MountainReader

Donna,

I had a Nissen Fundoplication 1 year ago this week.

My doctor had me on liquids only for the first two weeks. For the next several weeks after that, I stayed on soft foods. I avoided the meat and bread for a couple months.

You may just need to be careful about the food as you are adding it back into your diet. Also, make sure you take small bites and chew carefully before swallowing.

During my healing, it was week three, around the time I was actually cleared to eat soft food, that I had a bunch of nausea hit. It eventually disipated.

The was my doctor explained it to me was that the surgery did trauma to my stomach and that it was still mad at me. It typically takes several months for the swelling in the stomach to totally go down.

Also, after a Nissen, you can develop Gas Bloat Syndrome. It is a syndrome specific to people who have had a fundoplication. You can find more information on it if you do an internet search. Basically what happens is that the gas that everyone has when they eat cannot come back up through the esophagus so it sits in the gut. This can cause bloating and discomfort until the gas passes out of your system in the other direction.

To help, you may want to watch the amount of gas producing foods that you are eating for a while.

I has some digestive issues as a result of a med I was on prior to the surgery. Because of that, I'm on a double-dose of PPI's per day still even though the surgery was successful. Your stomach hasn't stopped with it's same amount of acid production, the acid just can't come up into the esophagus as easily. That could be why the reflux meds helped.