GERD

Hi All. Did any of you have GERD before you did the sleeve and if so did your GERD become worse? Thanks.

I didn't have it before surgery, but developed it afterward. I had a second surgery in December to again fix the hiatal hernia that was also fixed at the time of my VSG to try to get rid of the GERD. I go off the PPIs at the end of February to see if it worked. If you have GERD, I'd stay far away from the VSG and opt for Gastric Bypass.

I had GERD prior to VSG. During surgery my surgeon repaired a hiatal hernia which he believed was causing the GERD. Since surgery I've been been good, but it's very common for VSG patients to develop problems with GERD a couple of years after surgery, which is why it's risky to pursue it if you already suffer from that problem.

I was warned mine may become worse and this was a likely long term side effect.

Overall my GERD has gotten better as I've cleaned up my diet. It went away after surgery when I cleaned up my nutrition. As I've reintroduced poor choices (acids/alcohol), it is present but when I eat reasonable I don't experience GERD. When I do have GERD, I take OTC meds and about a pill every other day takes care of me.

yes and yes

I had mild reflux before surgery. My scope didn't show any hernias or ulcers, and my surgeon and I discussed the possibility of the reflux getting worse. But we needed to go with a sleeve because of my auto-immune. So we took a chance.

So far, over a year out, and my reflux is either gone, or it's handled by the low dose PPI I have to take to protect me from the meds I have to take for other stuff.

Why did you need the sleeve because of an autoimmune?

My rheumatologist wanted to retain the possibility of my taking NSAIDs and steroids. I'm sero-negative rheumatoid and/or psoriatic arthritis, and have not moved to biologics yet. So she wanted to have the full range of treatment options available. I also have chronic migraines that sometimes don't respond to the triptans, and I have to take a large NSAID dose as part of my emergency ****tail.

I know there are other people with auto-immune who have gone RNY and had good results. In my case, my medical team and I decided that we should take a risk on the GERD because of my treatment plan. Anyone who has a complicated medical case should involve all of their providers in the decision.

Hi. My husband has psoriatic arthritis and has been taking Humira for a couple of years with good results. Abbvie has a patient assistance program and he gets it for free.

That's great.

Right now my auto-immune is apparently in remission. The other reason my rheumy liked the VSG option is that she said that the stomach tissue that is removed secretes several hormones that are part of the inflammatory cycle, and removing the tissue has the potential to greatly reduce inflammation. Not a guarantee of remission, but at the very least it should help the meds work better. So even if the remission doesn't last, we're looking at better outcomes due to the surgery.