Barretts Oesophagus

[lux46]

Hi just out of Hospital (ULCH) having the gullet removed , so just feeling my with eating small meals and trying to control dumping. not to bad so far but can not sleep at night.

[Rogers935]

I live in the U.S. and I had my esophagus (oesophagus) removed with gastric pull through (open) done 16 years ago. It was done at a leading teaching hospital in Boston.I

I have had off and on dumping for the past 16 years. It is all trial and error but it does get better. I had the stomach in my chest bypassed to control bile acid reflux that caused pneumonia. My Achalasia was so bad that my diaphragm had a huge hole. In 2014, a hernia was repaired along with a collapsed lung. Most of the complications are rare. It just takes time to get used of the rerouted GI tract.

[Shannon2519 in reply to Rogers935]

Hi . just saw my consultant today going to have surgery for Achalasia - really scared .

[Hidden]

It is quite a thing when you first get home and no longer have the doctors and nurses around to ask. Keep eating little and often and try not to be put off when you have an off day. Some of this is trial and error - try not to worry about the errors!

Try not to eat simply to reach a weight target. If you are sensible, you will settle down to a new normal. You may well feel thinner than you were, but if you can steadily take in nutrition you will be OK, regardless of how lighter you were than before your operation.

There is a download on some advice about dumping syndrome from the OPA website opa.org.uk/downloads.html

Try to avoid food with too much added sugar, and, if in doubt, eat as if you were diabetic. It is the insulin surges from relatively undigested food that can cause you problems.

It is in the middle of the night when things seem worse, and you begin to think about all you have been through. It takes a bit of getting used to, and however sympathetic other people are, you probably cannot tell them how you are really feeling.

It does take time before you can sleep properly in a bed, and you may not be able to keep in one position for very long. Sleeping on one side, usually the left, may be better than the other side. Having the bed head raised or wedge pillows, with a duvet to stop you slipping down the bed may help with reflux. I spent quite a time downstairs during some parts of the night in a reclining armchair, but it does gradually get better as time heals the various surgical wounds inside you.

Don't hesitate to get in touch with the excellent Macmillan cancer centre attached to UCH; most people find it very helpful to chat about what they have been through; there is a mental recovery track to find as well as a medical one.