can make reflux worse. So I asked my surgeon about it since I have bad GERD. He said that if it did make mine worse I could try something called the stretta procedure in the future. Its supposed to be pretty good actually, the stretta procedure. With a band they can't do a fundoplasty.

I swear by Prilosec.. it's not instant (takes me 6 hours-ish to go into effect if I missed a day but the box says 24 hours). I take it once a day. I have chronic heartburn (pre-op) but they told me not to take them (post-op) until I'm 2 weeks out. I have not had a problem for the first time since I was a kid with heartburn since the operation, but I worry that I am having heartburn, it's just not making its way up.

But for treatment, I've been on heartburn meds since I was 10. Tums/Rolaids only worked for 30 minutes, zantac didn't help me at all (on vacation if I forgot enough prilosec, I would try zantac since it's in most stores much to my dismay).

If your doctor said it's not due to some underlying problem and it's just heartburn, do try Prilosec OTC. I swear by it. I lived on it for years, one a day! I NEVER got heartburn, and I literally would have it 24 hours a day otherwise.

I had to take nexium daily before surgery. Since, I only have to take it every 2-3 days to control the reflux.

Reflux that starts or becomes worse after LB surgery, or following a fill, is a sign of swelling or a too-tight band. Bear in mind that "too tight" in this instance has nothing to do with what you can eat, but simply means it is too tight for your GI health.

Nighttime reflux often leads to aspiration - not fun and potentially dangerous. Also various esophageal problems, ranging from esophagitis to Barrett's Esophagus (a precursor of esophageal cancer).

Please see your band doctor ASAP.

I have suffered with nightime reflux a year out ,like you I could eat fine but the esophagus muscles were not pushing the food down with much force and this was causing bad reflux at nite. I had to have complete unfill for about 4 months to get muscles to work again correctly with a smaller fill.I think you need to consider a unfill to let esophagus rest. This can help you keep the band . Good Luck Becky

Hi E-Pie,

My band sister from Nov 05 recently suffered a bit like you describe. Unfortunately she just returned from Mexico and found out she had a hernia (i think hiatial) and that led to her having the band removed. Now, I'm still not sure (she is recovering) if she HAD to have the band out or it was a choice as she has had other health problems - cancer in remission now - and wanted to eat a little better (more fruit and veges) but she is way past goal weight and I think would have kept it if it was a choice.

Sorry to be vague about the band status but thought you might want to check about the hernia -

Whatever it turns out to be i hope you have some relief and peace soon -i'm sure that is very uncomfortable and a bit scary.