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Throwing up brown bile when waking in the morning
Almost 2 years ago my husband had Ivor Lewis op. He’s been using a Jtube for a few months now but lately he’s been feeling unwell when he wakes. This morning he vomited brownish bile. He suffers from bad reflux with a cough. Has this happened to anyone here. We do all the necessary things to help the reflux, raised bed…sleeping sitting up, extra pillows, watching what he eats, medication etc…it’s very worrying. This is the first time he has vomited tho. Any help would be appreciated.
Deb
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maybe try eating a little something, like a banana?
Hi,
I SO identify with what your husband is going through. I am 8 years post-esophagectomy. I've had bile acid reflux since about the 1st year post surgery and it has gotten worse. Most of the time I am up 2-4 hours nightly with bile spewing into my mouth and windpipe. Wakes me up sometimes and I am choking.
Seems about 30% of esophagectomy patients suffer with this. It's nasty but there doesnt seem to be a whole lot that can be done to prevent it from occurring. There are drugs like Carrafate which supposedly soothe the lining of the stomaphagus but I find it just constipates me and makes things worse.
there are some people who swear by eating a few mouthfuls of popcorn before bed but I choked on it and shortly after ended up with aspiration pneumonia so I am not inclined to recommend that as a hack.
Final thought: PPI's are useless for bile acid reflux. Wish I had some great suggestions for you but I wish your husband good luck in trying to find way to calm this down and maybe the Carrafate will help him.
@hardtoswallow
Thanks for your answer…he suffers reflux but that was the first time he brought up bile. I’ll look into carrafate, we’re here in nz and not sure if it’s available here, but I’ll check with his dr. Strange but last night, no reflux, coughing during the night and no vomiting in the morning ….i don’t think he did anything different ? So frustrating !
Deb
@deb005
It IS very frustrating because it can stop and probably you'll never know why and then start up again. I've had nights when I can get all the way through without any bile and then the next night it will happen. Nothing different in terms of food, drink, length of time after eating before getting into bed, etc.
The other go-to I forgot to mention in previous post is Gaviscon which comes in chewables and liquid. It's not a cure by any stretch but I find that when the bile is disgustingly bad if I take a swig or two it will calm (minimally) down the burn at least for a few minutes. You're supposed to take it in advance but I find it does nothing for me that way so it's an emergency swig when I can't take it anymore.