Acid Reflux

[Dcsjoc 35]

So now that I’m 3 weeks post op, the last 3 nights barely any sleep because of acid reflux? I already take a 40mg acid reducer every morning. What is anybody doing if anything about the acid reflux.

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 804]

I got lap band in 2013, and had it removed in 2021 due to developing horrible reflux. I'm in the process of revising to gastric bypass now. Lap band and sleeve are both high pressure systems that are known to cause reflux for a good amount of people. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of this when I was banded.

Are you taking any PPI's to reduce stomach acid? That's fairly common after these procedures. I'd make contact with your surgeon to make them aware of what's happening.

[learn2cook 580]

I agree with the above post. I slept sitting up for years, and continued after surgery for a couple of months. Did you have bypass?

[liveaboard15 1,293]

Question for you acid reflux people. What does acid reflux feel like? Is it a actual burning sensation in your chest? or is it more like just general pain in your center of chest?

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 804]

10 minutes ago, liveaboard15 said:

Question for you acid reflux people. What does acid reflux feel like? Is it a actual burning sensation in your chest? or is it more like just general pain in your center of chest?

It's different than heartburn. It's the acid that causes heartburn, except it flows back up into your esophagus. It happened to me day and night. Nighttime was the worst. Imagine laying in bed sleeping and suddenly feel like you're choking in your sleep, yeah that's reflux. Sometimes it comes up into your nose too. At least it did for me. Then I started sleeping in a recliner. It didn't stop the reflux, it just prevented being woken suddenly to choking on stomach acid. Lap band and sleeve seem to alter the function of the spinchter that closes off the stomach from the esophagus.

So now that my lap band has been removed, it seems I have traded the reflux for constant heartburn. Now if I eat something spicy, my esophagus feels the way your skin would feel if you had a burn that you put hot Water on. My esophagus actually feels scalded. I'm thinking about this now as I'm about to have some buffalo wings before the superbowl, lol.

It's a miserable existance.

[catwoman7 11,215]

8 minutes ago, WhispersOfAngel said:

It's different than heartburn. It's the acid that causes heartburn, except it flows back up into your esophagus. It happened to me day and night. Nighttime was the worst. Imagine laying in bed sleeping and suddenly feel like you're choking in your sleep, yeah that's reflux. Sometimes it comes up into your nose too. At least it did for me. Then I started sleeping in a recliner. It didn't stop the reflux, it just prevented being woken suddenly to choking on stomach acid. Lap band and sleeve seem to alter the function of the spinchter that closes off the stomach from the esophagus.

So now that my lap band has been removed, it seems I have traded the reflux for constant heartburn. Now if I eat something spicy, my esophagus feels the way your skin would feel if you had a burn that you put hot Water on. My esophagus actually feels scalded. I'm thinking about this now as I'm about to have some buffalo wings before the superbowl, lol.

It's a miserable existance.

sorry to hear you're still having issues with that - bypass usually improves if not outright cures that (both reflux AND heartburn). I'm sorry it didn't work for you

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 804]

1 minute ago, catwoman7 said:

sorry to hear you're still having issues with that - bypass usually improves if not outright cures that (both reflux AND heartburn). I'm sorry it didn't work for you

Oh I haven't had the bypass yet, that's what I'm in the process of doing. Revising from lap band (it's removed) and now hopefully I will have the bypass in the next couple of months. We're hoping that it cures the acid issues. I'm hopeful! And thank you, catwoman!

[catwoman7 11,215]

4 minutes ago, WhispersOfAngel said:

Oh I haven't had the bypass yet, that's what I'm in the process of doing. Revising from lap band (it's removed) and now hopefully I will have the bypass in the next couple of months. We're hoping that it cures the acid issues. I'm hopeful! And thank you, catwoman!

that's the reason I went with bypass. I had GERD before surgery, and there's no way I wanted to risk it getting worse (I know it doesn't get worse for all sleevers, but it's common enough with sleeve that I wasn't willing to take the risk)

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 804]

1 minute ago, catwoman7 said:

that's the reason I went with bypass. I had GERD before surgery, and there's no way I wanted to risk it getting worse (I know it doesn't get worse for all sleevers, but it's common enough with sleeve that I wasn't willing to take the risk)

That's smart. I wish I had known about this possibility before chosing the lap band, because I wouldn't have chose it. I would've went with gastric bypass. It would've saved a lot of misery.

[catwoman7 11,215]

2 minutes ago, WhispersOfAngel said:

That's smart. I wish I had known about this possibility before chosing the lap band, because I wouldn't have chose it. I would've went with gastric bypass. It would've saved a lot of misery.

when I had my surgery (in 2015), my only choices were sleeve and bypass - so lap band wasn't an option. I'm grateful for that now!! (I think it was around the time when I had mine that sleeve started to replace lap band as the non-bypass alternative...)

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 804]

3 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

when I had my surgery (in 2015), my only choices were sleeve and bypass - so lap band wasn't an option. I'm grateful for that now!! (I think it was around the time when I had mine that sleeve started to replace lap band as the non-bypass alternative...)

I'm grateful for that it wasn't an option for you! Lap band was an epic failure.

[Dcsjoc 35]

1 hour ago, learn2cook said:

I agree with the above post. I slept sitting up for years, and continued after surgery for a couple of months. Did you have bypass?

I had the sleeve. And it’s different from the acid reflux I had before surgery. This my mouth waters and I keep swolowing which makes it worse. They fixed a hiatal hernia so the acid doesn’t make it all the way up. I am on an acid reducer which I take in the morning.

[SleeverSk 635]

4 hours ago, Dcsjoc said:

So now that I’m 3 weeks post op, the last 3 nights barely any sleep because of acid reflux? I already take a 40mg acid reducer every morning. What is anybody doing if anything about the acid reflux.

You could try splitting your meds into 20mg morning and 20 mg night. I found the first 6 to 8 weeks the worst for reflux. After that things settled down. Or another option nexium in the morning and somax at night

[Arabesque 7,333]

4 hours ago, liveaboard15 said:

Question for you acid reflux people. What does acid reflux feel like? Is it a actual burning sensation in your chest? or is it more like just general pain in your center of chest?

There’s different degrees but generally it’s more than heartburn. It’s usually combinations of a bad taste in the mouth (sour), a burning low in the throat or even a regurgitation (often at night as the valve at the top of your stomach opens allowing food to rise up). Some experience a feeling like a bit of food caught in the back of your throat, a cough or a runny nose. I also would get terrible hiccups.

It can be managed a lot through food choices. No carbonation, no spicy food, no rich, creamy or fatty food, reduce caffeine intake. Lifestyle changes include stop smoking, lose weight,. avoid tight fitting clothes, don’t lie down after eating, … Of course you’re already doing a lot of this since your surgery.

Often over the counter heartburn meds (Tums, Quick Eze, Gaviscon) aren’t enough & you will need a script for a PPI.

Speak with your doctor. There are tests to see what’s happening. But yes it is very common to experience reflux temporarily after surgery though a few sleeve patients develop it permanently.

[liveaboard15 1,293]

16 minutes ago, Arabesque said:

There’s different degrees but generally it’s more than heartburn. It’s usually combinations of a bad taste in the mouth (sour), a burning low in the throat or even a regurgitation (often at night as the valve at the top of your stomach opens allowing food to rise up). Some experience a feeling like a bit of food caught in the back of your throat, a cough or a runny nose. I also would get terrible hiccups.

It can be managed a lot through food choices. No carbonation, no spicy food, no rich, creamy or fatty food, reduce caffeine intake. Lifestyle changes include stop smoking, lose weight,. avoid tight fitting clothes, don’t lie down after eating, … Of course you’re already doing a lot of this since your surgery.

Often over the counter heartburn meds (Tums, Quick Eze, Gaviscon) aren’t enough & you will need a script for a PPI.

Speak with your doctor. There are tests to see what’s happening. But yes it is very common to experience reflux temporarily after surgery though a few sleeve patients develop it permanently.

Interesting. So i have had strong chest pains since March of last year. Had Echocardiogram, stress test, EKG, MRI of the chest. Nothing major out of that other than unrelated stuff they chocked it up to GERD. But i dont feel any burning and no issues with whatever i eat.