Eating problems after hiatal hernia & nissen fundoplication

I had hiatal hernia repair with fundiloplication in September 2024. The operation went well but I had problems with blood oxygen levels for about a month afterwards.

The surgery seems to have worsened my allergies- cannot eat any gluten or milk products.

My issue is that they told me I would be unable to vomit. But sometimes when I have a reaction to something I’ve eaten, I do vomit. It happens so fast that I have no time to take the nausea medication. I thought I would be unable to vomit after the surgery but maybe I’m not SUPPOSED to vomit? It’s a different type of vomiting than ever before.

After a year and a half after my hiatal hernia operation I will be going for a second opinion soon to a female doctor rather than the male doctor & staff who did my surgery. I had concerns after surgery on bodily changes and they were poo poo'd and not addressed sufficiently to my liking. I have had weight loss post surgery from 1.5 years of 30 lbs, cannot eat dense foods like carrots, beef without struggling and swallowing hard and basically no longer have a good appetite because of the fear of choking and the backwash it produces coming up my throat. After surgery I also became lactose intolerant & after an upper GI again the doc's told me I have another small hernia that I was told not to worry about it yet I have ongoing pain bouts at times & the only relief I get is by drinking water and doing deep breathing exercises while stretching out my abdomen area.

Thanks so much for all the helpful information;) 🤗

I too have a damaged vagus nerve after delay of 6 months to repair an organoaxial volvulus stomach and possible reactivation of varicella virus, I now also have bleeding esophagus
I am appalled by the lack of dietary advice available to patients in the US. I now google every food, tea, spice, or herb that I might eat and ask is it OK with Gastroparesis, weak LES, and bleeding esophagus and have been pleases with the amount of advise given, You might want to give it a try as everyone has such different food tastes, it helps to be ,ore specific im stead of relying on generic food lists, I also requested pelvic floor PT to help with exercises and breathing exercises to strengthen the diaphram and the the vagus nerve, You can also google vagus nerve strengthening and find things like humming, singing the vowels, massaging ear lobes, facial yoga exercises, cold water to face, diaphram breathing exercises, but I would definately try and get in to see a pelvic floor PT expert, and if you had history of chicken pox, ebstien Barr virus, CMV, or HSVor covid ask your PCP about possibility of reactivation of a virus,
US healthcare system is terribly broken, Doctors are now treated as interchangeable linemen and we are basically fungible articles for billable hours on the comveyor belt. Doctors don’t have time to to do a thorough assessment of patients with complex issues, often sent to many specialists, who are so siloed into their specialty they are unaware of how all our systems work together or impact each other or how medications affect nutritional status, There is a lot of junk science on the internet, but I rely on information from the NIH mainly with some from other reputable medical journals, I usually print these off and take them to my appointments to ask the doctors opinion, .good luck , this is no easy DX, but I think found the right healthy food , exercise, proper sun and fresh air exposure a long with the inherent wisdom of our bodies amazing ability to heal is worth a serious pursuit,

This was very helpful. Thanks so much for telling me about Zofran as well. I am sure that will come in handy:)

It has been two years this June since I had the surgery. It did take about 8 months to get to where I didn't have to worry so much about eating. That said, taking small bites, chewing food and sips of water is the way to eat anyhow. I didn't and don't eat too much meat if ever but fish, yogurt no problem. I still have my original bottle of Zofran and only took maybe 8-10 during the first year. I also had a mesh implant and they told me not to ever throw up again. The reason for Zofran.

After my surgery I wound up with gastroparesis. It’s a life changing problem. My vagus nerve was injured from the surgery. It’s not uncommon-check with your GI doctor.

thank you for the hug, Sending you one back,
let me know if any of these things help or if I can help I’m Amy other way, Take care,

Thank you for your recommendations. I will definitely research some of these things. I’m so sorry that you have had to go through all of that. Sending you a big hug.

I had organioaxial volvulus stomach with periesophageal fundiloplication done laparoscopicly done 8/10/23. I am still having problems. I had an Hgb or 4.8, bilateral lung PE, aortic embolism, and small R basil ganglion lacunar infarct, I was given transfusions and blood thinners k but was not told of the stomach issue and it was not realized and surgically corrected for 6 months, This has resulted in vagus nerve damage, and now have bleeding esophagus. Health care in America is unfortunately broken, and doctors are given very little nutrition education, They don’t seem to be aware of how much they do not know .
PPI made things worse and after a few searches, I found out that they not only can cause malabsorption of iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and B12 but can relax the LES (lower esophageal sphincter). I also found out that GERD symptoms can be caused by low acid as well as high acid levels, , Before treating ask your doctor to confirm if acid is high or low, My doctors are looking into reactivation of varicella for esophageal bleeding as this requires a different treatment, I don't know if the reason is because Medicare only pays for a nutritionist if you have diabetes or kidney disease, or because doctors are given very little training in nutrition, or they are really not given enough time for a quality assessment and time to research more rare issues, but it is a vital part of healing, I now google every food to see how it affects the LES (relaxing or strengthening) and the effects on esophageal bleeding for better food choices,
I recommend googling every food you plan on eating and as if it is ok with whatever your diagnosis is, and then check out the results with your doctor, Healing can take a long time, so you are smart to be kind and patient with yourself, I have also found guided imagry tapes by by Bellruth Naperstek found at Hayhouse.com or on Amazon audio, to be very helpful, Request a PT referral to learn diaphram strengthening . Or google diaphragm strengthening breathing exercises to start, Breathing exercises are ap very important to strengthen the diaphragm and to balance sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, I think every surgeon should be sending their. Patients to a nutritionist and for PT to assist with the best surgical outcome,
You can also google the importance of sunshine, plants in your bedroom, and use of organic regenerative foods for quality, Hope this helps. .food luck with your recovery