Chronic Heartburn/Reflux 5 weeks post-op HELP!!

Hi, I had Lap RNY 7/21/08 and was feeling pretty great post-op, until mid-week 3.  I drank a protein shot, then immediately got nauseous and it came right back up.  Ever since then, I 've had chronic burning acid coming up in to the back of my throat and nothing seems to help it.  I'm on Nexium for 3 mos post-op, doesn't touch it.  Also tried  Maalox, Prilosec, you name it and nothing helps.  I went to the Dr last Tues, they put me on Aciphex and said "try this for a week and if it doesn't go away, come back & we'll do a swallow study."  (She tends to be very non-plussed about everything, when I asked about hormones going nuts at my post-op visit, she looked at me like I was insane & said she'd never heard of that before.)  I've also tried sleeping in a recliner, elevating my head, etc and it still wakes me up in the middle of the night. 
What concerns me is that I am eating very bland foods, nothing spicy or acidic that would irritate, so I just don't get it.  The other scary thing is on the post-op swallow study, my pouch would not empty.  I stayed in Xray for almost 2 hours walking the halls trying to get it to empty.  My surgeon came down to Xray on rounds to see me and he said "Don't worry, it happens all the time.  Once the swelling goes down it will be fine."  Any thoughts on how to make it STOP the burning??

maybe you irritated something when the protein shot came back up.  give the meds some time and just eat slowly and drink slowly.  heartburn is awful i have it as well and have also developed a small ulcer at the site of my surgery.  every once in awhile it flares up and i have to baby it along for a few weeks till things settle down.

if it continues though, maybe you need to see a gastro doc for some other thoughts, but find one who knows about weight loss patients.

good luck, hope you feel better soon, jacki

Thanks, Jacki.  I'm just not a very good "sick person", don't have the patience for it!  I hope it goes away soon, b/c it's getting annoying! lol  BTW, you look great!  Congrats on your success!

hi jen

i was just wondering -- at 3 weeks what foods are you eating? it could be alot of different things -- remember that your stomach has to heal on the inside too -- there was alot of cutting and reattaching and stitches on the inside as well as the outside -- are you eating too fast? are you eating too much? and just cuz nexium works for person A it might not work for person B -- give the meds a chance -- baby your new stomach -- and stress will do a number on you too!! as hard as it seems try not to think about it and just go about your daily routine -- good luck to you and i hope it heals up fast

take care
roberta

You say that you went to your Dr, but then you say "she" so I'm assuming that you haven't yet spoken with your SURGEON about this?

I suggest your contact your SURGEON as he would most likely have more insight into what this could be caused by.

~wendy

I went to the SURGEON about it, she's the one who prescribed the Aciphex.  Dr. Lisa Dobruskin, she is in practice with Dr. Washington in Freehold.  Apparently he puts his name on the door and you get random draw on who actually cuts you (or so it seems).  But that's a whole other story.  Roberta, to answer your question, I'm 5 weeks out as of tomorrow and eating very small amounts of plain yogurt and babyfood.  Very bland, no spices or textures that would irritate. 

Dr. Washington is the head of the practice and I would suggest you visit him directly.  I would also recommend you switch to prevacid and stay on a liquid diet if swelling is the suspected issue.

HI Jen,

I had the same thing happen to me 2 weeks after my surgery.  I have acid reflux now, and I take prevacid for it everyday. 

I never had this problem before the surgery.  I was told 90% of the people who have the surgery end up with acid reflux. 

My Surgeon, explained to me exactly what Roberta said in her post above you have to let your new stomach heal.  I continued to only drink protein shakes, liquids, and SF Ice pops for the first 3 months then I started to eat soft foods. 

I believe to many of us start to eat things they shouldn't too fast even soft foods, I believe your stomach needs at least 3 or 4 months to heal because you really chew any food, that is my opinion.  The prevacid does take away the heartburn, but I do live with a digestive problem.  If i didn't take the prevacid it would probably be worse.  I chew tums sometimes like it is going out of style.  I live with this side effect, because this is what I wanted. 

I do take my time when I eat.  I take the prevacid every morning along with all my vitamins, and so far so good, am healthy.  If I was you I would find out about prevacid, and also try to just drink liquids for now, also remember milk by products can cause severe heartburn, it did for me in the beginning, I felt like I was having a heartache, especially yogurt.  Take your time, and ask your Surgeon about Prevacid,  I was taking the prilosec OTC, but  it didn't help me either.  I hope things work out.  Let us know how you are doing.