Advice Needed: Reflux After Sleeve

[Koala2024 0]

I had the sleeve done in August 2023 and have lost 75% of the excess weight. Approximately 2 weeks after surgery, I developed reflux. I did not have reflux prior to the surgery. I do not feel burning in the chest, but I do have a sore throat and saliva in the back of my throat most of the time.

I have been on various combinations and dosages (taking them once a day and twice a day) of Prilosec, Nexium, Protonix, and Pepcid, but nothing seems to help.

I have had two endoscopies:

• November 2023 - which was performed by a GI doctor that found gastritis and a small hiatal hernia.

• February 2024 - which was performed by my sleeve surgeon that found gastritis and esophagitis.

I was told that the hiatal hernia was fixed during the sleeve surgery in August 2023, so I am not sure why it came back or why it was seen in November 2023, but not in February 2024.

I was also told by my sleeve surgeon following the February 2024 endoscopy that I have a non-obstruction rotation.

My sleeve surgeon advised that I could have another endoscopy where they blow air in the sleeve and that it "may" help with the reflux or I will need to do the gastric bypass revision.

I have been living with this sore throat for 8 months now and I feel I have tried everything. I don't want to have a sore throat for the rest of my life, but I am reluctant to do the revision.

Questions:

• Has anyone heard of this "blow air in the sleeve"? If so, does it help?

• Is the revision a guaranteed cure?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[summerseeker 1,853]

Hello and welcome in the forum.

Yes its awful. I got this after the sleeve too. After 2 years I have found foods and drinks that trigger it for me. Wine, orange juice, spicy food etc. My issues are mainly in the night. I don't know if my symptoms are better than before or I just manage them more efficiently. I wish I had zero problems and could eat curries again

You might already be doing these things but I will mention them just in case.....

Use a wedge pillow under your normal pillow

Sleepy on my left side is better than the right ?

Don't eat 3 hours before bed and no fruit after 6pm

I take Lansoprazole twice a day, religiously at 4pm, 2 hours before my evening meal and at Midnight, the time I go to bed. These times work ok for me. I have the liquid and tablet form of Gaviscon, yuck. I swig it in bed if I have it and have woken with a half sucked tablet stuck to the top of my mouth.

Never heard of blowing air in a stomach ? Would it not just stretch a stomach ?

I have read of one person on here who had the revision and still had issues. Lots have been cured

[Spinoza 1,190]

Oh this is what I dreaded when choosing between sleeve and bypass OP. I had reflux for years but it always resolved when I lost significant amounts of weight. And returned when I regained. I gambled on my reflux being pressure related, had the sleeve, and I won the gamble. Other than spicy foods or too great a volume of food I don't experience reflux now. I totally accept (and did at the time) that it could have gone the other way.

I haven't heard of the procedure you describe as fixing reflux or a hiatus hernia. Maybe the more experienced members here will have?

I suspect that you're heading towards a revision. Your symptoms sound awful and very persistent, and you seem to have been prescribed everything to control them. Bad bad luck.

[catwoman7 10,870]

revisions do work the vast majority of the time. But not all the time - we see people on here once in a while who had one, but it didn't work for them. But most of the time, yes, it works.

[SleeveToBypass2023 1,837]

I never had gerd or reflux until I got my sleeve. Then the gerd was so incredibly bad I ended up with gastritis and esophagitis. I had to take Nexium 80mg 2x per day plus Prevacid daily as needed (needed daily). The PPI was in such high doses so often that I developed an incredibly large amount of polyps all through my stomach. It took 4 endoscopies to get rid of all of them. I had a revision to bypass and haven't had a single issue since.