Frightening Scenario With Nissen Wrap Take-down

Guys, I really appreciate everyone on this website who contributes to giving advice to people having problems with this. My story is a long but please listen, I may not have been as detailed in my last one. I had all sorts of symptoms starting at age 18, mostly bad bloating, belching, heartburn and such. I was told to have the wrap done after numerous medications, so I did, this was back in '06. Felt fine afterward, but not long after that, maybe five or six months, I was at work and did some heavy lifting and something felt very not right. All of a sudden my belly swelled up to a balloon and the pain was EXCRUCIATING. No belching, couldn't expel air out, it was HORRIBLE. I lost 15 pounds and I am not a big person at all. My surgeon did all these x-rays and kept saying they couldn't see anything so they'd do a revision surgery. When I woke up he said something about a kink or something in it, so he fixed that I guess and gave me a toupet, he brought the wrap halfway down. I felt great for a couple months afterward and then after a while felt some problems but NOTHING like before, I was managing and things weren't too bad. I continued on like this until about last winter and again, was doing pushups and felt like something had screwed it up. So I said, that's it, I'm getting this taken down, I can't live like this. Wasn't as bad though as the last time because I could still expel air out and could still go to work. Well, I had the wrap taken down last week and I am so depressed and anxiety-ridden over what I'm going through now, but my belly, EVERY TIME I eat is swelling up SUPER painful like a few years ago and it HURTS so bad I actually have to sit down or lie down because of the pain. I'm a grown man, 29 and I was brought to tears. Everyone keeps telling me, "you just had this done" but I don't understand how after I week I should be feeling this bad. I don't have any more pain from the incision areas and I don't feel sore. If the wrap was taken down again, WHY am I still not able to expel air out so easily?? It still feels like there's a wrap there! Please help! Could it be that he took it down and it went right back to where it was? Is that possible? This is a nightmare, you guys don't understand, I am now having thoughts about wanting to be dead and I don't need this, I just recently got engaged and would never think of doing anything to harm myself but I can't live like this! Even as I sit here right now typing this my stomach is so distended and it is not easy to expel air. Even if I drink a glass of water it fills me up! Please, someone tell me that I'm not having the same thing that happened to me last time. He's already operated on me three times, I can't imagine I'd have to have it again. And why would he? The wrap was taken down! And he's one of the best surgeons in the country!

And it feels like even when I do get to expel air out, twenty minutes later it goes right back to doing what it did before, it just fills up with gas. I don't understand how this could be possible if the wrap was taken down! I should have never had this done, why am I so stupid?!

paddy-

I agree with mt about getting a barium swallow and see what is going on.

Now for some info I received from the surgeon who repaired the tear in my esophagus in March. He told me I may have to habe my esophagus removed and replaced with my stomach, but he wasn't sure my stomach would be viable as I have had 2 previous stomach operations on the fundus part of my stomach from the nissens. Seems the fundus area can get damaged from the surgery if done multiple times and no longer function properly. Fortunately they were able to get the hole to stop leaking and I was able to keep my esophagus.
Now please don't think I am saying this is what is happening, but just what a surgeon told me could possibly be wrong with mine. Getting the barium swallow and/or manometry may show what is happening.

Take care,
Bill

You should also get a stomach emptying test done to see if you have delayed emptying. You also were a bit unclear on why they redo your first wrap? I know you are going through a lot right now but just hang in there man, thing will get better.

Thank you all for your kind words. Today, even weirder. I feel like I still have a wrap. Its so tight and the air has a tough time getting out, I practically have to try and force myself to burp. What's scaring me the most about this is not being able to move forward with my life. I told my surgeon I didn't care if my heartburn came back because I could try to manage that with medication. I just wanted to be able to belch better again and not have this wrap. I wouldn't think my insides would still be swollen after only a week, is that possible?

I'm up, at 4:00 AM and it feels tighter than ever, hard to expel any air, trying to swallow air to make myself burp but to no avail. I am skinny as a rail and I look pregnant! I don't understand this, how the hell would it feel like this if the darn thing was taken down?????!?!???

Paddy, I had to edit your post as we are not allowed to talk about suicide. May I suggest also checking out our depression and anxiety forum?

Post Edited By Moderator (opnwhl4) : 11/21/2011 4:45:51 AM (GMT-7)

I hope that by eating anything I'm not supposed to that I could make it worse. He told me by Tuesday I'd be allowed to have solids, I had it done last Friday. Not that it matters what I eat anyway because it hasn't been much. I feel full enough, like I'm going to explode drinking a sip of water.

So swelling on the insides causes things like this to happen? If anyone out there has any experience with this, please let me know. I know I had a take down but I thought the bloating others received would have been from the wrap not letting air get up. I didn't think this was possible by getting the wrap taken down, it just seems nonsensical.

Thank you, I hope you're right and that's all it is. If I'm stuck like this I don't know what I'll do. I feel like I never had the thing taken down.

Paddy, I'm confident that when the swelling goes down you'll be swallowing easily again.  Hang in there!

 

     Paddy,

   I am so sorry to hear of your problems, I can feel your stress and how hard it is to deal with it everyday as I can tell you from 1st hand knowledge as many of us here can. The stress can cause you so many problems and make things so much worse,maybe you could talk to your Dr. about your anxsiety and fears which can cause alot of issues. For me it caused severe gastritis which is very painful and make you feel terrible I EVEN took to my bed Iwas so depressed.

   I agree that you probably need to get testing done very soon to see whats what. I am always stressing and found if I TRYto curb it and thats not easy when your feeling so awful. When you have any suegery your insides have alot of swelling and unfortunately we can't see that part,it's not like the outside which we can see it heal and know whats going on, but the inside takes alot longer and the stress of the surgery is very hard as well.

  Please take care and I am thinking of you and hpoe things will get better very very soon.

   Kindly Julix

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. Yes, I have my post op tomorrow, I didn't expect to feel great after I had this done. I have a stomach problem, in addition to the GERD that they can't identify and I knew that getting this wrap taken down all my old problems would come back. That's not the problem, the problem is it feels like I still have a wrap. Its very tight and hard to force burps up out of my stomach. Before I ever had any of the surgeries, I was able to belch freely and get air out of my stomach. The entire reason I got this taken down was because the wrap made that harder. It sure did get rid of the GERD, which was nice, but the bloating was even worse. I had bloating before my surgery but again, I was able to expel air out.

Does anyone know how long the swelling usually takes to go down? I am hoping this is all it is. My surgeon is a nice guy but he's very annoyed that I've been seeing him for so many years and not making progress. I don't have insurance, I have medicaid and it could run out soon. I am so deathly afraid that I have made it worse. I can't see how that could happen, I thought I would go back to what my stomach was before surgery. I could go to another doctor or surgeon but its so hard because I don't have a car and getting up there all the time is a huge pain. I know you mentioned anxiety but believe me, its not that. Whatever is causing my stomach to be like this, for years, is something I've accepted but I at least thought I would go back to my old stomach. Could I have made this worse? When does the swelling usually go down?

Hey Paddy,

If he says that, don't accept it.  You specifically want to know why you feel like you still have resistance between your stomach and your esophagus.  You want to know why, if the wrap is taken down completely, you're still not able to burp properly.

Don't leave until you're satisfied.  You want answers, your surgeon needs to at least attempt to educate you on the subject.  Camp out in that office if you have to!

Good luck!

Denise