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Mr. T:  I haven't been on the gerd board for quite a while.  I had the nissen about 9 months ago and still have a few problems.  I also don't have anymore heartburn but had an endoscopy back in April and I did have gastritis.  I was not being too careful about what I was eating (for me mostly red chile, grapefruit, and chocolate).  I had the burning stomach and the Dr. put me on 20 mg of omperazole for 6 weeks.  It really helped and don't have the burning stomach but I am being a little more careful about what I am eating.  Yes, it was a bummer to have to go back and take the PPI but I am doing a little better.  The problem I have right now is lots of gas and bloating.  I am scheduled on Thursday to have a stomach delay emptying test because the doctor thinks that may be causing the problem.  I still have the chest pain that I have been complaining about forever and don't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk.  I even wonder if it will eventually go away.  I did mention it to my surgeon even last week but he thinks it may be something else (these doctors really don't want to hear about any problems, they probably think they already did their job and you go figure it out on your own).  I think that perhaps you may have gastritis like I did with you eating citric and spicy food.  Maybe you can ease up on these items and hopefully you will see an improvement on your symptoms.  Unfortunately, I don't know about the back pain...Good luck...Barbara...

Mr. T:  I think most people usually get an endoscopy if they are having problems.  I had one done back in April because of the chest pain and wanted to make sure everything was ok.  The gastro doctor said everything looked good except I had some gastritis.  The chest pain I think is probably my hernia repair but I am just assuming that.  The surgeon thinks that it is probably a different issue.  It is hard to describe but sometimes I feel like pressure and it feels weird on my chest (in the middle of my chest).  Sometimes, I can feel like a weird pressure that goes up towards my throat area too.  It is just an annoying pain and discomfort.  This lady on the gerd board named HappilyWrapped knew exactly what I meant by the weird pressure feeling and she felt it at one point.  Fortunately, hers went away but mine is still there.  It isn't as bad as it used to be but I still feel it everyday.  I hope it does go away eventually.  I also still don't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk.  When ever I lift heavy things I can feel a tug and pull on my chest and it scares me to mess up my fundo wrap just because I lifted something heavy. 

As far as the gas/bloat I hope that too gets better with time.  My surgeon told me if I were to gain lots of weight in the future the wrap could loosen.  That really makes sense to me since the stomach will stretch but since you mention after care, I think it may be important every 2 or 3 years to get an endoscopy to make sure everything is in place.  Barbara.....