Looking for Personal Experiences with VSG & Gerd

I know that if you have gerd that you probably want to steer away from VSG because it more than likely will make it worse. I wonder, though, if one's gerd is well controlled with a PPI pre-surgery would it continue to be controlled with a PPI post-surgery? I really do not want to have RNY, my husband had it so I understand it, but VSG is about the biggest change I am willing to make. I should also add that I do not yet know the cause of my gerd, my EGD was cancelled and rescheduled for mid-March pushing my surgery date out even further.

I'm hoping for some replies from those with experience on the subject.

Thank you!

I was one of the fortunate few that had no idea what gerd or even heartburn was before my surgery. Never experienced either.

Since then, I definitely get it if I do something wrong. One bite to many, eat too fast, drink too soon after meals, stuff like that.

Spicy foods dont seem to bother me, just have to watch how much and how fast I eat.

The not drinking with meals thing really is key for me. At least 15 or 20 min and I save myself alot of grief.

Still learning after 14 months, and nearly half of my body weight gone. Nobody said it would be easy.

Is it worth it? Oh yea.

I may buy stock in the TUMS company. lol

Pantoprizal seems to help alot too. But modification of bad habits is the key, at least for me.

Good luck with your journey.

I LOVE MY SLEEVE!

Rod

I've seen enough people with VSG end up with crippling gerd, and end up revising to RNY anyway. There was no chance I was going to do two surgeries, so I went with RNY first. And I wasn't interested in taking meds for life when I didn't need to.

There are some with gerd that have hernias repaired and can control gerd after with PPIs. There are also others that have no gerd before VSG, and get hit hard after. 

It was really a no-brainer for me.

I agree with Grim's astute stance here. In my case I was willing to gamble that the Vsg would not make it worse, and was open to a revision if it came to that. (See below for my post on my experience.)

I had acid reflux before the surgery which my doctors thought was caused by a hiatal hernia. They repaired it during my surgery. I continue to take a PPI every day, and until recently had no signs of gerd. However, in the last few weeks, I have had some symptoms which I know are stress related. This is now on my watch list to be discussed with my doctor.

I was afraid to have the VSG for the same reason.  I have had GERD for years and have been on multiple medications.  I had my VSG SX 12/21/15 and have not been on my PPI since the surgery.  I have had very little issues related to GERD.  I am surprised by this and know that it may change.  Today I took my Omeprazole and all other meds in an effort to get back to normal with my meds - but hope that I will not need it long term.  I thought that I had a hernia that was making things worse but they said that I did not have one that was significant enough to do anything about during surgery.  I hope for the best for myself as I went into this knowing that it may be an ongoing issue. Good luck to you.

I had severe acid reflux pre surgery and had a hiadial hernial fixed during surgery. I take 20 mg omeprozole each morning and have not had a single episode in 3 months. 

I've been taking omeprazole since 1998 for GERD. My surgeon determined, after an upper endoscopy, that the GERD was caused by a large hiatal hernia, which he repaired when he did my band-to-sleeve revision. At about 5 months post-op, he cut my omeprazole from 40mg daily to 20mg. No problems at all. In October, he said I could go off it altogether. I did, but had a bit of reflux, so I went back on it. I'm going to wait until I've taken a few more pounds off before I try going off it again.

My experience seems to be atypical of what happens to many VSG patients, who either develop GERD or whose GERD worsens after surgery. But I'm throwing it out there as a possibility. I trusted my surgeon to make the right decision about VSG and my GERD, and he did. This is something you and your surgeon need to discusss. VSG doesn't automatically mean you're doomed to worsening GERD post-op.

psychoticparrot

I don't ever recall GERD pre-op, but post-op, boy howdy!  It was awful.  I've been watching what I eat carefully and it's gotten much better in the past month.  I've found staying low carb causes it to be much better.  

I had GERD pre-op and took Omeprazole. My surgeon found a small hernia at the time of surgery and fixed it. I stayed on Omeprazole for about a month post-op and then was taken off it. I have had no symptoms.

A few weeks ago I saw my surgeon again (9 mo. check-up) and we discussed scheduling a repeat EGD. He looked at my pathology report for the EGD prior to surgery and said I had Metaplasia - unfortunately I think this was the first time he as looked at the pathology report because he told me at the time that I only had esophagitis. He put me back on Omeprazole and I will have repeat EGD in February. Metaplasia is the first change of cells from normal that can become Dysplasia (low and then high grade) and then cancer.

Paula