Hiatus hernia anyone??

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

Been diagnosed with one today, explains weeks of upper gastric pain the only treatment recommended was lifelong omeprazole which I don't really fancy.

Anyone had this and found a way of managing it?

Hello

So weight loss helps - I take ranitidine which is a much safer drug than oneprozole

You can have an alkaline diet but tbh loosing weight and the ranitidine has made my symptoms totally controlled

Thank you for replying, I am not over weight (normal BMI) and ranitidine made me feel quite sick.

I am definitely going to look into my diet a bit more though.

I'd persevere with ranitidine and see if it stops - omeprazole is a dangerous drug!

Try avoiding acid, alcohol etc. No smoking - a bland diet helps.

Why is omeprazole dangerous?

I have a hh and have been on esomeprazole for 6 months. Completely cured all my symptoms including heartburn, reflux, pain no nausea.

I have this too and I'm not overweight. Dr told me only to take medicine when I have symptoms, not always.

Omeprazole is not a dangerous drug! Yes there are potential side effects as with any drug, but it’s not inherently dangerous.

Mainstay of HH treatment is weight loss if relevant, stop smoking, reduce dietary/alcohol triggers, ranitidine or PPI and for large hernias or hernias associated with reflux, surgery to repair the hernia.

I've got one too, picked up in an endoscopy due to ongoing stomach trouble and nausea. My GP told me that loads of people have them and don't even know about it - he was pretty dismissive to be honest. No advice was given to me.

I also don't want to take PPIs indefinitely (they are proven to impair your ability to absorb nutrients and I'm already B12 and iron deficient).

I'm slim (losing weight actually) and haven't been able to relate my symptoms to anything in my diet. I drink a very moderate amount of alcohol, don't smoke and eat fairly healthily.

Sorry OP, no advice really, just sympathy!

Hi im on lanzoprazole which helps and it flares up every now and then. Its causing me problems atm i think after over doing eating and drinking at christmas so im taking my meds morning and evening. Dr has also said to use gaviscon as well if i need to but i havent done so yet. I do need to lose weight so trying to do this as well but not being very successful. Ive also just bought a pillow wedge to raise my upper body at night to help with the reflux.

Thanks for all the replies and sympathy!

I'm pretty fed up really, I don't over eat, I don't smoke or drink alcohol so this feels really unfair! !

Am hoping the meds will calm things down and then I can look at diet etc.

Girlie- I have a hiatus hernia and varicose veins. Even my Dr said that normally losing weight would be the answer but I'm not overweight! It did make me think that maybe I AM overweight for me. Maybe my body just can't cope with any extra weight??

recently I did wonder the same thing, I think I'm about 9stone 10lbs and 5ft 7in but could lose a few pounds I guess. Tbh I think I will anyway as sweet stuff sets off my symptoms along with fatty foods and chocolate 😭

Another hiatus hernia sufferer here. I was diagnosed after an endoscopy as I'd been having on-off symptoms of upper gastric pain, general discomfort and just 'not-right-ness' - although not really indigestion much, funnily enough. Symptoms came and went.

I was given omeprazole and felt very down about taking permanent daily medication and feeling I couldn't eat lots of normal things - I made the mistake of reading too many websites which outlawed everything from tomatoes and onions to coffee and spices.

Essentially I gradually stopped panicking and found that as I calmed down, the symptoms eased. I stopped taking omeprazole and now eat sensibly but don't avoid anything particularly (though I don't drink alcohol anyway). I did start having liquorice tablets (from Holland & Barrett) as research seems to say a couple of these a day are as effective as omeprazole. If I do get a big flare-up I might have a Nexium for a couple of days but that's it, really.

Research the omeprazole family guys - more and more is coming out everyday about long term use. It is a dangerous drug.
I developed drug induced lupus and Hughes syndrome from it - and this isn't as rare as you'd think

Linx surgery is for reflux, it doesn’t repair a hiatus hernia. You may well have had a hiatus hernia repair at the same time but linx will only work to augment the lower oesophageal sphincter - in fact having a hiatus hernia was a contraindication to linx until very recently.

There is no good evidence that PPIs are ‘dangerous’ - please provide your sources rather than scaremongering.

mike you sound similar to me, interesting re the liquorice I did think about taking that but heard it can cause diarrhoea?!

I really don't want to take omeprazole long term but will see how it goes.

It can be a side effect if you have too much OP but you just take two tablets a day so I've never had any problems.

I did find that I went through a period of being very down about it all at first, but I don't think that anxiety helps. It's hard to stop worrying, obviously, but if you possibly can, try not to upset yourself too much over it.

Maybe try the omeprazole for a bit and then taper it off as you start feeling better? Then you can always take it again if, as and when you need to, as a pp said.

I was prescribed Omeprazole at Xmas ( honest admission, I got very drunk vomited for hours and hours and my oesophagus was inflamed), the most painful thing I’ve ever had and I felt awful. I found Maalox ( like a much thinner Gaviscon) to be wonderful and made me feel much better but you have to space it with the Omeprazole or it stops it working.

I’m fine now.

No scaremongering - here are some warnings

And some more

I actually developed drug induced lupus! Also inflamed joints and a blood disorder.
My gp told me she had a woman who's calcium levels were so low she should have been dead. She said that they are seeing a huge increase in various disorders from people who use omeprazole long term.
Want me to copy my medical notes or is this enough?
I'm not being an arse - I'm warning people because there are medical alternatives and I don't want anyone to go through what I went through.

@Mrs Skeffington sorry to hear about your reaction to omeprazole, I have Barrett’s oesophagus and have to take PPIs for the rest of my life as if I don’t I have an increased risk of oesophageal cancer, just out of interest what are the medical alternatives that you mentioned?

I use ranitidine - a high dose but it does work.

Initially I took a lot of tums or gaviscon with it but after a couple weeks I didn't need them anymore. I'm pretty much symptom free now. I take 300 morning and 300mg at night but am just about to trial going down to two 150mg tablets

Jeesus I've just been diagnosed with Barratts and a HH and taken my first Omeprazole this morning.
This has really frightened me.