A couple of somewhat unusual questions about the fundoplication.

Hi.

I'm a 22 year old college student and I have been struggling with hearthburn my whole life. I've gotten clomplete relief from hearthburn by omeprazole in the past, but they've given other complications like SIBO. I quit the ppis cold turkey about 5 weeks ago, but my quality of life just hasn't been good without them. For the last 5 days I have tried to manage with zantac, but I don't get enough relief. Today i caved and took an omeprazole again. I have a pretty large hiatal hernia and some minor problems with my LES. The last couple of month I've also started to experience new symptoms. I have non hearthburn chest pains. It feels like it has something to do with the hernia, and I have gotten some but not full relief from doing some hiatal hernia excercises.

The last few days I have been thinking alot about the situation. PPIs supposed to be really bad for SIBO, but I can't manage the hearthburn without the PPIs. It starting to look like I will have no choice but too get an operation in the future, and I have some questions about it that I haven't been able to find any answers to.

1. I live in a country with a culture that is very centered around alcohol and partying, espacially now when we're in collage. I'm getting so sick about explaining to people why I'm the only one that's not drinking. My first question is: Will I be able to drink alcohol and sometimes get drunk after the fundoplication?

2. I love snowboarding. Will I be able to continue shredding after the surgery?

3. I'm reading alot of people have a really hard time recovering. Can the recoverytime have anything to do with age? Will me recovery possibly be quicker since I'm relatively young?

Thanks for taking the time!

opnwhl4 said...
Ninus

Welcome to healing Well.

Yes you can drink and snowboard again after your recovery. Age may play a slight role in the recovery time, but the biggest things is how your body reacts and how skilled your surgeon is. Along with that it depends on how well you take care of your body during the recovery.

Realistically expect to have some type of issues/setbacks for 6months to a year. Sounds terrible, but can be SO worth it in the end. Read a lot here and be sure to get the testing done and find the best surgeon you can.

Take care,
Bill

Thanks Bill, that made me really optimistic!!

I live in small Norways capital, and will probably get one of the countries leading surgeons if I chose to proceed. I will definitely do my research on him/her. Can I demand to get statistics on how succesful the doctors previous surgeries have turned out?