Help! Has anyone here had a hiatal hernia

Hi all - I had my sleeve over 4 years ago and have developed a hiatal hernia. It is very painful for me to inhale so exercise -- even as simple as walking around the store -- is miserable. 

This was dx'd last night at the ER and my PCP called this AM. I'm going to see her on Wednesday.

My question for you all is should I call my surgeon? Could the hernia be somehow related to my sleeve? I haven't seen her in a couple of years'

I've gained a lot of weight back due to meds and comfort eating (dad died).

I had a hiatal hernia before I had my sleeve done and I had it repaired at the same time as my sleeve surgery.  You may or may not need surgery.. it depends on how bad it is.  My hernia was caused by awful acid reflux so yours could be as well.  Heartburn is a common side effect from the sleeve...you should talk to your doctor about using something such as Prilosec to help if you do in fact have acid.

I'm sorry for your loss.  :-(

Thanks for your response. I have noticed that over the past 2 months or so I've been downing Tums like candy. I'm really looking forward to visit my surgeon just to get her take on this. I'm also going to visit another surgeon just because he's so well-known for revisions.

Take care!

I did, and short answer, is yes, call your surgeon. It probably needs to be fixed surgically and because you don't have much stomach left, they won't be able to fix it the traditional way. No, it wasn't caused by the sleeve. PM me, and I'll give you all the details!

Lizanne

Hi Lizanne -- Thanks again for sharing your story. Wow. I'm definitely going to see 2 surgeons. My preference would be to add a DS to my sleeve, but I might actually do better with a RNY. That one seems harder to cheat. At the time I was making my choice years ago, that main offerings were the band and RNY. Then as I was closing in on choosing the band (yuck -- can't believe I ever thought that would be OK with me!) the VSG came to town (which in my case is Boston).

Other than this most recent development I've been pondering how it could be that I could have allowed myself this regain! I would *never* have thought that was an option. But it happened very slowly -- then all at once. 

Let's keep in touch... be well, Lucy

Do NOT beat yourself up--I think we all struggle. Me too. It gets harder and harder, I find, and I've been struggling with some yo yo ing  too. Let me know what the surgeons say and what you decide to do!

LIzanne