nerve entrapment/SIBO after bile reflux surgery?

Posted by bborth @bborth, Mar 27, 2021

I thought to start here given my issues stemming from bile reflux surgery (roux en y but not for weight loss) 18 months ago. It has been a battle ever since this surgery, but thing had gotten so bad I really had no choice. A few months after the surgery I came down with SIBO due to the antibiotics post surgery taking all the bacteria of my gut. A breath test confirmed this, and a no sugar diet/Xifaxan seemed to do the trick after 5-6 weeks. Things were relatively fine until about 2 months ago when more distinct pain/nausea started up around where my incision is on my stomach (5-6 inches, went through stomach muscle). I figured SIBO was back, but this time the Xifaxan only helped somewhat. My internal med doc said I have nerve entrapment syndrome (as well as SIBO possibly) which is not unheard of after a surgery like this. Anyone out there dealt with this? Just can't imagine dealing with daily abdominal pain and some nausea like this. No appetite either.

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@bborth After a failed Nissen surgery in Central Iowa, Mayo MN diagnosed my post operative gastroparesis .. That causes daily abdominal pain and some nausea.. I even take Mirtazapine to "make me think I want to eat" as my Mayo GI doctor described the problem.. Post operative means that when they were poking around in there ... they injured some nerves... that do not regenerate.. Good Luck.. Ken

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Interesting. Did you do some kind of motility test then to see how food was moving through the GI tract? I did the capsule a year ago when I was dealing with similar issues, but it came back normal. I then did the breath test which showed the SIBO markers. As time has gone on I have felt more nerve type issues around the incision area which are now more prominent than ever. Did you know this soon after your surgery, or did it take awhile to manifest? I should have my stool/blood/urine test results to go over this week to see about the SIBO stuff alongside the nerve entrapment dx now. Fun stuff. Need some relief soon though, this is making me lose weight due to not being able to eat much of anything solid right now, thus making me more fatigued on top of it.

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@bborth My stomach problems started immediately after surgery... I had lost 50# prior to going to Mayo MN to find out what was wrong... I have gained back nearly 40 of that in the past 6 years since going to Mayo.. Mayo gave me a standardized meal with a tracer in it first off..

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Hello. How are you doing now? Hopefully better? I am going to Mayo this next week for bile reflux after GB removal. Has left me in debilitating pain and bed bound. I am hoping I can get the Deemester DS surgery to divert bile away from stomach. Can I ask where you got your bile reflux surgery done and why you didn’t do the DS surgery? Thank you.

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@ken82

@bborth After a failed Nissen surgery in Central Iowa, Mayo MN diagnosed my post operative gastroparesis .. That causes daily abdominal pain and some nausea.. I even take Mirtazapine to "make me think I want to eat" as my Mayo GI doctor described the problem.. Post operative means that when they were poking around in there ... they injured some nerves... that do not regenerate.. Good Luck.. Ken

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Hi Ken,
I suffer from gastro paresis as well and understand what you going thru. I also started Mirtazapine had to stop as it made me drowsy and I struggled all day. Tried 1/2 and then a 1/4 had the same effect. Wondering if you had the same effect!

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@karina1954 .. mirtazapine has no adverse effects on me that I have noticed.. been on it since 2015.. I live alone.. but at 86 I certainly up and ahead of most peers.. friends have not mentioned that I have a problem.. Dr. Halland at Mayo MN.. said that the drug was to make me want to eat... gaining weight or even keeping it up is a constant struggle.. good luck

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Ken...I'm right there with you. Struggling to put on weight.
Thank you for replying. Wish you the best...

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