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Hiatus hernia
ravedadave
Posts: 55 Forum Member
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Hi,
I recently have been diagnosed with a Hiatus hernia after years of pain and discomfort.
The doctor's want me to do the usual give up smoking, eating certain foods, etc.... Which I am desperately trying to do and always have (I am seeing a smoking councillor at the min).
All I eat is chicken and vegatables because anything else causes too much pain, but recently it's been worst I woke up in the night last week and nearly went down A+E.
Does anyone else suffer from this and can provide any tips/hints to make it more confortable and less painful (i.e. food ideas, drink etc...)
Any advice would be appreciated,
Dave.
I recently have been diagnosed with a Hiatus hernia after years of pain and discomfort.
The doctor's want me to do the usual give up smoking, eating certain foods, etc.... Which I am desperately trying to do and always have (I am seeing a smoking councillor at the min).
All I eat is chicken and vegatables because anything else causes too much pain, but recently it's been worst I woke up in the night last week and nearly went down A+E.
Does anyone else suffer from this and can provide any tips/hints to make it more confortable and less painful (i.e. food ideas, drink etc...)
Any advice would be appreciated,
Dave.
0
Comments
There is also the physical side, try to avoid squeezing your stomach. Don't sit scrunched up or leaning forwards, eg using a laptop on a low coffee table while sitting on a sofa. Another tip my Dad had was to raise the head end of the bed as much as you can while still being able to sleep without sliding down.
HTH
I've found drinking water with meals, and eating binding like food helps. For example bread, and oats are quite good because I think they absorb the acid and actually sit in my stomach (imo, not scientific) The biggest trick for me is to eat in a little bits and slowly. So smaller meals than three big ones, and like the other posters said chew. Also, I find at certain times of the day are much better for eating, breakfast is a no go but lunch time to early evening are a lot better. Not sure why though.
Stress as well. It is always always worse when I'm stressed, so do as much as you can to reduce it (which will benefit your life in general as well) I know it'll sound all hollistic but try meditating a little before bed, (find it calms my whole body down), journaling + some kind of written organsation system (so I'm not constantly thinking over things in my head and stressing that way) and some kind of light exercise, especially when it flairs up.
It's not the end of the world and once you get the hang of it you shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with it and you might even be able to eat "trigger" foods in moderation rather than eating just a limited diet. Try experimenting with and find a system that works best for you
However the way the condition works on your body varies considerably from person to person. I can go months without any pain at all and other times I might have pains for up to 3 months, sometimes really bad every day so I can't sleep and I don't want to eat.
Here are 2 links that you may find helpful, and don't worry, you are not alone!
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Hiatus-Hernia.htm
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/acid-reflux-gerd/
I've tried all the tablets, they really don't help, I to have good months and bad, it's really bad this month, vomit rising to my mouth and severe pain, nice
The water thing has got me thinking, I drink very little during the course of a day, might try drinking a litre or 2 throughout the day.
This has been ongoing for 5 years, the NHS have been useless and took them 5 years to do an endoscopy which the then found it immediately, the doctor was very useless.
I've tried all dozes of these they don't really seem to help, that's all the doctor prescribes when I seem him, no advice no help just take the tablets :rolleyes:
Just carrots, brocolli, new potatoes and cabbage, tomatoes are ok too, I went through a spell of having a bag of small tomatoes for lunch, I didn't feel like crap the rest of the day.
OP, you can change your GP you know, and to be fair to the NHS (although I don't like being fair to the NHS), these acid reflux things are hard to diagnose. I certainly take your point about the endoscopy though. It's really just your luck with the NHS. Sometimes they're great and other times, useless!
You think you're hard done to waiting 5 years for a diagnosis. I had to wait 32 years for them to realise I had Klinefelter's Syndrome and even then, it was only diagnosed when the symptoms worsened; my (then) GP said I was making it up, and I went private in desperation. BUPA found it straight away with one blood test, something none of the very many blood tests I had had in the last 32 years with various GPs and so-called NHS specialists had pinpointed. Don't get me started on the NHS!