Do you reflux?

[Kristina J. 581]

I didn't have reflux with my band' date=' was sleeved 4 months ago, and have horrible reflux now. Heart attack feeling and acid off and on all day (don't have it worse at night, so that's odd). I'm scared of esophageal cancer and things....and i take both prilosec and zantac and still have breakthrough...I don't know if i would do this again, knowing how bad i'm affected by the reflux. I hope there is something that can help me more :-(. Other than that, love the sleeve.[/quote']

First, I just wanted to tell you that there area ton of things that can help you more than prilosec!! There are some really good PPI prescriptions that are really helpful. Protonix has been a huge help for me!!! Don't settle for Prilosec if its making you miserable! There are such better options out there!!!

I still have my band and have awful reflux. I take my protonix everyday to help control it but since my pouch has dilated my reflux has gotten even worse. I can not wait to get this devil contraption out of me! It's been 10 years now!

I had no reflux pre-band, and have had my ups and downs with it over my banded years. And as much as I hate reflux, if you work with your doctor, you can find a PPI that works for you. I would rather do that and be sleeved than opt for the bypass after seeing what it did to my father. He didn't have reflux, but he had a lot of complications until his pouch stretched out and he gained his weight back

[Kmasden 14]

Thanks for the response, i will likely see a GI next month if i can get the referral. I'll settle for a drug that will help, but really wish i could get to the root of the problem and not worry about long term drug side effects either. I did start having reflux before i had the band removed and i know my esophagus is really dilated, so maybe there is hope for healing. Really do love eating smaller amounts wirhout hunger and think the sleeve is a great choice for those needing wls. The heart burn side effect for vsg is low overall, i just got lucky (not!) and not even sure i can blame the sleeve really!

[TheGamer 406]

I did have reflux issues following surgery, mostly due to a stricture. It was pretty bad, with bouts of inhaling stomach acid on occasion. Recently, though, it's been better and I haven't been using a PPI at all, though I'll go back to using one if I have a flare up. I've been very careful about not eating an hour or so before bed, sleeping slightly elevated helps, too. Also, lots of Fluid helps dilute the stomach acid.

[JuliannaJ 83]

I did have reflux issues following surgery, mostly due to a stricture. It was pretty bad, with bouts of inhaling stomach acid on occasion. Recently, though, it's been better and I haven't been using a PPI at all, though I'll go back to using one if I have a flare up. I've been very careful about not eating an hour or so before bed, sleeping slightly elevated helps, too. Also, lots of Fluid helps dilute the stomach acid.

Just be careful, before I even had surgery I had "silent reflux" that did a lot of damage without any symptoms until it eroded and caused strictures and I needed surgical intervention to fix it...so I am permanently on reflux meds with or without symptoms. The draw back to this is when I had my EGD prior to surgery they found polyps and the culprit is the meds.