Any severe GERD problems

Hi,

I am six years out from VSG and all of a sudden 3 months ago I began having sever reflux.  I had LapBand prior to the VSG.  I am having a hard time getting it under control, even with a LOT of meds.  Has anyone else had a problem with this after VSG surgery?

Thank you,

Deby

Yes. Prior to vsg had terrible Gerd. During the vsg surgery, a hiatel hernia was found and repaired. No problems with reflux for years. About 4 years later, horrible reflux and GERD again. This also happened at the same time my gallbladder went out, so some of my symptoms were caused from that, but tough to differentiate them. Turned out I had a veeeerrrry large hiatel hernia again, along with the darn gallbladder freaking out. Had surgery to take out the gallbladder and fix the hernia. Acid is still occasionally a thing, but I take medicine only once in a while now. Symptoms prior to surgery included stomach pain, nausea, bloating, vomiting, diarrhea. It got bad enough I put myself on a liquid diet for days at a time to give the digestive system a rest, but eventually even that stopped working. I had gained quite a bit when the acid started kicking in, but then later as symptoms worsened I started losing weight (not from trying). In the end, I dropped all the regain plus a bit more, and surgery took care of all of it. 

So you switched to RNY from VSG?

No, I did not have a revision. The surgeon warned it was a possibility going into that surgery, but only if he could not fix the hernia. IF I have another hiatel hernia or severe acid issues again, then it will be a revision to rny. He said that he could not do a third repair- not enough to work with.

check food allergies...elimination diet was something that worked for me...

BTW: my friend told me to drink Kombucha - 8 oz or more per day. plus take probiotics... I have days now that I can skip ppi..

I need to start making my own... 

yogurt - did not help me...

I second the kombucha- once I started drinking that I was able to stop taking the acid meds. 

Where do you get the kombucha?

I just learned how to make my own kombucha. I took a class last week and have already filled up several glass bottles with my own home brew. :D. My kids even like it. They even named the SCOBY.  

My first batch was hibiscus and black tea and the second batch - that I added to some of the first batch (continuous brew) - is green tea. The third batch is going to be black tea sweetened with molasses. That is an interesting taste.  

You can buy it at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, or most health food stores. Trader Joes sells the brand GTS, and it is delicious. Fair warning, first bottle only go up to maybe 10 ounces. For some it takes some getting used to and might cause diarrhea. I had no issue at all. 10 ounces every other day seems to keep the acid at bay excellent, and in general I feel a ton better from drinking it. They come in different flavors. Not a fan of the Mango, and my favorite is the ginger. The ginger one seems to do a nice job of settling some of the nausea I deal with occasionally.

I also started making it. Figured it out, but then found that it was annoying the hell out of me having it brewing and bottles sitting around everywhere. Now I just buy it. It is pricey, $3 a bottle. 

Just got a bunch to try at 2/$4 at Spouts.  I am going to give it a try.  Thank you all for the info!