GERD and valve patients - Poll

[geebee]

I am curious as to how many of us valve patients have problems with GERD or heartburn. You can vote more than once and please feel free to make comments.

Thanks.

 

[aussigal]

Hi Gina

Do I get to qualify even if I am still in the waiting room?

If so you may add me to your poll...

Before I say yes or no to GERD I better go see exactly what it is
Thanks for the special box for dumb-bunnies who havent heard the word GERD before...lol
Now as for heartburn and acid reflux YEP! since I was born ...
I was a colicky-baby and have been colicky all my life .

I therefore drink copious ammounts of Mylanta as do the 2 boys who are also BAVD's...

mmm...interesting co-incidence that one

I'm beginning to think this is a dodgy connective-tissue-disorder thing again.


I shall get back to you on GERD ..

I'm beginning to feel really dumb here Gina ...lol...ok so GERD and heartburn are the same?....*giggle* oooops....

yep I shall go tick the boxes now...

 

[geebee]

Yep, anyone with valve problems. I am trying to determine if there is a connection with GERD or heartburn and valve problems and whether coumadin may be a factor.

Don't really know if I can determine anything from the poll but it will be fun to try.

 

[Rich]

I would be interested to know if there is a connection, but I don't beleive there is one.
I have been on Coumadin for about nine and a half years.
This summer was the first time I ever had this problem.
I am still taking Nexium as we speak for at least another month, then we will see if it cures the problem.
Rich

 

[aussigal]

I have never been on coumadin,
but do notice that aspirin increases my GERD ...

actually lots of things increase it, eating in general is just not good fun

So we tend to use alternatives . the 2 BAV boys and I also get shocking migraines...but thats another poll .

 

[Marty]

Tums?

Tums?

I found a good inexpensive product that controls my GERD quite nicely. No side effects.
Three TUMS at bedtime. The $ 5.00 a pill Nexium sales lady from Astra-Zenica was horrified when I told her this. However TUMS may not work this well for every body.
Gina, this does not answer your question. I go to a lot of meetings and CMEs and I've never heard of any direct relationship between GERD, warfarin, or valvular heart disease.
However when I had my first real bad GERD attack it worried my PCP and he wanted to do a bunch of tests thinking heart attack. I didn't agree, waited it out, and did OK. Maybe not smart but worked for me.

 

[Christina L]

I do have a small hiatal

I do have a small hiatal

hernia that was discovered on endoscopy and read on the internet that trauma or a major surgery could cause a hiatal hernia. I wonder about that aspect of things for people who have had open heart surgery - that the surgery somehow weakened the diaphragm.

I know also for myself after my surgery I packed on about 15 pounds and my tummy was rather poofy, pushing up probably into my esophagus.

I have lost almost all of those pounds now but still have a few episodes of burning in the esophagus now and then. I will NOT take the Nexium or Prilosec, though, which probably is not very smart. I just try to eater smaller meals and not eat right before bed, etc. De-caf coffee usually doesn't help matters.

I know LOTS of people who have GERD who do not have heart problems, so who knows if there is a correlation, but personally I think there is. I will ask my new cardio about it in January and see if he has any answers.

I also think GERD is just something that comes with age.

Christina L

 

[francie12]

I've been thinking about this subject alot in the last year and a half--since 13 yr. old Matt was was diagnosed with the valve problem and the GERD, almost simultaneously! I started a thread about it awhile back. Great idea for a poll! My gut level tells me there is a connection between the two, even though the drs. I've asked about it say no. It would be really interesting to know how many among those who have both problems are BAVD--connective tissue thing. Aussi's sons and my son all do, so age is not a factor in their case. Interesting. Thanks for the poll!

 

[Christina L]

Hmmmm....

Hmmmm....

you are right - there are a lot of younger folks with GERD. It may be a connective tissue situation - the nervous system maybe? Very interesting - just as the Chinese know, the WHOLE body is interrelated - problems with one bodily system can affect the other - they do not exist independent of one another.

Christina L

 

[Ross]

I was plagued with it before and for a short time after replacement. I have not had any in about 2 years now and cannot figure out why.

 

[Georgia]

My cardiologist told me that gerd/heartburn/all such related stuff is so common after ohs that he puts all his patients on pepcid. I've taken it twice a day since I had surgery and have never had any problem (of course, I never had a problem before surgery, either).

 

[Christina L]

Ross,

Ross,

It is just that clean living you do that has kept you free from GERD!

Christina L

 

[Ross]

It is just that clean living you do that has kept you free from GERD!

Christina L

No. I was plagued with it no matter what I ate before surgery and for a short while after, then it suddenly stopped altogether. Just mysterious is all. Clean livin-------HA!

 

[francie12]

One thing for sure is that the digestive system is really sensitive to stress, and can you think of many things more stressful than ohs or a diagnosis that means impending ohs? That could really be a factor-- although in our case Matt has never been too worried about it and though he understands all the details, doesn't really get what a challenge the whole thing is.

 

[Christina L]

Maybe stress could be

Maybe stress could be

either physical or mental - the body is physically stressed from the faulty valve or the surgery and your mind doesn't even know it (?). Just a thought.

I agree with the mental stress part though - since finding out I needed surgery - ever since having the surgery - I have been nothing but a bundle of nerves. Trying to work on that, but it is hard. GERD and many physical diseases are brought on by stress.

Christina L

 

[Christina L]

And Ross -

And Ross -

Just keep doin' what you are doin' - clean living or no clean living!! You're lucky not to be plagued with GERD.

Christina L

 

[geebee]

One thing for sure is that the digestive system is really sensitive to stress, and can you think of many things more stressful than ohs or a diagnosis that means impending ohs? That could really be a factor-- although in our case Matt has never been too worried about it and though he understands all the details, doesn't really get what a challenge the whole thing is.

That is certainly a good point but I am over 11 years out from my last surgery and still suffering from GERD. I am not a particularly high strung person so I am not sure I can relate it to stress. May be the case with some folks tho.

 

[Cris N]

Gina,
I didn't vote - you forgot a category - I had GERD for a few months after my surgery. Treated with Prilosec. I don't have any more trouble with it.

Cris

 

[barbwil]

routine treatment...

routine treatment...

After my mitral valve repair and maze the Cleveland Clinic sent me home with a RX for 30 days of Prevacid; that seems to be something they do routinely after this surgery. They apparently expect a problem with acid reflux because of the invasive nature of the procedure. A couple of Tums occassionally do the trick now.

What has always seemed strange to me is that I was plagued with lots of Gerds before I had my surgery for renal cell cancer three years ago and had NONE after the nephrectomy. I don't recommend that as a treatment for Gerds!!!!

God bless, Barb

 

[Sherrylynn41]

I had to have surgery (Nissen Fundiplication) for Gerd 6 years before my valve replacement. They did all the nasty tests and found that I had stomach acid in my esophageus 95% of the time, which was causing all the symptoms you had and the pain was awful. I also had a hiatal hernia I was unaware of. I don't have the problem anymore, only now I can't throw up so getting a virus is the pits, all I can do is heave. I guess I am just a regurg machine