Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Laparoscopic Anti Reflux Surgery

I am about to go in for a test to see if I am a candidate for this surgery.

Has anyone gone in for this surgery? I believe it's called a fundoplication. If you have I'd sure be interested in how you made out following the surgery. Did it fix the problem? Were there other complications? Thanks so much.

I'd be interested in how this works out. My wife has trouble with food getting stuck in her esophagus. She usually has to go in and have it "stretched" about once a year.

Can't comment on the surgery but took my Dad in for the scopic light test today. They were looking at both the possibilities of surgery and cancer. The test was a piece of cake. The result was no cancer, continue to adjust diet, higher dose of meds and drop a few pounds. He will not do the surgery, regardless. That's just him.

Again, the test was nothing. They did put him to sleep. He was in and out after about 20 minutes.

BTW he made the adjusted diet and med requirements a couple of weeks ago and got the basic problem under control, which I believe was GERD. It was really effecting his sleep.

Hope this helps.

Godspeed!

IF you can fix a problem without surgery, that's always the best option.

Abdominal surgeries seem to have a significantly higher rate of post surgical complications in my nursing experience.

If losing weight and changing other things would do the trick, surgery is an unnecessary risk.

I just got scoped last Friday. Hiatal hernia, gastritis, and a few polyps. He removed the polyps and sent them off to pathology - haven't heard on those yet.

My GERD is controlled by Prilosec, a PPI. The thought of them wrapping part of my fundus around my esophagus is not taken lightly. I'm going to pass, unless symptoms get worse or pre-Barretts. You can't "undo" the surgery if it doesn't work. Excess gas, belching and flatulence, or the possibility of the wrap being too high or slipping too low is too much risk for what I have now. YMMV.

edited to add:

They also gave me a list of foods to avoid. Citrus, tomato based products, peppers in their various forms, caffeine and alcohol, mint, chocolate, garlic and onions, spicy foods, fried and fatty foods, eat small meals throughout the day instead of large meals, and drink enough to pee pale.

I had it done several years ago. I have been on a daily regimen of the prescription strength "Purple Pill" but I still have flare ups at times, depending on what I am trying to eat. They put you to sleep, so You don't feel anything.

I read a lot of health forums due to having Lyme. Ive never read of anyone not having issues after the nissen surgery. So many patients complaining of gastric dumping and other major issues. Wish you the best. Hope it works for you.

Doc wanted to do the same surgery on me.My acid level was 5 times that of normal. There are too many negatives to that procedure.I declined. My Primary doctor advised against it and he suffers the same problems.Besides the problems listed above, they can't do a second surgery.They don't know until they open you up if they can go up under the ribs or have to go thru thru the ribs and it is not recomended for seniors. Success rates run about 75%, so it might not help your problem and the GERD might come back in two years or so.

I take a 40 mg Protonix in the AM and one in the PM. I take a Zantac 30 minutes before my evening meal. All generic.I also use a lot of Tums,but buy the generic at Costco.Two big bottles for $7 or so. Sleep on your left side and elevate your bed.

Give up, alcohol, caffein, a lot of spicy foods, chocolate, and add little bit of baking soda to any spaghetti sauce or similar sauce.

GERD also causes coughing and the urge to clear your throat all the time.Cheap cough syrup will help that.

I had mine done 6 years ago, to me it is the best thing I have ever done for myself. I really don't have to take anything anymore. You do have to cut back on caffien and booze but most people should anyway. One side effect is that it is harder to burp but the gas still needs to go somewhere so it finds another way out!My life is much improved because of the surgery.

A hunting partner went through something close to this. Lived with acid reflux stuff for years, and I guess there was lots erosion in the stomach/esophagus zone. Would rave about meals but hammer down antacids immediately after eating. Had the head end of his bed up on blocks so he was sleeping on an incline in an attempt to hold down the acids.

He lost a lot weight during the recovery phase and has never regained it. Can't belch, so there are no carbonated drinks or beer. He's gone to wine. Seems to pass more gas out the back end, but I think that's more from air swallowed while eating.

I was on the verge of getting surgery. My wife went out of town on a business trip for two weeks, so I didn't eat her home cooking. GERD went away within a couple of days... She's Chinese, so we had rice with most meals; we finally figured out I'm allergic to certain kinds of rice. I also found out I'm allergic to hops, an IPA will set off the GERD something fierce. Long story short, get other possibilities checked out before surgery, and if your current doctor doesn't think there are other possibilities then you need to find a different doctor.

I haven't but have given anesthesia for many of these procedures. The usual course of treatment is medication -- the antacids some have mentioned; if that stops the heartburn and acid reflux you are golden. But the payment for not treating or partially treating chronic heartburn, or in this case acid reflux into the esophagus over a long time is the possibility of esophageal cancer, a very bad actor.

The procedure, usually accompanying a hiatal hernia (part or all of the stomach had pushed through a weakness in the diaphragm and is now partially in the chest), is called a Nissan fundoplication.

This involves pulling the stomach or portion of it down to its normal position and wrapping the fundas of the stomach (main part) around he esophagus and immobilizing it (holding or plicating it there) with stitches. Of course it must not be too tight so that subsequently food can pass through. This is done laparoscopically or by inflating the abdomen with C02 (tenting it up) and doing the procedure via some instruments via 4 or 5 puncture wounds -- no big incision which greatly reduces recovery time.

This obviously requires a general anesthetic and a skilled surgeon over about an hour and a half time (depending on circumstances and the surgeon of course). On occasion they must be redone but the procedure can be a dramatic cure for the problem.

Cayenne pepper in capsule form after every meal has cured my acid reflux. I have been taking it for years. It sound counter productive I know as everyone says to stop eating spicy food. Lots of info on the .net check it out.
It has worked well for me.

https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2012/01/30/cayenne-pepper-cured-heartburn/

Nissen Fundoplasty should be a last choice option. Those don't always work out smoothly, aren't strangers to complications.

Wt. loss, diet, acid blockers, elevated bed, Gaviscon, etc. are the best options.

If one had erosive esophagitis, like Barrett's ulcers and was unable to control all that with conventional means, then maybe.

At that point, I'd go to a major center that did a lot of them, find a super specialist who was a real expert. Find the surgeon your surgeon would use if he needed that proceedure. You basically have one bite at the apple...

Sorta like finding a Camp Perry champ to take your shot...

DF

I had the surgery 20 years ago when it was still fairly new. No issues with the surgery...quick recovery and no issues since.

That seems the best way to move forward. Identify what really sets it off and just eliminate it. For my Dad it was brocoli.

And of course now they continue to keep a log and eliminate the certain foods that intensify the GERD while still being able to enjoy a less invasive glass of wine or chocolate.

I'll have to tell them about the rice. Thanks!

I laid off sweets

I had that done once when I was in my mid 20's. I never realized what was going on as a younger man - never knew I had acid reflux but my esophagus was so tight, I'd choke easily on food. Tuna fish sandwiches were the worst - they'd just turn into concrete. Had to have a piece of steak fished out of my throat after spending the night in the E.R. trying to throw it up or swallow it.

Had the stretch procedure and it didn't really help - again - no one really talked to me about diet or whatever. Then a few years later I'm traveling on the road and I eat an apple slice - felt like it went down sideways and I'm not sure what it did but I was in horrible pain every time I swallowed. Couldn't eat and didn't want to drink water. This went on for about 6 days where I was forcing myself to drink water just to stay hydrated.

But after the pain stopped and whatever happened healed, I could swallow without issue.

fast forward to 5 years ago, I had been living on tums for the past decade. I had to stop eating pizza, spaghetti and bar-b-q.

The doctor put me on Prilosec and that was a blessing. I could eat anything I wanted. Then I read about the side effects of daily usage of prilosec - that it was never intended to be a daily medicine for most people so I stopped and just went back to be careful what I ate.

Doc had me scoped and read me the riot act. He was concerned I was pre-Barretts as I had lesions on the throat, had me start back up with an increased dosage and go back in 3 months.

Just had the second scope about 3 weeks ago and thankfully everything has healed, but I've altered my diet to where I don't eat acidic inducing foods and I'm back to taking the prilosec every day - and I'll just hope for the best down the road.

Never discussed surgery for me. I've lost some weight recently and that has seemed to help as well.

I've just accepted that at this point in my life whatever has a hole in it, some doctor is going to put a camera in it every 2-5 years.

Dirtfarmer is right, surgery in this case (and many others) is the last option on the list of therapies to try. On the continuum of such things, the anesthesia for this procedure is not a minor one due to requirements of the surgery. And like in every walk-of-life, surgeons vary greatly in skill and the speed with which they are able to complete a procedure. I have also seen "wraps" done too tightly initially and require a trip back to the OR after a time. It's intuitive but you do want a guy who has done hundreds of these procedures, not a couple per year.

It's not risk-free anesthesia-wise or surgery-wise but if you have Barrett's esophagus after trying all and some more that DF put forth this is the procedure for you. I worked for years with two excellent general surgeons in a small regional center and they had excellent results. I personally know a man whose life was changed positively and dramatically by this procedure.

The patient is the consumer and if the procedure is needed asking questions will lead you to an excellent surgeon who can give you the care you need.