Gastritis, swollen tongue and constant acid taste in mouth post fundoplication

Hi all ,

Hoping for some help and support as I feel so so low .....

I had a toupet fundoplication mainly to repair an 8cm hiatus hernia and associated acid reflux and constant acid taste back on Feb 1st. My hernia was sliding and when it was 'up' my symptoms were awful yet when it was down I had 0 symptoms and could eat spicy foods drink alcohol with no effect whatsoever. Typically I had a month of symptoms then relief for a month .
Recovery was going well with a few weeks early on where I had a burning throat and acid in my mouth , which scared me but I believe it was due to food getting stuck and irritating my oesophagus.

I stuck to the diet 100%.

At 9 weeks I went to a wedding and although I was still very careful probably had a few 'new' things along with a small glass of wine. A day after I began with burning in my mouth. No pain, reflux sensations , just acid taste in my mouth with a swollen scalloped tongue.

I hoped this would pass but after 3 weeks with 0 respite despite a complete pull back to bland soft foods I went to see my consultant. He diagnosed gastritis as by this time I had a slight burning / pain in my upper stomach area .

So back on 40mg omeprazole and eating a fairly strict gastritis diet . So now for almost 5 weeks I have had this constant acid taste and burning in my mouth with a swollen and irritated tongue .

I understand that gastritis will irritate my wrap but how can this volmume of acid be in my mouth constantly for so long ?? The stomach pain is only slight and barely noticeable most of the time .

I am so so depressed about this I never ever felt this bad or for so long Pre op . I just wish I had never had it done 😔 😔😔

Anyone have any positive thoughts? Why can I taste this acid literally ALL. THE .TIME ??

Hi mike, sorry to hear you are having problems ..
I had the acid taste fairly continuously for probably 6 / 7 months . A post op barium swallow showed that even a few months down the line food and liquids were hanging about at my wrap producing an acidic taste in my mouth . My consultant said sometimes it just happens that it takes your body a little longer to get used to the new valve, even many monthsin some cases.

Mine continued from jan to July where overnight it disappeared only to return 2 weeks later . I have had really long periods where my stomach has been 100%, but to complicate things I fell pregnant with our 3rd child 9 months post op ( a surprise!) which kind of threw everything out ... I had extreme sickness and couldn’t take the meds prescribed and couldn’t be sick so was in a pretty rubbish state ...

So 2 years on I still get the acid taste ..... maybe 2 or 3 days a week ? But I wouldn’t be surprised if I have re herniated as being pregnant is what gave me the hernia in the first place 🙄
Hope you get some answers , maybe request a barium swallow to check motility through the wrap ?

Thanks mike !
I’m not too bad , it’s annoying more than anything .. I wouldn’t say I’m in any pain it’s just unpleasant and something I hoped I would have gotten rid of ... it did go though ! Just getting pregnant screwed it up even further ... but I have a beautiful baby boy so all worth it 😊
It really is one of those ops that takes a really long time to recover from , year almost . So don’t give up hope yet ....