hello everybody,
I am brand new to these boards, but I am pleased that there is the option, that someone can help me. I have an 8 year old daughter who has ongoing regurgitation. (approximate 15 times a day) She is due to have fundoplication surgery in the next month. Is there anybody who can tell me about this surgery and possible side effects? Will somebody please respond to this if they have a child, or know of a child who has had this surgery? Thank you for your time.

i am not a child but i did have this surgery it was a long recovery as i am almost a year into mine and i am still recovering i went down to 82 pounds i could not eat much of anything for 7 months because it would get stuck in my chest i have had to have my esphougus stretched twice since my surgery idk if seeing where she is young if she would recover fasteri

Hello thank you for responding. If you don't mind divulging some details for me. Was your surgery considered a success by the Doctors? What is your age? Why stretching of the esophogus. Did your throat close up? Is it hard for you to swallow? Were your beginning symptoms the same as my daughter? Would you do it again? Thank You.

Hello thank you for responding. If you don't mind divulging some details for me. Was your surgery considered a success by the Doctors? What is your age? Why stretching of the esophogus. Did your throat close up? Is it hard for you to swallow? Were your beginning symptoms the same as my daughter? Would you do it again? Thank You.
hi
i am 38 i got sick when i was 32 yes i had the same symptoms as your daughter when i first got sick my stomache would get so bloated it would hurt under my ribs and in my back i also had the food comeing back up
yes my surgery was considered a success but i still have heartburn but not as bad as i did i was on 160 mgs or protonix a day before my surgey i am down to 40 now i had alot of complications from my surgeryi would go into detail but i don't want to scare you i had to have my esphogus because food was geting stuck in my chest the hole was to tight she will experiance alot of gas after her surgery that she may not be able to control stomache cramps nausa dry heaving no my throat didn't close up i have never heard of this happening with this surgery the thing that makes it hard to swallow is when food gets stuck where the hole is to tight if this happens to her get her to try and burp that will get the stuck food to come up you are also gonna want to have alot of soft food on hand oatmeal cream of weat yogurt pudding she will be eating this stuff for a long time so you might want to stock up
would i have this surgery again NO definatly not

Dear 3 CCC Mommy,

Have all the PPIs been tried on your child and failed? Before you take the step of the fundo (which is very very serious because it basically cannot be undone without very bad consequences), has your child been on 2x daily dosing of a PPI?

Have you tried all 6 prescription PPIs at the 2x daily dosing level?
1. Nexium
2. Aciphex
3. Prevacid
4. Zegerid
5. Prescription grade Prilosec
6. Protonix

I recommend that you try all 6 PPIs before you go ahead with the sugery. If the surgery has complications or it fails, you will not be able to forgive yourself. The surgery is that serious.

Hi there,
I have been doing my own research on this surgery because my dr. has recommended the same thing for me. I am not a child though, I am 28 yrs old. I know two women that have gotten this surgery in the last few years and they both say they would do it again in a second. It really helped both of them. However, they did say that they would only go to "the best" in this field as it is a complicated thing to have done. I still have not decided yet if I want to go through with it. Like the person on the post before me said, I am going to try all the differnent PPIs before thinking about the surgery. It still really scares me.

Carisa;)

I had this surgery i had bad complications i didn't want to say anything because i didn't want to scare her but yeah i went down to 82 pounds i couldn't get food down for 7 months it was oatmeal and cream of wheat i know have to take reglan to make my intestines work because of one of the complications i had i didn't have to take reglan before the surgery i am allways nausis i dry heave as i will never be able to throw up again i had to have my esphougus stretched twice before i could get food down i still have to take priotonix everyday not as much as before this surgery is not a magic cure would i ever do this surgery again i can give that a definate no i wouldn't wish the suffering that i have been through on my worst enemy

spider-Wow, see that really scares me!! That is exactly why I am wanting to do the surgery as a LAST resort. I am also wanting to get pregnant, but I am worried that my stomach problems will get ten times worse once I'm really big. I just don't know what to do. My doc wants me to get the surgery, yet I am really reluctant. I have two second opinions coming up this week.

What exactly was your problem that you had the surgery in the first place? My LES valve is not closing, so the doctor wants to "tighten it." Where did you have your surgery done?

spider-Wow, see that really scares me!! That is exactly why I am wanting to do the surgery as a LAST resort. I am also wanting to get pregnant, but I am worried that my stomach problems will get ten times worse once I'm really big. I just don't know what to do. My doc wants me to get the surgery, yet I am really reluctant. I have two second opinions coming up this week.

What exactly was your problem that you had the surgery in the first place? My LES valve is not closing, so the doctor wants to "tighten it." Where did you have your surgery done?
i was on 160 mgs of protonix a day off the chart according to the doctors this was for six years so i did think about the surgery often had i only known and i still had very bad break through heartburn like you my muscle was weak but i also think there are underlying problem's that cause me to produce to much acid i still get the reflux among my new problems i had my surgery done in maine by the top surgeon in the state so go figure

spider37-
So you were on protonix for six yrs before you did the surgery? Was the protonix working at all for you anymore at that point? I'm just wondering because I'm curious how long medications will be able to help me before I need to consider doing it. It's scary that you had the surgery done with someone that is a top doctor. Did you have that pressure test done before the surgery? I forgot the name of it, but I think it starts with an m. They test to see how much pressure it takes to actually get it to close. Sorry to hear you are having so many problems now. :confused:

Carisa

spider37-
So you were on protonix for six yrs before you did the surgery? Was the protonix working at all for you anymore at that point? I'm just wondering because I'm curious how long medications will be able to help me before I need to consider doing it. It's scary that you had the surgery done with someone that is a top doctor. Did you have that pressure test done before the surgery? I forgot the name of it, but I think it starts with an m. They test to see how much pressure it takes to actually get it to close. Sorry to hear you are having so many problems now. :confused:

Carisa lol i had every test done not only once some twice and some a thrid time the protonix never really worked well for me but it was all i could take because of the bad side affects the others gave me and yes i tried everyone
from what i am told you are only supposed to be on these meds for a short time like 3 month and then they arn't effective anymore i just had another scope done i think this is my 4th or 5th one because i am still geting sick to my stomache and dry heaving and they can't explaine it they just tell me that the dry heaving is going to undo my surgery and i told my doctor if that happens that i will never have this surgery again

I had the surgery in 1995, when I was 40. They didn't tell me the long-term side effects. Yes, the surgery cured me from heart burn and GERD, but it took me about 7 months to be able to burp. Now some may think thats no big deal, but its painful to keep gasses and air in and try to digest it! The permanent side effect is the worst: I can no longer vomit (I go thru the motions, but nothing comes up). Which is pretty bad when your body is trying to expel something. Imagine having a case of food poisoning and not being able to get rid of the food? The surgery is designed to keep acid from sloshing up into the esophagus, but it also keeps everything down -- which is not always a good thing.

Your daughter will have five scars from varied laproscopic tools. It took four years for mine to fade. Recovery was very hard and long. I couldn't eat solid food for 7 weeks. In fact even liquid was tough to get down. It takes a long time for the internal swelling to go down. It is major surgery. I was sorry I had it done, and don't recommend it to anyone who asks me about it.

I had the surgery in 1995, when I was 40. They didn't tell me the long-term side effects. Yes, the surgery cured me from heart burn and GERD, but it took me about 7 months to be able to burp. Now some may think thats no big deal, but its painful to keep gasses and air in and try to digest it! The permanent side effect is the worst: I can no longer vomit (I go thru the motions, but nothing comes up). Which is pretty bad when your body is trying to expel something. Imagine having a case of food poisoning and not being able to get rid of the food? The surgery is designed to keep acid from sloshing up into the esophagus, but it also keeps everything down -- which is not always a good thing.

Your daughter will have five scars from varied laproscopic tools. It took four years for mine to fade. Recovery was very hard and long. I couldn't eat solid food for 7 weeks. In fact even liquid was tough to get down. It takes a long time for the internal swelling to go down. It is major surgery. I was sorry I had it done, and don't recommend it to anyone who asks me about it.
i have the same problem with the burping i think i had mentioned she will have alot of gas she won't be able to control and yes i dry heave to it took me over 7 months to be able to get solid food down i still get sick to my stomache and they can't explain why you know what amazes me is that this surgery first came about in the 50's and there has been no improvement on it you think they would have come up with a better surgery by now