Lifetime PPI use

I saw Dr. K a year or so ago on some other things, and he said that with a sleeve like mine, he could usually get about 3/4 of a wrap when doing a Nissen.

As with our diet/nutrition discussions, one needs to be very careful about taking the advice of the online "experts" vs. the professionals who deal with these things on a day to day basis.

I could not have a Nissen for that precise reason. I originally had VSG and my fundus was removed during that surgery. I had to revise to RNY to treat my acid.

That was my understanding -- no fundus, no Nissen. But i admittedly dont know much about it.

My acid is getting increasingly worse and it sucks!

This research had over 5000 cases, which is more than sufficient from a statistical POV. Speaking as a professional statistician, I think their numbers look just fine.

This article's conclusion, BTW, states that PPI's do not prevent cancer. It says nothing about them CAUSING cancer.

"No dysplasia- or cancer-protective effects of PPIs usage in patients with BE were identified by our analysis."

That aligns with my surgeon's info. Since PPIs don't stop/prevent reflux, cellular changes due to acid or bile reflux may still occur and it is those changes that can lead to worsening conditions such as Barrett's esophagus and cancer. So PPIs don't cause cancer but they also don't prevent it either; they just reduce some side effects of GERD (e.g. heartburn) and treat ulcers & H. Pylori.

I was scared to be on them for long term as well due to the research showing they may contribute to Alzheimer's with long term use. My grandmother had that and it was horrid to see her demise. I had bad reflux for the first several months and had to use them daily. After the reflux eased up I weaned myself off of them. I take tums as needed, but the reflux has mostly gone away over time. I may have reflux once every few months at this point.

Do you do anything diet/lifestyle/supplement related that you think helps keep the acid down to normal? I've been regularly using apple cider vinegar, chewing DGL, drinking marshmallow tea, and I've gone without coffee in the past. There are months where these things were all I needed to control the acid but the last few weeks nothing, including tums and famotidine, has helped. I'm weaning off of coffee again now and plan to not eat within 3 hours of sleeping from now on.

Skip the apple cider vinegar. It really doesn't do what people claim, and it's adding more acid to your system that you don't want.

I don't have any caffeine ever. I have never been a coffee drinker and I stopped all caffeinated soda's back in 2012. I only drink water, protein shakes, and once in a blue moon a sugar free lemonade. I make sure that I don't eat for a few hours before bed and if I have any notion of feeling acidy (which rarely happens at this point) I take tums to prevent any reflux. If/when you get to the point to not take any PPI's be sure that you wean off of them. If you just stop them all at once you will have bad rebound reflux. I had to go from taking them twice a day to once a day for a few weeks, then once every other day for a few weeks, then just down taking them twice a week then finally free of them.