To be lazy and ask about HIATUS HERNIAS here - sorry

[Fenton]

I just know I'll get more useful and concise help here than endless googling - I'm sorry to use AIBU like this.

I'm not that sorry

Husband has just been told he has a fairly large one. We know about no chocolate, caffeine and alcohol, and not eating to close to going to bed.

Anything else a real no no? or anything that, actually is not a big deal?

or more importantly, anything which will make it grow very much worse?

He's had the endoscopy, but hasn't yet had the appointment through for the consultation to discuss in any detail, so he's driving himself slightly mad with worry he's going to do something terrible to it.

Well I have known about mine for about 8 years and apart from a bit of heartburn and sleeping on three pillows if I have eaten a bit later so as not to aspirate any acid, nothing else of interest has ever happened.

really why no choclate and alchol, i have one but never knew that?

I think I have one and I swear by Gaviscon. Rather than stopping acid production, it forms a layer over the stomach contents and prevents them coming back up, so fewer side effects. It can be used in conjunction with acid blockers too.

There is nothing terrible you can do to a hiatus hernia. It is a weakness in the muscle that separates the food gullet (oesophagus) with the stomach. Part of the stomach slips up or it can move up and down. It will not grow bigger in the next few weeks.

They don't tend to repair them as the surgery is not that successful, so they only offer if for very large hiatus hernias.

What you shouldn't eat if very individual, each person has different triggers.

www.patient.co.uk/health/hiatus-hernia-leaflet

I can't find any triggers apart from peppers, not chilis but the big ones.
I find that peppermint tea is really good, I rarely take antacids these days

I have a smallish one and have been taking Omeprazole for about 10 years now. As long as I remember the pill each morning I can eat anything.
Before that the triggers were, red wine, smoked fish and anything spicy.

Really popping? I can't drink peppermint tea because it gives me heartburn (usually I don't have heartburn I just constantly burp/bring food up). Apparently peppermint tea relaxes the stomach muscles so in my case it allows more reflux to happen.

He should definitely track what he eats to see what feels good. I find rich food like cream, heavy cheese, butter etc make me I'll. chilli etc never bothered me at all.

I do find that, irritatingly, a low gi diet can make things worse. So ironically processed toast definitely less likely to aggravate me than porridge. It's a bit weird but I assume it's because the body has to work harder to digest low gi food but that the result is increased acid production.

Oh, and when it flares up, go with regular small bland meals. I have been known to eat white rice and peas for a day.

Thanks all.

He's on one 40mg Omeprazole a day. The hernia is about 6cm long, it was the doc who said it was quite large.

I think we'll start introducing stuff gradually to see if it really makes any difference, - he's getting rather bored of the bland shite I'm dishing up for him and very much misses the red wine.

It's just the worry of not knowing - but I guess as with many things it's very much an individual thing, - he may already have intolerances that we didn't know about with have nothing to do with the effect of the hernia itself.

Time to start listening a bit more to what his gut is telling him I suppose.

Thanks again.

Yes definitely peppermint.
When I was pg my consultant prescribed peppermint drops as well.
No idea how it helps but it does, don't remember the last time I had to take antacids.