Adjustable bed frames: Acid reflux after esophageal cancer treatment

For the patient who has had an esophagectomy. Take the omeprazole about 30 minutes prior to eating your morning meal. If your waking hours are daytime and you get up at about 7:00 am, immediately take the omeprazole. About 30 minutes later eat your 1st meal of the day. Your last meal of the day before bedtime should be your smallest and easiest food to digest. Take the 2nd omeprazole 30 minutes before the last meal. Most GI Doc's will say "eat 3 hours before bedtime and that is not enough time for your food to break down and move entirely into the small intestine. You want the feeding tube that replaced the esophagus to be as clear as possible. During the 30 minutes before you recline in bed for your night's sleep, you can chew two or three Tums that will help to reduce the acid in your feeding tube. Your feeding tube is part of your stomach but is verticle in your chest. You no longer have a sphincter valve to reduce the upflow of acid. Reducing acid is important to protect the stub of the esophagus below your throat. Don't bend over right after you eat or your food will come out of your mouth. Your diet must include hi-fiber foods and a cap of Miralax every day. Keeping your bowel movements loose will prevent constipation. Always sleep on an incline with the head of the bed higher than the foot.

No feeding tube here. They stretched my stomach up into my chest.

Sorry for the use of "feeding tube" without an explanation of the meaning. A normal stomach is a bowl designed to hold food and gradually break it down for entry into the small intestine. As the attached illustration shows, the stomach's physical configuration drastically changes after surgery, and its function as a bowl no longer exists. Using the "feeding tube" label is an attempt to illustrate that we still have an esophagus-type tube that provides a pathway for food intake. Perhaps calling the "feeding tube" a "new esophagus" would be more clear. My objective is to get patients to understand that the function of the stomach that we had is no longer possible. The "new esophagus", unlike the old esophagus is made of stomach material and does continue to produce some acid. The stub of the old esophagus is the juncture where the "new esophagus" is attached. At that point, the stomach acid can over time deteriorate the stub. That's why other steps need to be taken to reduce acid production. Over ten years ago I had an esophagectomy and the average life span to survive was five years. I'm going for twenty. I've been a patient advocate for ten years. You can private message me.

I bought a 'wedge' pillow at Walmart. It works well and is comfortable. Before you spend lots of money try it.

Very good explaination!!!!!

I got a wedge pillow at Walmart. Works well. Cheaper than buying an adjustable bed. I am still learning which foods upset my stomach and will cause aspiration. Also, I always wait at least 3 hours after dinner before going to bed because I could aspirate. Stay positive and take it easy!

I got an adjustable split king frame from Sam's Club. Very good quality and was $1100 delivered. It also has zero G position which I like as I don’t slip down.

AND it fit within my existing bed frame!

Where did you get the incline base made for your bed? What was it made of?

Prior to my esoph surgery we replaced our bed with a split king adjustable from Amazon and two twin xl memory foam mattresses. I think it was a round $1400 total and I don't know if that seems affordable for you but I think it was reasonable. The sleeping adjustment I had to make wasn't so much getting used to the head of the bed being raised since I'm a professional at napping in a recliner, it was getting comfortable raising my legs as well so I stopped sliding down the bed at night!