Heartburn After Sleeve Surgery

Heartburn After Sleeve Surgery: If you’ve had sleeve surgery , which people often call gastric sleeve surgery, you might be dealing with a common side effect – heartburn. Heartburn also known as acid reflux often happens after this kind of weight-loss surgery. This guide will talk about what causes heartburn, its symptoms, and ways to handle it after sleeve surgery. We want to help you take charge of your digestive health and have a more comfortable recovery.

What is Sleeve Surgery and How Does It Lead to Heartburn?

Sleeve surgery, also known as sleeve gastrectomy, is a bariatric surgery that removes a large part of your stomach leaving a smaller, sleeve-shaped stomach behind. This operation aims to cut down the amount of food you can eat, which leads to major weight loss. However, the changes made to your body during sleeve surgery can also throw off the normal workings of your digestive system often causing more bouts of heartburn.

Symptoms of Heartburn After Sleeve Surgery

Sleeve surgery can lead to heartburn, which shows up in different ways. You might feel a burning in your chest, have trouble swallowing, or taste stomach acid or food coming back up. A sour or bitter taste in your mouth is also common. Some people feel bloated, sick to their stomach, or have chest pain that seems like a heart problem. Keep an eye on these signs and see a doctor if they don’t go away or get worse.

Common Causes of Heartburn After Sleeve Surgery

Several things can make you more likely to get heartburn after sleeve surgery. These include:

1. Reduced Stomach Size: The sleeve procedure creates a smaller stomach. This can increase pressure and weaken the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The LES is the muscle that stops stomach contents from flowing back into the esophagus.
2. Delayed Gastric Emptying: The surgery changes the stomach’s shape. This slows down how fast food moves through the digestive system. As a result, stomach acid can build up and cause more reflux.
3. Hiatal Hernia: Sometimes, sleeve surgery can lead to a hiatal hernia. This happens when part of the stomach pushes through the diaphragm. A hiatal hernia can make heartburn worse.
4. Dietary Changes: The diet shifts needed after sleeve surgery can play a role in causing heartburn. Eating smaller meals more often and staying away from certain foods are part of these changes.
5. Lifestyle Tweaks to Handle Heartburn

Making changes to your lifestyle can help control heartburn after sleeve surgery. Here are some key ways to do this:

1. Changing Your Eating Habits: Have smaller meals more often, and don’t lie down right after you eat. Make sure to chew your food well and eat taking your time.
2. Finding and Staying Away from Problem Foods: Keep an eye on foods that seem to cause your heartburn, like spicy, fried, or acidic things, and cut back on them or don’t eat them at all.
3. Staying Upright: Don’t lie down for at least 2-3 hours after eating, and think about raising the head of your bed to keep your food pipe above your stomach while you sleep.
4. Losing Weight: Keeping a healthy weight helps lower the pressure on your stomach and eases heartburn symptoms.
5. Quitting Smoking and Drinking Less: Smoking and too much alcohol can weaken the LES and make heartburn worse.

Dietary Changes to Cut Down on Heartburn After Sleeve Surgery

Along with changing your habits, tweaking your diet can help you handle heartburn after sleeve surgery. Keep these tips in mind:

1. Add Alkaline Foods to Your Diet: Eat more fruits, veggies, and whole grains. These foods have an alkaline effect, which can help to balance stomach acid.
2. Cut Back on Acidic Foods: Try to eat less of foods that are high in acid. This includes things like oranges, lemons, tomatoes, and spicy meals.
3. Drink Enough Water: Make sure you’re drinking water all day long. This helps to thin out stomach acid and aids in digestion.
4. Choose Low-Fat High-Protein Foods: Go for lean proteins like grilled chicken or fish. Avoid fatty foods as they can slow down digestion and make heartburn worse.
5. Try Out Probiotics: Adding foods or supplements that are full of probiotics can help bring back balance to your gut bacteria and make your digestion better.

Medications and Remedies to Treat Heartburn After Sleeve Surgery

Sometimes, you might need medicine or natural treatments to handle ongoing or bad heartburn after sleeve surgery. Here are some choices to think about:

1. Over-the-Counter Antacids: Antacids, like Tums or Rolaids, can give fast relief by neutralizing acid in your stomach.
2. H2 Blockers: Drugs such as ranitidine or famotidine can lower the amount of acid your stomach makes.
3. Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs): PPIs that need a prescription, like omeprazole or esomeprazole, can stop acid production and help heal the lining of your esophagus.
4. Natural Remedies: Some people feel better using natural options such as ginger, chamomile tea, or aloe vera juice, which might soothe their symptoms.

Talk to your doctor before you start taking new meds or trying new remedies. They can check what you need and give you advice that’s right for you.

When to Get Medical Help for Ongoing Heartburn

If your heartburn doesn’t get better after you change your diet and habits, or if it’s bad and won’t go away, you should see a doctor. You should also go if you notice anything weird. Your doctor might want to do more tests, like looking down your throat with a camera or checking how acidic your stomach is. This helps them figure out what’s causing the problem and come up with a better plan to treat it.

How to Stop Heartburn from Coming Back After Sleeve Surgery

To keep heartburn away for good after your sleeve surgery, try these tips:

1. Keep Your Weight in Check: Losing weight and staying at a healthy BMI can ease the strain on your stomach and lower your chances of getting heartburn.
2. Stick to Your Diet Plan: Follow the eating guidelines your doctors gave you. This includes watching how much you eat when you eat, and staying away from foods that cause trouble.
3. Keep Moving: Do regular exercise, like taking walks or other easy-on-the-body activities, to help your digestion work well.
4. Handle Your Stress: Try things that calm you down such as meditating, doing yoga, or taking deep breaths. Long-term stress can make heartburn worse.
5. Keep in Touch with Your Doctor: Check in often with your doctor to track how you’re doing and talk about any ongoing or new issues with heartburn.

Dealing with heartburn after sleeve surgery can be tough, but you can get your digestion back on track and recover more if you know what to do and have the right help. When you figure out what’s causing it, change how you eat and live, and ask a doctor when you need to, you can take action to reduce heartburn and live well after your sleeve surgery without it bothering you.

Are you dealing with ongoing or bad heartburn after your sleeve surgery? Think about getting in touch with the experts at Global Medical Care. Our group of weight loss surgery and digestive system doctors can give you custom advice and help to manage your symptoms and make your recovery after surgery as good as it can be. Get in touch with us now to set up a visit and start your journey to a healthier life without heartburn.