Hiatal hernia Repair & Gastric Sleeve?

[MamaAsh32 1]

Hi there! My Surgeon recommended the bypass due to my hiatal hernia. I stayed strong with the sleeve... however, he really has me 2nd guessing my gut feeling.

Have any of you had hiatal hernia repair with the sleeve? If so, could you please share your experience with me as well as your recovery with hernia repair. And lastly, if your off of acid reflux medication. I've been on 2 medications for 19 years.... I'm over it.. but want to make sure I'm choosing the correct wls as well. Thx for any input you can share! [emoji4]

[clc9 644]

I had the sleeve with hiatal hernia repair, but I only very occasionally had acid reflux (once every few months). Since I don't know what the sleeve without the repair feels like, I can only say my recovery was easy. I never took pain relievers at home. It sounds like your surgeon is concerned with the GERD with the sleeve rather than the hernia. And he is right to be concerned. It can be made worse with the sleeve. Even many who never had GERD develop it after surgery. Good luck!

[erica_ozzy73 241]

I had a Hiatus hernia repair with the sleeve and minimizer ring fitted also. I had no clue I even had a hh until post op .
Have had no issues really except if I forget to take my tablets for acids I get reflux which I never had before the sleeve but that could also be because my stomach is producing too much acid stilll due to the brain taking its sweet time telling my stomach it doesn't been to produce so much
But the hiatus repair seems to be ok

[kyboo1972 90]

I had both as well. Never had an issue with reflux before surgery..didnt even know I had a hiatal hernia until I had my endoscopy before surgery..But since surgery I have woken up several nights with bad reflux....My doctor won't put me on an acid reducer....He said to eat earlier and monitor the last meal closely...And not eat as much. He said the only thing he would do if it didn't work was to do a bypass over my sleeved stomach....I don't like that sound so I'm just doing what he says. I'm assuming I'm having so much issue now because my stomach space is smaller so the acid it's still producing is too much....Hoping it changes as the time goes on.

[erica_ozzy73 241]

I had both as well. Never had an issue with reflux before surgery..didnt even know I had a hiatal hernia until I had my endoscopy before surgery..But since surgery I have woken up several nights with bad reflux....My doctor won't put me on an acid reducer....He said to eat earlier and monitor the last meal closely...And not eat as much. He said the only thing he would do if it didn't work was to do a bypass over my sleeved stomach....I don't like that sound so I'm just doing what he says. I'm assuming I'm having so much issue now because my stomach space is smaller so the acid it's still producing is too much....Hoping it changes as the time goes on.

I have taken over the counter meds but they only go for two weeks.
I hate as well I never had problems before and now I do. Eat early or late doesn't make any difference to mine

[vsg_queendiet 73]

I had both done. I got acid reflux bad after surgery. It's because your body hasn't gotten used to your smaller stomach so it's still producing the same amount of acid to break down your food. So your not eating so all the acid come up. But good new is by 4 months post op all my acid went away.

Have they did the taste to check your acid reflux?


HW: 420 (January 2016)
CW: 273 (March 2017)

Instagram: vsg_queendiet

[linah 92]

Had gastric sleeve and hiatal hernia repair at the same time. The Dr also tried to convince me to do a bypass instead but I did not want to and decided to take a chance on the sleeve. I was on acid reflux medication for the first 2 months. Never had any acidity issues during that period, been off the meds for 4 months now and no issues. Took a heartburn tablet once after a very spicy dinner and that was it. I'm even able to have pickles and garlic sauce which I hadn't been able to have in years due the the horrible heartburn that would result. Very happy with everything so far.

[clc9 644]

I'm surprised your doctor doesn't want to put you on an acid reducer. Mine does it for the first 90 days for everyone to help protect the new stomach from too much acid during the healing phase. I would think experiencing acid reflux would make a ppi a necessity and an easy decision...

[MamaAsh32 1]

8 hours ago, clc9 said:

I'm surprised your doctor doesn't want to put you on an acid reducer. Mine does it for the first 90 days for everyone to help protect the new stomach from too much acid during the healing phase. I would think experiencing acid reflux would make a ppi a necessity and an easy decision...

I've been on two medication (PPI) for 19 years. I developed my HH while pregnant with my first child. And I get an upper and lower GI done once a year due to the damage from my HH. Each time I have polyps that need to be tested, etc. The surgery to have my HH was suggested and when I told my PCP, he's the one who suggested having WLS at the same time. But bc the stomach is reduced with the sleeve the acid is pushed back up more often... so for me I'm not really sure how it will all work out... I can't imagine the reflux pain being worse but I was really hoping to fix that all together.... since my objective is to heal my esophagus and get off the medications bc they are not good long term either. So to answer your concern, my doc says I will remain on my medication after surgery and take me off one at a time, see how I do and then take me off the other. Fingers crossed... I'll be off them for good! 😉

[Shell ???? 224]

I've been on two medication (PPI) for 19 years. I developed my HH while pregnant with my first child. And I get an upper and lower GI done once a year due to the damage from my HH. Each time I have polyps that need to be tested, etc. The surgery to have my HH was suggested and when I told my PCP, he's the one who suggested having WLS at the same time. But bc the stomach is reduced with the sleeve the acid is pushed back up more often... so for me I'm not really sure how it will all work out... I can't imagine the reflux pain being worse but I was really hoping to fix that all together.... since my objective is to heal my esophagus and get off the medications bc they are not good long term either. So to answer your concern, my doc says I will remain on my medication after surgery and take me off one at a time, see how I do and then take me off the other. Fingers crossed... I'll be off them for good! [emoji6]

I believe if you suffer from acid reflux it can be made worse with the sleeve and for those patients often bypass is recommended I've never ever had reflux acid issues but after my sleeve I had it for about 3/5 months and had to go on medication I'm now off it and back to normal luckily as it was awful
Good luck

[nocturnalgemi 66]

I'm pre-op with a similar issue: hiatal hernia and initially wanted the sleeve. I say initially because I've changed my mind and have decided to have the bypass. At first, I didn't want to reduce my stomach by that much. But then I read a lot of post-op sleeves have had revision surgery to bypass because their GERD became worse after a few years. My surgeon strongly recommended bypass and explained why it's better for patients with hiatal hernia. I changed my mind at the last minute....right after I was approved. Ultimately, I changed it for two reasons: 1) I don't want to have another surgery to revise anything. This is one and done for me. I don't want to risk my mild GERD getting worse. I can't imagine living life that way; and 2) even though I want this to be one and done, if for some medically necessary reason it needs to be reversed, it can be. I didn't realize that but it's true. With the sleeve, most of your stomach is permanently gone.

So that's my decision about why I changed my mind from sleeve to bypass. I hope that helps but do what's best for you!

[nocturnalgemi 66]

I forgot one more reason why I changed my mind: my surgeon says hiatal hernia can recur after VSG. I asked about just doing a surgery after VSG to fix the hernia. He says hiatal hernia is a much more serious (I guess as in higher risk) surgery than bariatric. So there was that.

[Clarevoyant 347]

I had sleeve and HH repair. I also did not know I had it and had never had acid reflux in my life. I was on PPI for a while (month or so) after surgery and now 8 months out still have never had symptoms. Part of me thinks he made it up to mill insurance kidding

[Sleeveforme2017 144]

I had hiatal hernia surgery with my sleeve. I had horrible reflux prior to surgery but no problem with it since. I am 6 wks post op. My MD has me taking Prilosec for six months.