@marlaxyz , I have had a very hard journey with a paraesophageal (sliding) hiatal hernia.. a blog post that I have tried to keep updated of my journey: http://zarogasnook.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-long-time-passing.html ( I don't put ads on my blog.)

The hernia pulled my stomach into my chest. I had a Nissen in 2001. I live in a small town in GA and at the time I thought I had done enough research. My surgeon had said he had done many of them and had good results. (they do not tell you of their failures and some will avoid your questions of what if.. we will deal with it if it happens.. I want to know how you will deal with it, and what is recovery time and what can I expect afterwards)) My stubborn hernia started the process of herniating again almost immediately. I had my gallbladder out at same time. I am not sure which process caused my dumping syndrome. Some have said they have had it without having the gallbladder out. My father-in-law had the surgery a few months later by same surgeon and his wrap was too tight.. he cannot burp nor vomit... which can be pretty miserable if you get a virus.

In 2007 the hernia had pulled my stomach into my chest again. After doing research again I chose a different surgeon thinking he might be better at the repair than the first. The surgeon used mesh. I was in pain and could not get him to listen to me. I decided to live with the pain and enjoy life best I could. In 2012 I was vomitting up everything I ate and losing weight quickly. I saw my gastroenterologist. After test he urged me to have surgery again and soon. He recommended a different surgeon, and the surgeon wanted more test and then told me I did need surgery, but he would not do and no one in my home town should. He sent me to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL. I had the Nissen wrap undone and part of my fundus had to be removed because the mesh had eaten into it.. it was the biggest cause of my pain. Because of the loss of part of the fundus I could not have another Nissen wrap, so the hernia was anchored to my diaphragm. The hernia still insisted on being. I was to have a swallow test in a few months and follow up. Yep, the test showed the hernia brought my stomach into my chest again. The surgeon who did the surgery had left the Mayo Clinic so I saw another surgeon there, Dr Bowers. He said he would be a fool to try to to do the standard repair again. He decided on a gastric bypass.. did you know that surgery came to be to repair hiatal hernias and the side effect was weight loss? Yep, my hernia inssisted on presisting after that surgery and I had a 5th surgery. The rest is at my blog. It is just a bit of my journey and not deep detail.

I think Dr Bowers is awesome.. he is a great planner. I suggest seeing more than one surgeon before having surgery. There is now another procedure called Lynx.. I don't think I have the spelling correct.. for reflux. You need a hernia repair too, which can be done with the procedure, but it depends on the severity of the hernia. You need to find out all your options from an expert surgeon on the surgeries.

All my surgeons were general surgeons... even Dr Bowers. My local surgeon had said of the Mayo surgeons: they fix other surgeon's mistakes and fix the oddity,, hard cases.

My symptoms were the acid reflux, chest discomfort.. feeling of pressure and sometimes sharp chest pains, burping, nausea, vomiting. I also have gastroparesis that can cause some of these symptoms. Even after 5 surgeries to repair the hernia I still have symptoms. The reflux is in the form of mucus now. It still irritates my throat.

I really don't know if the dumping syndrome was caused by the Nissen or the gallbladder removal. I had almost immedite failure of the Nissen wrap.

I don't regret the Nissen.. I just regret not choosing better surgeons.

Please know I am a rarity. Very few have such bad luck as this with a paraesophageal hernia.

Wishing you the best of luck.
Zaroga