EGD scope today to check on marginal ulcer

I hope everyone is staying nice and warm if it is cold where you are (or if you are just cold all the time after weight loss lol).

I wanted to post an update and also my experience in case anyone is like me and just reads the archives when this sort of thing happens.

I have an EGD scope to check on the marginal ulcer found several weeks ago. I am a bit past 3 months past my medical revision to bypass and did not expect to deal with ulcers as I was not/am not a smoker, did not take NSAIDs, took my post op PPIs etc. As before diagnosis my pain is not constant. It comes and goes. Some symptoms I have is a gnawing "hunger" (not hunger) and a type of discomfort odd pain below my breastbone to the left. Sometimes that feeling is more severe than others but usually I am distracted enough to not notice it. Other symptoms are a bit of reflux and burping a lot, (but a lot of post ops have that symptom). Honesty, a lot of times from what I am reading, some people have zero symptoms of an ulcer and other people just have vague abdominal symptoms that could be a number of things. The EGD scope is the best way to diagnose...mine did not show up on xray, (although my esophogial hernia did on that and on the CT scan), the CT or the swallow study. Only the scope. I am not the only person to have this experience from what I have read scouring online on support groups and medical sites. I am on omeprazole 40 mg in the morning plus liquid carafate 5 ml taken 4 times daily. I have medication for nausea but I try to not take it as it has side effects and it takes a lot of scheduling sometimes between meds, fluids, meals, etc.

I am not scared of the scope. It is honestly one of the least painful things (since it is sedated...honestly the i.v is worse!) I am hoping that the surgeon sees things are healing. I do NOT regret bariatic surgery for anyone pre op who is reading this. I did not come to needing bariatric surgery as a healthy person and despite dealing with a few unexpected health issues since my initial procedure, a few other health issues have resolved since I am not morbidly obese any longer and hopefully this ulcer deal will be resolved soon enough. I will update with results.

I've had 4 EGD's in the past year. I too have an ulcer, did not take NSAID's or any of the other reasons for an ulcer. But since surgery I had the abdominal pains and the EGD confirmed it was an ulcer. After a little over a month on carafate they scheduled another EGD and the ulcer had healed. I was told to quit taking the omeprazole and about a month later I was woken daily at 2AM with abdominal pains. Another EGD confirmed the ulcer was back and worse. So now back on the carafate, still struggling with my insurance company to get the prescription. I am frustrated as I never had an ulcer prior to surgery. The ulcer is not a marginal ulcer, so not caused by the surgery. So I guess I will be on a PPI for the foreseeable future.

Good luck to you, yes the IV is the worst two of the 4 times they blew out my vein and my hand was a massive bruise. One of the procedures was fentanyl and versed and I woke in the middle and was trying to swallow. Now I only want true anesthesia. It just takes most of a day out of your life. I hope they can find what is causing your problems and solve the issue. For any pre-op person reading this, no I don't regret having the surgery. This is a minor problem in comparison to the almost 100lbs more of weight I was carrying. Just a blip on the radar.

Take care and I get better soon!

Oh dear that sounds like an ordeal. I am sorry you are dealing with that.

The carafate and omeprazole are helping so that is good. I had to travel to a bigger city and between that and the procedure being delayed (for a good reason - there was a medical emergency so I did not mind the delay), my anxiety must have been worse than I realized due to what the monitors showed; however, all came out ok.

It has been challenging being so scheduled with the PPIs, the carafate, the bariatric vitamins, eating, fluids, etc. I am not perfect and need to do better. I really need like a daily schedule that is SUPER detailed, I think.

I do worry about the ulcer coming back as others have experienced but really there is nothing to be done besides finish this course and take the future one day at a time. A lot of people have it much worse. I try to remember that quote that refers to worrying not changing our cir****tances yet it robs today of its strength and sometimes, tomorrow of its joy.