<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->
For several years now i have had a constant soar throat,( never any heart burn ) and this problem was diagnosed as being due to reflux acid and LPR, the endoscope and biopsys also showed Barretts esophagus ( low desplasia)
and chronic gastritis, and for 18 months i was put on a high dose of Ranitidine, Domperidone, Omeprazole and nexium. ( 12 tablets a day )
which over the 18 months I took them , made the soar throat feel a bit better but not go away completely, my doctor then recommended that I have further tests to evaluate the possibility of having a Nissen laparoscopic fundoplication
The tests he recommended were , a mamometry test , a 24 hour double probe Ph test, along with a barium meal swallow test.
The problem was that the recommended tests were not available where I live (in Thailand where the doctor said that Thais do not seem to get barretts esophagus / reflux acid problems , due he said to the fact of the Thai diet and the Thai's drink large amounts of water every day...? ) . so i took the decision to fly to europe to obtain further tests to confirm my situation.
The tests confirmed that I had a weak LES, and high numbers of acid reflux episodes over a 24 hour period. The doctors recommended that due to the fact that the high dose of drugs I had taken for 18 month's, had not seemed to completely reduce my throat problem and the fact I had Barretts Esophagus , a Nissen Laparosocpic Fundoplication would be the best option.
So i went ahead with the surgery, I was admitted to hospital at 8.pm Friday night , and discharged on Sunday 11am, The operation went well, The surgeon had outlined the possible after effects of the surgery, such as gas bloat, chest pain due to traped air, etc, and he gave me a run down on the post op eating requirements. He said a full wrap had been carried out , which was stiched to the esophagus to stop the wrap from turning he also said he had used a " bloon probe " inserted down the esophagus to gauge the correct tension of the wrap around the esophagus. In his words he had done a " loose" type of wrap , as this was considerd the best option ,he also advised me to only take 40mg of Omeprazole a day for one month after the surgery.
All went well and I have now returned to Thailand, but now back home , away from the comfort of knowing I could easily contact the Doctor who carried out the surgery, I am starting to have my doubts !!!, here's where I hope forum members can offer me some advice or comments.
First I know its only been 5 weeks since I had the surgery, and may be I am just panicking too soon ?.... heres my doubts ...
1. A week after the surgery my soar throat seem to be getting better, I thought great, the wrap has started to do its job..?, on returning home Two weeks later , my old enemy the soar throat has returned and feels worse than before the surgery ( this includs the same symptoms of a soar,red and what appears to be small blisters on the back of the throat area ).... so with the symptoms returning this makes me now think....... , could it be that the loose wrap was done was in fact... too loose, this combined with me now only taking a small dose of Omeprazole(may be not enough to control the acid ..?) this has now allowed the acid to return to my throat area again to a greater degree ...?
2. Or could it be the my soar throat has returned due to a miss-diagnosis in the past , and in fact there's some thing else comming into play that's effecting/causing my soar throat .
3.Or could it be the soar throat has returned due to some sort of post re-action to the surgery...?( and hopefully will get better in the future..? )
4.The doctor also recommended having an endoscope/biopsy done 6 months after the surgery,.... would it be possible from the endoscope to tell if the wrap is at the correct tension...? and working as it should do...?
may be I am just over reacting and jumping the gun , but from just having my old soar throat symptoms return in what seem's a worse state , stright after undergoing the surgery makes me wonder if its all been worth it , and as medical advice on my condition is difficult to obtain here in Thailand, I can only hope forum members can may be offer some advice to enable me to decide just where to go from here. Many Thanks,