Worried - problems after meal out

Hi All,

Hope you all had a good Christmas! I'm nearly 6 weeks post op after wrap and hernia repair... went out for a meal on 24th for the first time (have been eating everything since 4 weeks post op).. just after I ate the meal my stomach bloated... looked as though I was 7 months pregnant and felt VERY uncomfortable, had a bad night and had a bad day all Christmas day with bloating and bad stomach. Since then I feel uncomfortable after eating, slight pain in the wrap and feels as though I'm getting reflux with a 'lump' in my throat as though food is there but I know it's not.

I say my surgeon 2 weeks ago and he said it went well and I can get back to normal with everything i.e. eating, exercise - the lot he told me to go live my life and stop worrying and he'll do another endoscopy in 2 years but I worry about the Barretts as that is still there but he didn't seem to worry about that - he said the op was a success and that's that - thing is I don't know whether the op was a success and I wanted an endoscopy just to put my mind at ease but no such luck! ... so I've been picking my grandkids up and eating normally - up until now... living my life as I've been told to

I'm worried that the wrap has stretched or something has gone wrong, my surgeon did say it was OK to go back to normal though... any thoughts?

I also felt nauseous on the 25th all day so took some anti-nausea pills.

Am I eating too much? could the bloating have stretched the wrap? I worry because if I still have reflux which will make the barretts worse and possibly turn to cancer I may not know until it's too late - that's the reason I had the op, I went from mild reflux and .5cm hernia to severe reflux and 5.5cm hernia and 4cm barretts in a year which is a very quick progression but I had no symptoms, no burning, no pain, nausea or anything at all so I worry that it's still happening and I don't know it.

Could someone please put my mind at ease as my surgeon won't listen to me, he thinks I'm being silly

Thank you

Hi Donna,

As you are recovering you'll have some ups and downs.  You don't need to worry that you've done something to your wrap.  At six weeks you're still at the very early stages of recovery, and bloating and an irritated wrap are to be expected. 

Some bloating at this point is still to be expected.  Really, for the first year you could get some intermittent bloating issues.  It doesn't mean that anything is wrong.  You're still healing and your upper GI tract is adjusting to the MAJOR changes that were made to your stomach. 

If you're following your surgeon's directions you'll do just fine.  Nausea at this point--especially after overdoing it with eating--is also within the norm.

The bloating won't stretch the wrap.  You didn't say if you can burp.  If so, Gax-X will help.  My guess is that when you're bloated you can't burp (once the bloating gets a head start it presses on the wrap and keeps it from being able to burp). 

Most of all, don't stress.  This too, will pass.  You're in the process of recovering from major surgery to your upper GI tract, and there will be some ups and downs.

Just baby your stomach for a while, and things will get right back to normal.

Take care!

Denise

Donna-

Must have been a Christmas day thing. I was nauseous all night Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Had a lot of dry heaves even while taking my anti nausea meds. Christmas Eve I was exactly 4 months out from my redo.

Just wanted to second what Denise said. There will be ups and downs for some time, which is normal.

Take care,
Bill

Barrett's turning into cancer is such a small chance during a human life i would not care about it.

I asked my gastro specialist last time i did the endoscopy and told him about this, i don't have Barrett's but asked anyway, and he told me the chance getting cancer from it is limited, you will probably die naturally before it even develops.

I had my surgery dec8. I am now able to eat regular foods and I too have my good days and bad days. I try not to panic. Hang in there

Thank you all,

Since that episode on the 24th I find that I have to go to the toilet after every meal (bowels open) - I get really bad stomach ache then need to go, is this normal? I've been eating normally for 3 weeks now...also my stomach make really strange noises most of the day... I'm back at work tomorrow and fear that this will cause some embarrassment.

Also - I had hernia repair with the wrap nearly 7 weeks ago now... is it OK to be lifting, heaviest I've done is my 2 year old Grand-daughter... is this OK?

Thank you for your continued support

Donna