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Hiatal Hernia. What helps?
I was just diagnosed with a small hiatal hernia but I'm feeling pretty miserable. I was a perfectly healthy person and this all started a couple months ago. It started with a feeling of a "lump" at the bottom of my esophagus (or top of my stomach). Sometimes I had a burning feeling in my esophagus. I mentioned it with my gastroenterologist before a routine colonoscopy; she pretty much dismissed it but immediately put me on Prilosec in the morning and Zantac.It really doesn't help very much. before bed. I had and EGD and she diagnosed and irritated esophagus and stomach and a small hiatal hernia.
I have now given up coffee, wine, chocolate, beef, tomatoes and eating after dinner (everyday the list grows.) We have propped our bed at an angle. I am afraid to eat. She insists that the hernia is not causing this, but it must be. I'm in my 50's, perfect weight and have never even had heartburn. If this doesn't improve soon, I am thinking of going to Mayo for a full evaluation. I can't live this way and I DO NOT want to be on medicine the rest of my life.
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I relate to symptoms you describe @suellyn and love your idea @1285meet for online PT. Some exercises/stretches you describe I am already doing and find helpful. Reading your posts I am revisiting my local GI telling me I have a small HH that makes no impact on anything, and interested to learn more. What the heck is a sliding HH @ohio333 ? I’ll check out online PT. My other concern is if something is happening that will cause bigger problems if it doesn’t get addressed.
There are 2 types of hiatal hernia. One is sliding, it goes up and down the esophagus so it can be hard to diagnose. The other is Paraesophageal (meaning next to the esophagus). Those are less common but more serious.
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1 ReactionI checked out YouTube PT for hiatal hernia and was overwhelmed. Can you please tell us which sites you have found helpful?
Many thanks,
Sarah
Searching Hiatal Hernia Treatments, I liked the exercises on the site AskDoctorJo. You don’t need any equipment.
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1 ReactionSevere stomach pain when bending over like it flips or charlie horse. Getting more frequent. Pain horrible, can't even stand up when hits. Diagnosed with hiatil hernia years ago. Any ideas
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1 ReactionMy hernia is back
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1 Reaction@kdubois With the Nexium and others you have to watch your B vitamin levels. I was on that for far too long and after a few injections, now take sublingual B12.
@riflemanz64
I was diagnosed with Barrett's awhile back. I changed my diet, I had seen an internal medicine Dr. (he had his own office)- alternative Dr. He did extensive food testing on me and a stool test too. He found that I had an intolerance to wheat, gluten and dairy. He suggested that I go gluten free and dairy free. That is what I did and 5 upper endocsopies later, I no longer have Barrett's Esophagus, I cured myself, just from my diet. Have you had any type of food testing done? If not, I would highly encourage you to get food testing done. You can go to the Allergy Dr. and get the "prick" kind of testing done on your back or your arm, that is one type of food testing. Don't rely on just that, as that shows different results from the other type of food testing. The other type is lab/blood drawn and then it is sent off to a lab. Then, you get the results several weeks later. The lab/blood drawn is usually done by a Functional Medicine Dr. They are more expensive, however they will spend a lot of time with you, order a lot of blood work tests to rule out anything. They dig deeper than your primary care Dr. who hits the highlights-does routine type testing regularly, which is good. You might be able to change the way you eat and not have Barrett's! I'm not sure if that will work for you or not, however it worked for me. I feel so much better not eating wheat/gluten and dairy. It is more difficult eating out and cooking and baking at home, but I feel so much better and my body doesn't reject the wheat and the gluten/dairy like it did before with throwing up, tummy ache, diarrhea, etc... and I have acid reflux too and gastritis.
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1 Reaction@safarigoddess
Yes, I have severe gagging type cough. I have actually choked at times from coughing so much while eating. I burp a lot after drinking water, etc... I have been coughing for the past 3 years. I mention the hiatal hernia to my Dr's and they don't want to do anything with my hiatal hernia. I see a Functional Medicine Dr. now. Still go to Gastro Dr. Have you tried a Functional Medicine Dr. yet? They are pricey but it is worth it. Doc ran a lot of blood testing, so they are finding I am deficient in B vitamins and giving me more supplements for my brain too. I have chronic micro vascular ischemia. They do food testing as well, if you haven't had that done yet, would be worth finding out if you have any allergies, intolerances, sensitivities. I highly recommend going to one.
@animallover25 I wrote that note some time ago, and since have been taking omeprazole which has me cough 50% less ! I will eventually get a broncoscopy because I now feel that it has to do with having broncheolitis 15 years ago.