TheSixness Nissen

6,

My lpr symtpoms are still bothering me. Feels like I have a nice cut across my neck! Ouchies. No real improvements so far. Ears and Nose, feel tingly, wet, cold, and throbbing. Went by the hot tub yesterday... My ears started to hurt because of the chemicals. I'll be staying away from the hot tub for a while longer... I usually can sneak in after the chemicals have been in there a week and with no jets on.

Being having retching burps that are painful. I understand those might be mistaken as reflux. They definitely do hurt. Other than that, I'm picking up my albuterol ipratropium inhaler that my Dr prescribed while I was in the hospital. Wondering if that will help out breathing... I never saw an inhaler like this. You do a puff and then twist it. My current inhaler, qvar, doesn't seem to help all that much.

Also, I think I might try to come off my meds to see if it really is reflux or not thats been causing my problems... Scary.

Also, just for the record...

Results from a NCBI study. The best results appear later, at the 14 month mark in quality of life and RSI measurements.

" Average early followup was at 4 months and late followup was at 14 months. The Reflux Symptom Index improved by 5.4 early (p < 0.05) and 6.5 late (p < 0.05). Improvement between early and late periods approached significance (p < 0.09). Reflux Finding Score improved 3.8 (p < 0.05) early and 4.4 (p < 0.05) late. The Quality of Life Index improved 0.6 early and 2.3 (p < 0.05) late. By Reflux Symptom Index criteria, 26 patients were improved early versus 35 late (p < 0.05). Factors associated with poor outcomes were structural laryngeal changes in five patients (p < 0.05) and no response to proton pump inhibitors in six patients (p < 0.05). "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15217625

Post Edited (TheSiXness) : 10/14/2013 11:00:06 AM (GMT-6)

I have a vocal cord dysfunction that causes my breathing problem. Once my throat heals up... This should follow. I'm suspecting many who suffers breathing problems have this too, due to there gerd.This is what causes the hard time breathing in. If your having asthma problems, it will be hard to breath out.I do aspirate acid into my lungs causing asthma and sensitivity at times. However, my asthma meds don't work for me on most days. Usually they make me worse off... Like today... wasn't taken Zantacs/ppi's and took my inhaler... It was a huge mistaken.

Today has been really bad... my throat hurts considerably right now! Don't think I've ever been this bad. Day 6 only. It doesn't seem like my acid relievers do anything... Should try apple juice! lol dangerous.

Post Edited (TheSiXness) : 10/14/2013 8:19:08 PM (GMT-6)

7,

Ears hurt more today waking up, slept alright. Upper chest/lower throat pain, nose, sinuses clogged/tingling, breathing bad. Feel awful. Much worse than I did this time last week. If my symptoms improve, things will be much better... but the surgery is easy compared to the symptoms. Not very hopeful about the surgery helping because of the symptoms that are worse after the surgery so far..

I had ear problems around that time, too. But, the rest of those symptoms sound like maybe you have a virus. That's not uncommon, as our body is under so much stress from the surgery. There's also so many germs and crap in the hospital. If it's still bad tomorrow, maybe consider calling the surgeon and asking if you should see your primary doc about it.

8,

Having much harder times swallowing stuff. Feels like it's getting boxed up. Just been drinking liquids for the most part also... I can chew hard stuff up and eat it, but swallow is still slow.

Anways, swallowing is getting worse, surgical site is getting better.
Neck tightness, throat soreness, ears, sinues under eyes and on top of nose absolutely kill today. The nissen is a living nightmare right now. Was suppose to help, but is flinging more stuff up at this moment. This does not feel like living, it feels more like I'm waiting to die. I'm making calls tomorrow...I've just been drinking liquids and I haven't really dropped my ppi's. Theres no reason why I should feel this awful

I had my NF on 9/10 and my breathing is still very bad. It takes a lot of time, which stinks. I still wake up choking on mucus. ugh.

Swallowing may be getting a little more difficult as the swelling increases. It will get better. Just take your time, lots of chewing and small swallows, pause and wait for it to go down before you attempt your next bite. Again - it takes a lot of patience.

I hope today is going a little better!

2 weeks,

Met with surgeon today, really no help. I've been choking on liquids and vitimans laltely. Not fun. I know that my sinuses have been worse lately because when I choke on this stuff I'm bring stuff back up, so it's true that I'm refluxing within my esophagus. Don't know if this is my issue or not, hoping when this leave, my lpr symptoms leave too. Should be a month or two before my swallowings good again.

Hi Sixness,

What you're describing sounds as if you're getting some food/meds/supplements stuck at the wrap site.  That can cause a feeling/sensation that you're having reflux, when actually things are staying in the esophagus. 

At your stage, it's almost certain that you've got swelling that is causing more things to get stuck at the wrap site.  Try to take sips of warm water/tea, and keep swallowing, to ensure everything makes its way through the wrap.  Food left in the esophagus can create irritation. 

I remember burping up "reflux" into my mouth, which was simply fluids and food remnants that were left at the wrap site, waiting to enter the stomach. 

Hang in there...it gets better!

Happy healing,

Denise

It terms of recovering, I am doing well. Foods still getting stuck. Haven't seen an improvement in any of my symptoms yet. My breathing after surgery was horrible, like having to slow down and breathe when talking. I was able to walk around a little more and bike today however. I'm not really expecting the surgery to heal me up anymore. I think the nerve meds and PPI's will do more for me unfortunately. The only positive thing I can say about the nissen is that I am able to sleep better and in more positions... I'm really hoping this continues as the swelling goes down.... I had a little chocolate cake today, noticed my voice did get a little worse, but it's hard to tell because my throat feels horrible nowadays.

Before I was sleeping on an incline and had to be on my side. This was very hard on my back. I would be thrilled if my breathing improved though!!!

I had my surgery about 3 weeks ago. I'm still having my reflux symptoms also... my breathing will get bad when I feel reflux coming up also. As for side effects from the surgery, I really don't have any bloating or problems with my bowels. I can burp fine and do everything I could before, but I still have my horrible lpr symptoms.

haven't really challenged my wrap yet... Think I might try some apple juice tonight. I know my wrap isn't helping though, so this might be a bad Idea.

thats interesting. That the esophagus can't tell the difference between reflux and those gassy fumes. It seems like we have lots to learn still. Yeah, my problem is that I way 140 pounds and I'll have bowel movements every 4 or 5 days. I'm not eating a lot though, so it seems like it would be normal.

Six,

I know you had the TIF and then had the Nissen. How big was your HH? My surgeon would not do any TIF even if it was small because he said you always end up doing Nissen.

My surgeon does approx. 280 Nissen a year and teaches the procedure. I was in the operating room for one hour.

You will start to gain once you eat more solid foods. Do you have the coughing? I still can't get rid of it.

FC