Stopping Acid Reflux By Surgery
Most of us get heartburn at least once in our lifetime. For others, acid reflux is a chronic health problem that changes the way people live their lives.
Cindy Jones who had chronic acid reflux condition which does not allow her to eat anything she wants.
Take Cindy Jones. Almost everything she eats–bread, soda, anything spicy, fried foods–will give her pain within minutes.
According to Cindy Jones:
“A pain, a burning in your chest, it feels like heartburn and then it increasingly gets worse to where no matter what I eat, I can feel the burn in my chest and up my throat.”
The condition has gotten so bad since January, Jones’ medication isn’t helping and she’s not sleeping. “I can’t lay flat anymore I have to lay–actually I’ve started sleeping in a recliner because if I lay down the acid reflux comes so far I cough and I choke.”
Dr Dmitry Oleynikov from Nebraska Medical Center says that’s when a laparoscopic procedure called the Nissen Fundoplication can help to make a huge difference to the acid reflux patients’ lives.
“I think a lot of people take it for granted that they can’t eat a lot of foods, they can’t lay flat at night, they can’t go to the ballpark and have a hot dog because they’ll be miserable and it shouldn’t be that way,” states Dr. Oleynikov.
The simple day-surgery takes about an hour and a half. It requires five half-inch slits in the stomach where tools go in and surgeons tighten the valve between the stomach and the esophagus with stitches. In most people, that opening is about the size of a quarter. For some, because of genetics or weight gain that valve stretches. Oleynikov says Jones’s valve was about the size of a half dollar. Hiatal hernias, which are tears, can also create the acid reflux problem and be repaired using the same procedure.
After an overnight stay, patients recover at home for about two weeks. Jones will slowly ease her way back into solid foods and may feel bloated as well as have some difficulty swallowing initially. But within a month, she’ll get to enjoy life more.
“She won’t have to take her acid pill anymore and she’ll instantly notice a difference,” says Oleynikov.
Music to Jones’s ears. She already has a meal in mind when she’s recovered, “A nice steak with a little bit of garlic, some flavor.”
This procedure is usually covered by insurance. In some cases, it may have to be repeated if people stretch the valve out with weight gain. Oleynikov doesn’t recommend this to any patient with body mass index over 35, saying people who are morbidly obese need to lose some weight first for best results.
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