Question:
Need good info on how RNY relieves GERD...

Hi, I need good info, URLs, etc. on how RNY relieves/cures GERD in most cases. My doctor has this wrong idea that GERD can get worse with RNY. I would like to show her some print-outs of good info. I have severe GERD (with nocturnal aspiration asthma) and this will be one of my two serious co-morbidities I'll have to list for Kaiser approval. Thanks, Joy.    — [Deactivated Member] (posted on May 6, 2001)

May 6, 2001
I do not have specific information, I can just tell you that I also had severe GERD and it is now GONE. I am 4 months post-op and the GERD was gone immediately after surgery. You have alot less stomach acid and no bile to come up - according to my doctor.
   — Lisa B.

May 6, 2001
Dr. Schauer told me I would no longer have this problem after surgery. He has a web site at: <www.upmc edu/minsurg> I'm not sure if the answer is there but it would be a good place to look
   — Sue H.

May 6, 2001
I don't know where the web site went to, but you can email me and I will be glad to give it to you I'll try again. www.upmc.edu/minsurg.
   — Sue H.

May 7, 2001
I don't know of a website either. But, now this is not medical lingo, I do know that the 'old' stomach still secretes the stomach acids, not the 'new' pouch. Since the old stomach is not connected to your esophagus, the acids cannot back up (GERD). My surgeon performs a vagotomy on all his WLS patients to avoid getting an ulcer in the 'old' stomach due to the gastric acids still being produced. A vagotomy is the cutting of two nerves (vages?) from the brain to the old stomach which drastically reduces the production of this stomach acid and reduces your chances of getting an ulcer in the old stomach from about a 21% chance to only a 1% chance. He also puts a marker on the 'old' stomach in case they ever need to scope that old stomach to see if you do have an ulcer or stomach cancer of something. I had GERD before RNY surgery and it was gone instantly!!! It is amazing and I never burp any stomach acids.
   — Cindy H.

May 7, 2001
I'm not sure how surgery helps, but it does. I also had GERD before surgery and no medicine helped it. It went away immediately after surgery. Amazing.
   — Kelli B.

August 13, 2001
Well, I will be different. Prior to surgery, I had only minor "Gerd", perhaps two or three times a month...sometimes while sleeping, sometimes while working...it could happen anytime. After surgery, I started to have chest pain, flank and side pain. It would come and go and be really severe at times. I told my doctor and he thought I was eating too much or too fast so I did everything but completely stop eating and drinking yet the pain persisted. It was bad enough one night to send me to the ER as I thought that I was having a heart attack. This was about a week post op and several days after D/C. Well, to make a long story short, my doctor was not in town and he had another doctor covering, not a bariatric specialist but a GI doctor. He listened very carefully, took time and asked questions, and said he felt that I WAS having gastrie reflux along with gastritis. He suggested going to the store and getting some Pepcid AC which I did. By the next morning I was COMPLETELY pain free, after suffering for 11 days. That pain has not returned and it leaves me free to feel slight muscular discomfort common post surgery and also what it feels like to be "hungry" or "full". Every one is different. Don't let any doctor tell you "never" cause there is no such thing. It was a simple answer. My doctor is brilliant and I still trust him, but he believes "never" and because of that I suffered needlessly. The answer was at the local drugstore and was real simple.-Marie K.
   — Marie K.