Has anyone else been diagnosed with Vagus Nerve Dysfunction?

Im not diagnosed yet, but my bariatric surgeon thinks this is what’s wrong and that’s scary to think I might not tolerate the gtube feeds!

How are things now?

very much like you, multiple surgeries (13) with a poorly done lap banding. due to the multiple surgeries nothing was exactly where it should have been. The doctor put the banding from the sphinter of the esophagus down. missing the necessary muscle protection. The band cut the esophagus , the sphinter and the stomach. after 2 years I asked that it be removed. I had been having a spactic esophagus every day. constant pain. 3 different gastro doctors after doing tests on me said they wouldn't do the surgery. too drastic a problem. the last doctor referred me to a teaching hospital. They would agree to do the surgery if they could do unnecessary procedures for their teaching problems associated with the esophagus and the sphinter and nerves/mussels associated with each. The surgery was over 8 hours long. I ended up with a created bypass stomach with insufficient opening to ever do even a colonoscopy. also, they never tacked the old stomach parts anywhere. This was in 1983 with the original banding in 1981. In 1986 I fell down a flight of stairs. herniated 3 discs at c3-c6 also 2 at l5/s1. Multiple gastro problems, diabetes(type 2) and start of neuropathy in feet and hands and breathing problems. In November 2012 I fell on my back. I crushed 5 vertibrae in the thorax and cracked my tailbone. By now I am in extreme pain in my back, took multiple pain pills. After brain fog and other research I did on the damage to my other organs the pain pills did, I said no more. I prayed to God to help me. This was in the summer of 2015. within 2 weeks I lost the pain. But, I also lost many other things. My body could no longer my internal body temperature, I no longer perspired, I I had a erratic heartbeat,. I had developed total incontency. I also had a hard time with stress, The doctor said I developed breathing problems. He claimed it was asma. I was diagnosed with autonomic disease. (nerve damage). I am in a wheelchair. I have learned that I am not in control. God is. I am grateful for the life I have. I requires a great deal of maintenance on my part. But, without the back pain and other pain. my quality of life is good. I live each day grateful for having it and try to find joy in each day. Oh, I forgot to mention. The stomach they didn't tack after the surgery in 1983, with the fall in 2012 came loose and migrated down to the upper colon, which in a spastic moment went inside said stomach. I now have a "herna" (quite large) 2 inches above the belly button. Your attitude is what will make your life bearable. thanks for listening. God is taking care of me. sharon

Wow 🤯 Sharon you sure have been through the wringer and all because of incompetence of the medical profession but amazingly you still have a great attitude and I hope that things get better for you. It’s too bad that you can’t find a competent dr. Good luck 🤞 in the future and I hope that you can get your body fixed up properly soon. Have as a good a 😊 day as possible.

I know how you feel and what you are going through. I just found out my vagus nerve is my problem. I was suffering since 2011 with GI symptoms, sweating, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, frequent urination and forceful bowel movements which caused me to pass out a few times. I also had sever pain on the sides of neck radiating to shoulders and upper arm muscle. Not one doctor could figure out what was going on. So just kept sending me to pain management. Then they thought it was my heart or POTS and off to cardiologist who thought it was Neuroendocrine tumor. After multiple test and GI studies. No answers. Then I went to Endocrinologist and all test were normal. She suggest to get a second opinion from a GI doctor, which I did. He said he will do every test possible, which he did. The final outcome was when I went for a HIDA Scan for the gallbladder and they gave the the hormone CCK changed everything!. My pain went away and so did all my GI symptoms. I was down to 100 lbs! Crazy! So they came to conclusion I have a damaged vagus nerve and now waiting to get an appointment with a neurosurgeon. I don't know what they will do, but I've been doing everything possible to calm down that nerve. One is deep breathing and relaxing, smell lavender, chew gum, massage my ears, got a tens unit for the ear and get foot reflexology. Believe me this has helped a lot. My pain is coming back but not as bad, but all my GI symptoms have disappeared. I did a lot of research on this nerve and it can cause numerous problems. I think mine was damaged from a few rear ended car accidents. I use to suffer from bad migraines and headaches every day. Then I was rear ended by a drunk driver and I hit the left lower side of my head. Ever since then, which was 2002, I have never had another migraine or headache since! I think that was the first sign that the vagus nerve was damaged, but when I told the doctors this story they just laughed at me and one even told me he would keep a fry pan in his office and hit his patients with it who have migraines! Can you believe how they treat you, when you are dealing with a serious issue. So I have suffered with this issue since. I hope this information an help you and you find some relieve. I also know surgeries can damage the nerve too. I would suggest you see a neurosurgeon and hopefully they can help. My best to all of you dealing with this issue.

been there, done that. very much the same problems. I turned to God and alternative medicine. First rule, try to stay calm. Don't let problems cause additional pain. I treat it as PTSD since I have no control over the pain that stress/anxiety cause. I contacted a herb specialist friend and told her about my vegus nerve damage and she gave me her PTSD pills for veterans she treats with PTSD. The pills contain Dashamoola, passion flower, shankhpushpi, and boswellia. I research them and couldn't find any adverse side effects. Big difference on my attitude adjustment. I try not to be around people with negative attitudes and try to keep a positive attitude. I take 2 or 3 hot, hot showers a day since it seems to help the stress. Even if my torso is not registering pain in my brain, during the day I can feel the stress it is causing and feel the discomfort. Try to find little acts (showers) that relax you or make you more comfortable. I feel grateful for the nerve problem. The quality of my life is much better without the chronic, severe pain I had before it. The nerve problem requires "management" of the problems directly related to them, when the nerve damage went into the head, Limphatic fluid draining from various openings ( pierced ears, empty hair folicles) It is a real problem. But somehow God gives suggestions on how to solve each days problems. Analyze the source of the pain in each new area, research what you can do for yourself to either eliminate the source of the pain or make you more comfortable coping with it. for example, I get a light (like a flashlight) on the inside of my eye before I get a migraine from nerve damage. I found that if I take a dropper of ashwagandha concentrate and put a wet rag over my eyes and lay down and relax, I don't get the migraine. You won't be able to solve/resolve everything, but just you trying is better than you get from the doctors who either don't know what to do or don't care. I wish I could be more helpful. I am grateful to God for the quality of my life daily. As long as I have my eyesight to ingest information, find joy in little things, and my mind fully functioning I feel grateful for each day . My primary Doctor says I can live 3 to 5 more years since I am managing the problems before my organs shut down. I am 81 some life does not seem so bad. Lots of limitations, but plenty of joy.