GERD after Gallbladder removal and ERCP

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^{You have my emapthy re all the pain your in.  I do not have any ideas for what is causing it but I will be glad when you get to see you physician.}

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^Kitt

Hi, I had my gallbladder out 14 yrs ago and just recently had an ERCP with exactly the same symptoms.  I feel like my chest is on fire no matter what I do I am on Nexium 2x a day and just had an scope with bipsy and showed that I have a hiatal Hernia.  I have also taken reglan helped a little but very its bad for you with the side effects etc.  They just put me on questran for bile reflux which he is calling non-acid reflux saying it is bile..  Now he also thinks heart which when I was in the hospital the end of Aug. they worked me up and found nothing wrong with my heart.  He said sometimes it could be a false negative.  Does this sound like you??

Hi, yes I did have stones in my common bile duct .  I went to the ER with severe chest and stomach pain and my GI doc told me to go  and the tests that they did showed that I had pancreatitis which was caused by the stone even after all thoses years with the gallbladder removal.   I seem to have never recoved from all of that since Aug. 2008.   They did all the heart studies and found nothing I am at my wits end too.  I am on a very low fat diet and try to eat very small meals.  I am not sure why I have this but with the new medicine that i will try tomorrow we will see if it helps.  If it does than maybe it is from BILE reflux and not acid since I am taking the nexium 2x daily.  The GI doc thinks that is what is it.  I can't wait to see if it works.

My gastro dr said it's not uncommon to have stones 10 years after gall bladder removal. So we never get rid of this misery I guess. I'm almost at the point where I think they missed a stone (s) - today I started having gnawing stomach ache - like I did before I had my gall bladder out!

Did you have the burning sensation before your ERCP or did it start after? I was told that because they are "mucking around" inside it kind of messes things up in our systems and takes a while to get back to normal. Supposedly the Previcid, etc. will "heal" it. I'm also starting to think hiatal hernias are common too, but I don't know what they can really do for it other than try different medications.

This is so hopeless - as the days go on I feel worse with more symptoms!

Yes they were at first afraid I would get pancreatitis, but I didn't. My liver enzymes were high for several weeks after - they kept checking them. Monday I go to the dr again and they take more blood. I'm at my wit's end. I keep getting worse - first it was mild warmness in chest now it's stronger in stomach, chest, sometimes even on my back - comes and goes a bit. Plus I'm getting more twinges of pain where my gallbladder was! I'm starting to think they left part of it?? And the awful gnawing stomach pains are back that I had before my surgery. When I talked to dr on phone the other day I asked him if he thought there were stones they missed and he didn't think so. I would hate to have another ERCP so soon - they do say a lot of people get pancreatis after. Did your symptoms get better at all after your surgery? You've been recovering two months longer than I have and at this point I feel I'm getting worse and not better. Did your "fire" keep getting worse?

When you say Omeprazole - is that the technical name for Prevacid or Prilosec? I've been taking Prevacid for a few weeks now and just seem to be getting worse - the burning seems to be more noticeable in abdomen and upper back and also gnawing stomach pains have started. The dr wanted me to take it for 2 months along with reglan (which gives me a headache and makes me groggy). I am seeing dr in 2 days and he said to stay on both meds til then. I seriously thought of not taking the Prevacid this morning but after your post I will take it!
I was seriously starting to look into alternative treatments, because my dr said the Prevacid should be working by now! Please let me know which one worked best for you.
Thanks!

Hi after reading the last post maybe we need to give things to calm down 7 mos or so.  Mine was Aug. 2008 and things are not quite as bad right now.  I am still taking the nexium 2x daily and very careful with what I eat...very low fat diet.  Maybe it takes longer to heal with the ERCP.  Maybe you need to change to nexium in stead of what you are currently taking.  Are you on a low fat diet?  Also, try to keep your meals very small and eat like 4 or 5 small meals a day...be sure to take your medicine on an empty stomach very important according to my doctor.  Let me know what is happening. 

Well believe it or not I'm feeling a bit better yesterday and today! So when I saw the dr. today he said stay on the Prevacid for a total of two months. (of course if the burning gets worse before that he will refer me back to my surgeon who he thinks should do some imaging/ultrasounds, etc.). The weird thing is when I started the Prevacid on Nov 20 I got a cold soon after - that lasted about a week. During that week the heartburn greatly subsided. Well now I have a "mini-cold" - and once again the heartburn has subsided. I told the dr. this and he didn't know what to make of it. Is there any connection between GERD and headcolds?? I'm afraid once any cold symptoms are gone the burning will be back 100% with a vengeance. He did not want me to try nexium right now, just finish out the prevacid. So because I'm not feeling terrible right now it doesn't matter to me. It's like my body is haywire! He said he is optimistic that all this crazy stuff is my body trying to settle down after the surgery/ERCP. I just don't know -

Oh my goodness - a similar thing happened to me! I had about two weeks of the burning gone! Then gradually over that time I started eating more "bad" stuff - like candy and even some chocolate. On New Years Eve I had a few sips of champagne, but also ate a lot of food - and this had been pretty much what I did over several holiday parties. Well, late on New Years Day I felt the familiar burning starting in my abdomen and to make a long story short I am in total misery 5 days later! I am to take Prevacid until Jan 20th and I really can't call the dr until then (especially since I know I ate poorly). So now I'm dealing with burning in chest and gnawing stomach pain, burping - some of the symptoms are what I had before I had gallbladder out. I attributed my temporary recovering to drinking aloe vera juice - I have a brother-in-law who swears it cured his ulcer. Now I'm hardly eating anything - just broth and bland warm cereal. I've felt worse every day since the 1st, but this is the first day I'm really on top of it and strictly limiting my food. This is so awful - in some ways I'm glad to hear someone else is dealing with it too!

I haven't raised my bed yet - just using a bunch of pillows (I know this isn't the right thing to do). I am going to try to stick to small meals of lowfat food for an entire month (with no lapses, no alcohol, no chocolate, etc.) and see what happens. I ate EVERYTHING during the holidays. Today the burping has subsided and the gnawing pain - it usually lasts in it's "bad" phase around 2 days so I'm not surprised. The burning of course is still here - though not horrendous. I just can't believe I feel WORSE than before the gallbladder surgery/ERCP. I've had 3 "attacks" of trapped gas/constant burping/stomach pain since these procedures on 10/28 - each lasting 2 days, along with a varying degree of constant burning in chest/abdomen/back, etc. The amazing thing is that I was completely fine for over 10 days! No burning, no burping, etc. I hate to go back to the dr - they will probably suggest another ERCP or something investigative - equally as horrible which will make things even worse! We have to take charge of it ourselves. I am drinking aloe vera juice a couple of times a day and only drinking purified water. I'm wondering if I also have a hiatal hernia. What is the treatment for it?

Aloe vera juice is available at health food stores. The aloe vera gel is known for healing properties like burns etc, so I figured it might work on the inside too. It doesn't hurt for me to eat or drink while the food is going down. It's afterwards I either start tons of burping, or get gnawing pain, etc. Actually the burning subsides while I'm eating! (But comes back worse after I'm done). Burping doesn't hurt my chest, and my burning sensation moves around - sometimes in chest, sometimes in abdomen or even on my upper and lower back - it's as if liquid is flying around inside me that should be contained.
I've hardly eaten anything today - oatmeal (with no problems), a plain piece multi-grain toast, a few pretzels - burped a lot - even though there is no fat! My system is so screwed up = somedays I'm much better than others, but when it gets out of whack it takes several days to calm down. I dread calling dr. again, they have no idea what to do.

Wow - I can't believe you keep making stones! That is my worst fear that they missed stones. Gallstones can cause acid reflux I've heard. I had a touch of it right before I had my gallbladder out/ERCP in october, but I didnt' know what it was. It's gotten much worse since the surgery - on Prevacid - don't think it's working well - though I felt better for a while. I'm actually calling my surgeon tomorrow (on recommendation of my PCP) for more imaging - possibly ultra sounds, etc. ERCP is an awful procedure - I can't believe you've had so many. Doesn't it increase your risk of pancreatitis each time? And how do they know you have stones? For instance in March 08 - did they do tests or ultra sounds first or just the ERCP not knowing what they will find? You couldn't possibly have more stones since your last ERCP 5 days ago! In fact, I'm amazed you have more stones in July - since you them removed in March! How fast can a body make stones?? Could they have missed them? The dr. that did my ERCP said he was confident there were no more stones, but I am now constantly burping - even with a bit of food - the past entire week, in addition to the burning abdomen/chest/throat. What are your stone symptoms??