r/HiatalHernia

I'm currently 2 weeks into a 40 day sugar fast. I had to work an unexpected cosing shift at my restaurant because we were short staffed, I NEEDED something to get me through, so for the first time in my life I bought and drank a coke zero over the course of my 5 hour shift. Since then (3 days ago) I have been having periodic heart palpations. Somewhere around 20 palpatations per day I would say.

I was diagnosed with a hiatial hernia when I was a teenager but haven't had any issues with it for many many years. I normally drink 1-2 coffee/day.

Has anyone else experienced this from only 1 coke experience with aspartame? I'm FREAKED out.

Suffering so much right now and wondering how long I will have to wait to have surgery after delivery. GI doctor didn’t know.

Chest pains, heart palpitations, anxiety, shortness of breath, chest fullness. I feel like I'm having a heart attack all the times and it is so exhausting. I'm starting to suffer from insomnia due to the pain and anxiety.

On a really bland diet, avoiding triggers, on 40mg pantoprazole and while the PPI helped me be able to at least eat and drink water, I haven’t noticed any further improvement. In fact I often feel like I’m regressing again. Been on it for 3 weeks. I have gastritis and esophagitis from my hiatal hernia (at least I think the hernia is the root cause).

No idea where to go from here. I use gaviscon, tums, and I have a Pepcid tolerance now so feels like I’m straight out of luck.

Been suffering for 4 months total, can’t go out to eat, mental health is in the toilet, and ugh…sorry just need to vent.

I had the Toupet Fundoplication surgery on April 8th. At first, everything was great. The day I came home from the hospital, I had some chicken broth and I had no problem swallowing. I coughed that evening for the first time after surgery and then everything changed. The sour taste in my mouth, which I was so relieved to have gotten rid of is back, full force. I have now started coughing like before, but not as often. Did my surgery fail? 😞

Hey everyone,

I’m 31, M, 270lbs. A couple of months ago I began having a lot of heartburn accompanied with just the most intense belching I’ve ever had after basically anything I ate. For reference, I don’t eat too horribly because I’m a powerlifter but I def have some fast food here and there.

Fast forward to early March, I had an endoscopy done and discovered I have GERD, Barrett’s, and a 5cm sliding hiatal hernia. I was already on 40mg of omeprazole, but my GI recommends I do 80mg a day and to lose 50 more pounds (lol). I have lost about 15 pounds since just eating as clean as possible (no alcohol, coffee, fast food etc) but the belching just does not relent. I am eating a lot of Greek yogurt, peanut butter, rice cakes, and chicken/fish. Does anyone else have just terrible belching? It legit keeps me up at night even if I didn’t eat 4-5 hours prior.

Also, doesn’t 80mg of omeprazole seem a little high? I’ve never met anyone taking more than 40. Any insights or experiences shared would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,

On Monday I had a Toupet fundoplication surgery. In short, I had the procedure because of constant heartburn, frequent belching, and the acid was significantly damaging my esophagus. During the first four days after the surgery, I didn’t feel any heartburn at all.

However, yesterday and today I started to feel some mild heartburn again, even though I am still strictly following a liquid diet. Is it normal for heartburn to return like this, or can it still change and improve over the coming weeks?

Thank you in advance.

Given the slow motility I understand it may make my hernia symptoms worse. But my doctor has said my nighttime reflux symptoms, which really affect my sleep, may improve if I lose weight - so I am tempted to try it.

Any experiences?

This has been happening to me for 4 days.

I eat and I'm lethargic. Takes me an effort to walk or even move my arms. Plus my stomach ( center of my diaphragm to be precise) feels a bit weird.

I was diagnosed a year ago with a 3 cm HH.

I had issues but honestly speaking I felt I recovered to about 95%

I was able to eat almost anything and could eat large meals

I was healing fine

This continued for about 2 months( the 95% recovered phase)

Now, this new issue.

Please help me understand.

Is my blood pressure dropped?

I’ll start by saying I’ve had GERD for 20 years or so but it’s waxed and waned in intensity with years of mostly no symptoms. Recently, I’ve been having this chest discomfort mostly slightly left of center that basically has been a constant nagging discomfort. The pain travels to both sides of my rib cage. I feel some discomfort along my diaphragm and sometimes stomach.

Other than that, I’ve felt gassy/burpy in my upper GI tract, occasional nausea with certain foods, and have had a wheezy sensation in my throat when I wake up. I don’t take any meds besides enzymes which seemed to nip reflux episodes quickly.

I’m scheduled to see a GI this week.

Has anyone had symptoms persist this constantly?

I was on Pepcid during pregnancy (which is how my hernia developed) my reflux was terrible when pregnant but as soon as baby was out it got 90% better. I’ve been taking 1 a day (prescribed by my Dr)since birth (so for 9 months) until I saw a comment about it affecting kidneys, which is why the bottle in the stores says on take for 2 weeks. I tried to ween off of it, but even then I still need one about every other day to make my reflux manageable

Looking for some insight from those of you who have large para-esophageal hernias.

I have an elderly mother with dementia who also has a large para-esophageal hernia. She's had the hernia for years, but it's unclear to me how much it has worsened over the years because I wasn't involved in her medical affairs when she was first diagnosed, but I am now due to her dementia.

Recently, she has been burping a lot and not able to eat more than a few bites of her meals. She seems interested in eating when the food is served to her, but after a few bites she says she doesn't feel like eating anymore. It's hard to get more information from her due to the dementia.

I know that there could be a number of reasons why she's not eating much, but I get the sense that it is hernia-related because she seems eager to eat at first, but then stops after a few bites. It's not like she's stopped eating because she's lost her will to live.

Can anyone who has had a large para-esophageal hernia comment on if this feeling of early fullness/not feeling like eating is something you experience? Thank you!

Edit to add the verbiage from a recent chest x-ray that was done for another reason: "A double density about the left heart border is consistent with the presence of a large hiatal hernia."

Diagnosis 3cm hiatal hernia, chronic mild gastritis, chronic mild duodenitis. Symptoms: stomach hypersensitivity, reflux, regurgitation, nausea, fullness, pressure, stomach burning, belching. Could surgery lead to all of these resolving? How much of a gamble is this?

Big bulge in my diaphragm that hurts really bad constant chest pain feels like mucus in my throat can’t eat much so I lost 30 pounds. I’ve taken almost every test and doctors can’t figure it out

Just mesh, no wrap.

I was given this antibiotic for SIBO. 4 days after I took it it seems to have triggered some sort of flareup of my hiatal hernia. Interestingly enough, I didn’t have any flareup why I had the SIBO or while I was taking the antibiotic.

Did anyone else take this and have that reaction?

So had an appointment today with a specialist/surgeon regarding my hiatal/hiatus hernia and it's fairly weird to me because i've had pretty much every test so far including Barium Swallow test, CT Scan, X-Ray and Endoscopy.

The previous tests from barium swallow and ct scan both showed the Hiatal Hernia at around 7cm which the doctor agreed with me at first about is quite large. But then at my appointment the doctor i saw went to speak to the surgeon which took maybe 10 minutes and then when he comes back he says on the endoscopy it's only about a 1cm hiatal hernia and they're not recommending surgery on the hernia.

I don't know how reliable that information is about the size of the hernia. From what the doctor at the hospital says endoscopy does give a better idea of the size of the hernia but does that mean the CT scan results are wrong? i read the CT scan reports also and it says a large sized hiatus/hiatal hernia.

Now the doctor also switching the subject to removal of my gallbladder which is something else i've dealt with for about 10 years that doesn't cause me any symptoms, but somewhat larger polyps, which is a different issue.

Mentioned my symptoms i've experienced like heart palpitations and chest pain also but the doctor (not actually the surgeon) kept bringing up just acid reflux and as the main point and maybe increasing my pantoprazole medication.

Don't really know where to go from here. Not sure about getting my gallbladder removed yet too because of possible negative side effects from what i've been told., along with a moderately/large sized hiatal hernia could make things even worse in the aftermath of that surgery.

My local GP/Doctor is fairly similar when it comes to this also when i've mentioned symptoms like heart palpitations in regards to my hernia my GP has said i'm stressing about nothing or i'm a hypochondriac. But i've definitely experienced what felt like a heart attack to me, i've been sitting at my office desk and then went to lie down in bed because it felt like my heart throbbing violently.

Can share any thoughts or advice, thanks.

Located in Australia myself.

I'm sitting here losing a pound a day, frequently getting dehydrated because I am in so much discomfort and if I eat or drink, , my stomach becomes distended, blah blah blah. I've had all the CT scans and x-rays and it all points to my hiatal hernia being the only issue.

Went to see a gastroenterologist and she basically said well all we can do is a endoscopy, I don't know what else you want from us.

Also having regular migraines that are debilitating, blah blah blah, and regular doctors won't help and I can't get into see an opto neurologist until the end of the month and that's just for a consult.

ER doctors are just looking for heart attacks and strokes ... regular doc just wants to prescribe more pills, and specialists ...first of all take forever to see and then once you see them, they're dismissive and give you the same damn advice there are the things you're already doing.

Hi, I had a Nissen fundo surgery 5 months ago and chatgpt already gave me a workout program about chest and abs. But I’d still like to ask people who have either consulted a doctor about this or experienced it themselves:

Which abs and chest exercises are the safest and won’t put pressure on the stomach?

Right now, I’m doing forearm, biceps, triceps, shoulder, back and chest exercises (wall push-ups), but I’m only using 2 kg dumbbells and resistance band. I want to train my abs and chest too but I don’t want to take any risks, so I wanted to ask. Which exercises you would recommend ?