Has anyone had GERD early post-op that resolved?

I have had GERD since about 3.5 weeks post-op; I am now 7 wks. I had been on Prilosec since surgery, have also tried Aciphex and as of today was switched to Dexilent. I have reflux almost every day. It doesn't hurt, but it makes me feel like I can't take in more fluids or food. I often feel like I'm not getting enough fluid, even though my urine isn't dark or anything. I am usually able to get in at least 40 oz., but I have kidney stones and would like to get in significantly more.

They did an upper GI last week and I definitely have reflux. I had it only very occasionally (like 1-2 times per year) prior to VSG.

The nurses at my bariatric practice have said that they have seen cases like mine, where people have reflux at this stage post-op, that do get better. As this goes on, I'm not sure if I really believe that.

So is there anyone out there who had GERD that did resolve by itself?

I never had reflux before surgery and woke up from surgery with intense GERD. Some months I barely feel it and some months I have to take PPIs consistently or I can feel my esophagus getting inflamed and I wake up choking on acid. Then I try to slowly wean off of PPIs and sometimes it works for a while. My surgeon told me that sometimes at 3+ years out the GERD gets spontaneously better but I, like you, am very skeptical of that. I would also love to hear some personal anecdotes of that actually happening.

The thing is, even when I don't feel GERD, I am always worried about silent reflux damaging my esophagus. Even when the feeling of acid reflux is dulled by the PPI, I worry that the damage to my esophagus continues. Even if I someday felt that the GERD had resolved, I would want access to regular endoscopies to be sure that I wasn't being effected by silent reflux.

The "good" news is that so far there have only been 3 cases of esophageal cancer after VSG described in medical literature.

Thanks for your reply. Sorry you are going through that. I can attest it's not fun. I keep hoping that things will improve.

It is probably not a bad idea to continue to consider oneself "at risk" and take appropriate action like periodic screening. We routinely get mammograms/prostate exams, bone density scans, colonoscopies, etc. as we reach certain "at risk" ages, so it would not be inappropriate to do a periodic EGD - this is a routine screen in Japan and Korea owing to their relatively high rates of gastric cancer. Though it is not yet accepted in the medical field (and particularly insurance side of things) I would consider that most any bariatric history would be adequate reason to do such screenings - marginal ulcers and their cancer potential is as a big a thing with the RNY as acid reflux is with the VSG.

3 cases of E cancer sited for the VSG isn't bad, though a relatively short history for the VSG, but compares the couple of similar cases associated with the RNY (quite a few bypass folks on these forums are on routine PPI therapy, so it isn't just a VSG thing.)

To be fair about this (don't know why OH isn't letting me edit above,) obesity itself is a significant risk factor for many cancers, so the possibly elevated risk of some specific cancers that we may see comes in exchange for a presumably lower risk of many others. From a practical perspective, this means that we may have only a couple of specific risk targets to monitor (it's a lot easier to monitor one or two things than everything.)