ESophyx - new endoscopic procedure for heartburn - anyone have the procedure

Hello Roseanne, and welcome to healingwell. I don't think stacyb will be back. Not sure. Just a hunch. I hope you get the answers you are looking for. This is truly a great place for support and information. Feel free to look back at old posts for answers, and feel free to answer questions if you think you can help! Again, welcome aboard...happy to have you!

Roseanne...

I think Stacyb may work for the office, but that is just my opinion.

I didn't let her keep the website posted, because she seemed like she was a sales person. It was just a feeling I had.

Seems like you have a lot to think about and a lot to learn about this. Please, let me know if there is anything I can do to help you out.

Wishing you the best.

I just had the Esophyx procedure in NY. I wanted to know if anyone had any tips to getting through the first few days. I am extremely bloated and sore overall. please let me know if anyone had the same experiences and any results that were positive...also--- any recipes for the liquid diet would be helpful too?

UM whoever said there was no recovery period obviously knows nothing about this surgery. I had it performed and there most certainly is a recovery period. I had to spend a night in the hospital and my shoulders were very sore, as was my throat. I was very sick to my stomach and vomited that night. I am not supposed to lift over 10 pounds for the next month and can not do any heavy exercise. There are no incisions but that does not mean there is no recovery. People need to inform themselves before they make inaccurate posts! Also research shows that after 1 year there is only a 67% success rate. That is the accepted statistic among all doctors that I have spoken to so whoever is saying 80% needs to check their facts...

This website seems to spread a whole lot of misinformation. Chronic gerd does lead to an increased risk for esophageal cancer. This does not mean that everyone who has gerd will get cancer, just as everyone who smokes does not get cancer. Also, there are NO long term studies on the esophyx procedure. The longest follow up extends only to 1 year at which it was found that 67% of patients were gerd free and "all" hiatel hernias remained reduced. So to say that you will need the procedure repeated in 2 years is misinformation that needs to not be spread. GOSH people educate yourself before spreading misinformation it makes me sick that people are actually basing their medical decisions off of this website...

Hi to All,
there are other persons subject to Esophyx?
Here in Italy is used by almost 3 years, no many procedure Esophyx here, doctors prefer fundoplicatio nissen.

thanks

Roseanne, please write [email protected]

My doctor wants me to have the Esophyx procedure done. But I had someone tell me that once you get it done you can't throw up, not even when you have to. I need to kn ow if that is true. Please, somebody help me soon. I have to go to the doctor tomorrow, and he is going to want an answer.I have Barretts esophagus and they say I need the surgery.

to jstrum...... ur pain will desappear after more few weeks of ur esophyx.keep us informed abt hw ur doing

Joy ..thank you again for helping me to open a new thread.....

hello..... does anyone has an esophyx sooner.or had it bfre weeks?i would have some infos about hw thy progress after the operation?

couchtater said...
soliver,
Unfortunately, many of the people who posted here on this thread are long gone. Feel free to start a new thread and introduce yourself.

Joy

I m sorry i dont find lowdown,s thread.!!!

Regarding Esophyx.

I had the Esophyx procedure done April 17th 2008 by Dr. Reginald Bell at the Swedish Medical Center in Denver Colorado. I had a 2 centimeter hiatal hernia which was the cut off for the Esophyx procedure. I followed the after care instructions to the letter, and even chose to error on the side of caution with my diet. It failed inside of 2 weeks, and my symptoms came back with a vengeance. I of course had heartburn which was the least bothersome symptom to me. My main complaints were acid in my lungs, sinus, and eustation tubes, and of course I am always losing my voice and having to clear my throat. After having a PH Probe done to confirm the failure I discussed my options with Dr. Bell. I found out that my hernia was now double the size and it was becoming extremely painful on it's own. It felt like someone was stabbing me sometime, and when swallowing I would get severe shooting pains. A side note, if the Esophyx slips and fails, and you have a hernia, regardless of what doctors may tell you, your hernia will almost always increase in size. This is due to the fact that the fundus is stretched to create the new valve, and if it slips there is more loose material to slip and cause a worse hernia. So after the fist failure I thought that the Lap Nissan may be a better option, but both Dr. Bell and my G.I. Dr. said that I should have the traditional laproscopic hernia repair, but then repeat the Esophyx to repair the L.E.S. valve. When I had my first Esophyx surgery done Dr. Bell had performed thousands of Nissen procedures, and even taught the procedure to other surgeons. Unfortunately he had only performed around 10 of the Esophyx procedures when I had my first one done, but he was knowledgeable and seemed very confident in the procedure. Now at the point when we were discussing the second procedure he had done hundreds, and he said the technique had improved and that he could create a valve far superior to when he first started doing them. So after talking with all my doctors and comparing side effects and recovery times, I opted a second time for the Esophyx, but this time with the traditional laproscopic repair of my now 4 centimeter hiatal hernia. On May 28th 2009 just over a year after my fisrt Esophyx procedure, I underwent my second try at it, but with traditional laproscopic hernia repair. I once again followed my instructions exactly, and I even asked questions along the way to make sure my care and diet were optimal. Other than pain I was feeling much better until the 13 day mark. At that point I experienced minor reflux. I hadn't even when to phase 2 of the diet and nothing had differed, so hoped it was just a spell. Unfortunately my symptoms added and worsened each day, and now in my forth week the surgery is a total failure. The only plus is the hernia repair helped with the severe pain, but of course I never had that pain until after the first failed surgery.

I would suggest that anyone with serious problems look into an alternative to the Esophyx procedure. It has wasted my time, my life, my money, and left me very miserable. I don't know if it was my surgeon or if the procedure itself the is flawed. EndoGastric Solutions boasts a 79% success rate at 2 years, and an 85% initial success rate. Now even if we go with the 79% success rate and don't include the improvement made to the procedure, or the improved odds that the manual hernia repair may have given me, that gives me around a 4.5% chance of having this procedure fail twice within 24 month period. It failed twice all within the first 2 weeks. I say look at your specific doctor's data no matter how well known and experienced they are, and I would have to recommend against the Esophyx procedure.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I go from here? I'm thinking I heal and do the Hill or the Nissen procedure. I just hope I can find another surgeon who wants to work on someone who has had 2 previous procedures that failed performed on them.