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a gaping sphincter

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Posted 6/21/2010 7:51 PM (GMT 0)
after lots of chest pain and discomfort a scope revealed I had a gaping sphincter. Acorrding to Dr. it is allowing food and acid back into esphagus causeing all the chest pain and pressure. I was on omeprazole but it didnt help much. he now wants me to try nexium.

Anyone have a gaping sphincter? types of pain you had? what helped cure it?   thanks

Posted 6/21/2010 8:19 PM (GMT 0)
cwb3333-
The only "cure" I know for a gaping LES is surgery. There are several different types of surgery. Some are still in the trial stages. I had a Nissen Fundoplication (360 degree wrap) done in June of '06 and had a redo in May of '09.
I have had a lot of different pains associated with my GERD. I've had middle and side chest pains, upper stomach area pains, and even pain in my shoulders caused by reflux. Some of the pain has been sharp and some is just like a pressure or tightness discomfort. I have been on Prilosec, aciphex, nexium, and Prevacid in the past for GERD and Prevacid and Aciphex worked best for me. There doesn't seem to be one that is really better than the rest.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 6/21/2010 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
Mine was cured by surgery.

Joy
Posted 6/21/2010 10:19 PM (GMT 0)
I had the gaping sphincter too. Mine was caused by a really bad hernia - stomach pushed up into my chest. Medicines aren't going to cure it. Ask the GI to recommend the very best surgeon he knows.

It takes months to get through all the tests.
Posted 6/22/2010 1:54 AM (GMT 0)
I had the same issue and had a fundoplication. did the trick for the burning, bad taste, etc.
Posted 6/22/2010 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
Hi cwb,

There's currently no cure for a defective sphincter muscle. There is some research about infusing additional muscle cells into the weak sphincter. It has shown some success in animal studies, such as here:


see article here

But that's still a long way off before it will be ready for humans. Currently the best available treatments are the various wrap procedures to increase static pressure on the weak valve.

Typical symptoms of an open LES valve are heartburn pain, throat pain, sinus congestion, and lung irritation. PPI medications like Nexium can reduce these symptoms, but do nothing to fix the defective valve.

Sometimes your valve may be open due to environmental exposure of some type, such a smoking or some other chemical/food that causes the sphincter to relax. But usually when it is observed to be open, it's not common for it to recover.
Posted 6/24/2010 2:46 PM (GMT 0)
It all depends on how bad your problem is. If there is no way you can see yourself living like you are now you can get the Nissen Fundoplication. It will help, and buy you some more time, but you've entered into a problem that likely will never go away. When you have a problem like that the PPI's are worthless. In my opinion they are a $20 billion annual scam, a scam along with the rest of big pharma....
Posted 6/24/2010 4:10 PM (GMT 0)
The first thing to do is find out WHY your LES is wide open.   I presume it's a mechanical problem.

Do you have a large hiatal hernia?  If so, is it paraesophageal?  If that's the case, you need surgery immediately because if the stomach rotates it is 50% likely to be lethal.

Then you need to do the tests to find out what kind of surgery will best suit your case.

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