Posted 8/30/2016 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
Weighed 210 in 2009. Started losing weight slowly and without trying. No lifestyle chanes. In 2013 I found a lump in my throat. Lump was benign growth on thyroid but next test lead to discovery of hiatus hernia. Dr. Said it looked like the top of a bag of marbles. Was having trouble swallowing. No heartburn at all. Surgeon recommended Nissen fundoplication.
Four hour surgery, due to being abundantly filled with adhesions and scar tissue from work previous open surgeries for a 5 lb. Abdominal mesenteric cyst and surgical hernias that followed where mesh was installed.
Never fully recovered. Suffered months with Phrenic nerve damage from neck to diaphragm due to length of surgery and positioning. Also months of esophageal spasms constantly. Surgeon told me to take antacids. But I'd never taken them BEFORE surgery!!
He told me that if I decided to, I could have a balloon procedure to kind of undo the wrap, as he'd told me he'd made it 'real tight'. After returning for four months, he kind of got mad at me and told me to live long and prosper while giving me the spock hand signal. I decided then that maybe he should be retired. He also told me it would take 2 surgeons to do this very difficult surgery. Regretted it ever since.
The next two years were filled with much misery. I still couldn't eat without getting a stomach ache or things getting stuck... though I was eating tiny amounts the output the day. Then I developed laryngospasms which were debilitating and how I was teared was atrocious... learned what I know from Internet instead of ENT!! That's another story.
2015 my weight was around 150. Still slowly losing... due to intake I thought... and fears of choking. Will to eat going quickly... feeling death creeping up on me. Two separate instances of mild concussions due to passing out due to malnourishment... I was depressed also, that no one would help me. They kept saying I had GERD... NO I kept saying I just got that fixed!!
I reached out to a good friend after the last throat specialist who found 5 more benign lumps on my thyroid, told me to go back to my primary, as he patted me on the back with pity, as I was sobbing.
Found a new surgeon... Nov. 2015 i had surgery to tear down and do a toupet fundoplication rebuild of what was found to be a breakdown in the Nissen and a twisted stomach, along with h pylori, and more adhesions of course! Also found precancerous polyps in a colonscopy this guy required. He also had swallowing tests... including a nuclear egg test. Very confident in his abilities and I know he saved me... I also had to have a 2nd surgery due to an umbilical hernia from dissolving inner stitches that didn't work. Also have diverticulitis.
Yet now... I cannot gain weight... because I cannot eat much... ever. It's been 9 months. Still have pain in the surgical area... excess bloating... gas after eating what I'd never guess to be too much.... small meals...which include protein drink, crackers and cheese, peanut butter on bread, cereal. Those things I can handle here and there. Never overeat!!
But now... at 108 pounds... I still feel like something is not right. My skin is hanging on me. No muscle. Not much strength. I get sick... in the beginning it was maybe 2 times a month. But now... almost every night. 2 to 3 hours after eating I get a stabbing pain in lower abdominal area and feel like I gotta poo. I get in there and nothing can come out... like its too big or plugged. I start to salivate horrendously, can't swallow, start dry heaving due to fact surgery took my ability to throw up away forever. Hurl foam and spit, but the pains in the gutt that goes along with puking are there. Eyes watering, nose running. I have to do deep breathing exercises to get through the abdominal pain and not to pass out. The finally the poop comes out, solids or softer, then I'm ok again.
This takes so much out of me. Such violent puking movements I've mentioned while pooping pains are the same. And the salivating is awful! What could be causing this??
I can't go back to my doctor due to the fact that I had to quit my job from being gone so much these past 2 years with illness... I don't have health insurance anymore... I thought I was fixed and wouldn't need it for a couple years so I could recover easier.
Is this part of healing or something new? Anyone else have this?