Reversal of a fundoplication

I have not spoken to the doctor yet. i did talk to my GI doctor and he said the prognosis of low grade barrett's dysplasia was correct. So if i get this undone then i have have to still deal with massive amounts of antacids as well as a possible RFA (radio frequency ablation) of the questionable bad cells in the esophagus. The RFA is painful as well as a lot of swelling of the tissue, which means liquid diet again. i have to address my other problems of my stenosis from C3-C7 in my neck as well as L4-L5 in my back. I did not get this procedure at the right time. i only hope that things settle down in the esophagus for now. Today is 117 days after the fundo....kozlo52

I did review your referenced website for the older discussions. Now i have tried something different for my RA and back/neck pain. Advil makes an enteric coated 200 mg ibuprofen that is designed to be absorbed thru the small intestine. It is a brown coated pill. i have talked to the advil people and that is what they told me. Well after 2 hours i still got heartburn. How is this possible since it is dseigned to breakdown in the small iintestine? Since my wrap is good according to the surgeon, why am i still getting heartburn? I am on 30 mg x2 of prevacid; 1000mg sulcrafate x4. i will get back to the surgeon again., but are there any ideas? Personally either the hiatal is not really fixed or the vegus nerve has been disturbed? What procedure would could be used to verify vegus nerve is still ok?... thank you...kozlo52

@kozlo52 I'm so sorry that you continue to have heartburn issues after surgery, especially while juggling additional medical stuff. I have been fortunate and haven't had any heartburn post nissen fundoplication surgery (10/18/2016 at Mayo), and I have had the post-surgery testing to check my wrap. Post-surgery, to check the status of the wrap and the hernia, what kind of testing did they do... esophagram?

Kelly , i really don't know what they did to verify the status of the wrap and hernia. We were told by the surgeon that everrything went well and was ok. But i will ask them about the esophagram to verify wrap and hiatal hernia integrity.....don't forget i kave RA and even though i take my NSAID Mobic, i still get heartburn 7 hours later. They tell me this is due to the pill hitting some of the upper esophagus muscles on the way down and aggravates a burn. i don't believe it. Thanks for the advice.....kozlo52

Immediately after my surgery, while I was still unconscious, Mayo did some imaging on me to check the wrap... BUT a month or so after my surgery, my Mayo doctors ordered another esophagram (just like the one I had pre-surgery) to check the wrap and to see how everything was functioning. If you haven't had one post-surgery and are still having heartburn issues, I would definitely ask.

Something's awry if you are experiencing heartburn no matter what else you are taking. Daily, I take a pill at 8:00 a.m., another at noon, two at 5:00 p.m., and I take other pills as needed, and I don't have any heartburn.

I have taken 2 prevacid daily for years to help control my Barretts Esophagus. I continued to take them after my wrap;. The new surgeon that i saw last week that is going to attempt to fix my wrap said that i should not have to take any meds, he explained that because the wrap prevents acid from going back through the esophagus, no meds are needed. I have stopped and will havwait two weeks to see if i still experience reflux, if i do, he says that besides my wrap being to tight, it would also be to loose at some point and he will have to fix that also. 🙁

I hope he is right. I was instructed a week ago to go back on my maximum dose of 30 mg prevacid x2 /day as well as 1000 mg of sulcrafate x4 /day. So far it doesn't seem to work very well. For example , my 65th birthday was yesterday. and i had 2 small pieces of cake with my ensure. I also earlier in the day took 1 15 mg of mobic (NSAID) for my head neck back and other RA pain. I got severe heartburn from 1 pm onward into the night. Again Why? My wrap was told to be very good, but I had 2 follow up dilations. Where is the heartburn coming from. It's been 121 days since the Fundo and hiatal hernia. Good luck with your new surgery and let me know how it works for you. By the way eating a n iced cake is very trickey and one must chew bery well as wash it down with lactaid milk ( I'm lactose intolerant)........kozlo52

This is kozlo52. Please let me know if you had your nissen reversal and what are the side effects. i had my nissen fundo (100%) and hiatal hernia fixed in nov.1,2016. i have had problems with acid reflux , heartburn, chest pain, gagging nausea, even as i write this. I'm going in tomorrow 3/16/17 to have another esophagael manometry as well as an endoscopy to see if my LES is still 100% and not letting any acid backsplash. Any info you can provide will be very helpful.....also is there anyone out there who has had the nissen fundo and hiatal hernia repair while being on painkillers or NSAIDS for fighting Rheumatoid arthritis or any other auto immune system disease and has had all the bad post fundo effects i have had. i also want to mention that sleeping is a problem, post fundo. Sleeping was not a problem pre fundo. My problem with sleeping is digestive tract noise or heartburn...thank you...kozlo52

Hi @kozlo52,

While we wait for @gregoryd and @pawsboy9 to reply, I'd like to ask @kdubois to share some insights about her Nissen experience.

I'd also like to tag @myskye, @tgirl, @katmandoo, @SherryD, @carolynlivingjaks, @cowboy1997, @peck1944 and hope they return with some information that may help you.

@kozlo52, please keep in touch, and let us know how your appointment goes?

Hi @kozlo52,

I had a Nissen Fundoplication at Mayo on October 18, 2016 to fix a 4 cm hiatal hernia and non-functioning sphincter muscle. Pre-surgery, I would constantly have heartburn and GERD. I would have to finish dinner before 6:00 p.m. every night, and sleep upright using a bed wedge or I would wake up choking on with partially-digested food and stomach acid. (We did the surgery to fix these issues but also because Mayo figured out that genetically, I don't properly-metabolize many medications, including proton pump inhibitors.)

Since the surgery, I have had no GERD or heartburn, and I can sleep normally and eat at normal times again. Post-surgery, I did take NSAIDS for pain for about two weeks.

Important to note: to test my fundoplication post-surgery, Mayo had me do an esophagram and not another manometry. The esophagram will better-show that fluids aren't coming back up into your esophagus as it's a true imaging test and they can literally watch the fluids (barium) real-time while you consume them.