Bitter taste - 5 m post op

[Kizzy21]

Hi.. after some advice. I'm new here and 5 month post subtotal gastrectomy for benign ulceration and plyrous valve in stomach closing over. I've got about 30% of stomach left.

Generally doing ok, just the usual challenges... but one thing I'm really struggling with is a bitter taste in my mouth, most days. Omperzole and gaviscon don't seem to be helping..

Had this pre surgery due to all the acid and ulceration but that's all been removed now so doctors are a bit stumped. It's just really unpleasant and puts me off eating which obviously causes more problems! Anyone experienced this and got any ideas? Or practical ways to cope?

Thanks for your help

[Hidden]

Have a test to check whether it really is acid, or whether it might be bile reflux, in which case the PPI medication will not help. Gaviscon will work for a few hours on either, so you could try that.

I think the proper test might be a hydrogen breath test. There are test strips that you can get from pharmacies as well, but you need to understand how to interpret results on the pH scale.

amazon.co.uk/Qimius-Test-St...

This is just an idea, but it might be worth checking, even if only to rule it out.

[Kizzy21 in reply to Hidden]

That's great ... thank you. I wasn't expecting to be producing much acid post op but I guess the bile would be different?

[Hidden in reply to Kizzy21]

The more of your stomach that has been removed, the more likely the reflux is to be bile rather than acid. Bile is alkali so anything taken for it that is anti acid would be counter productive.

[gutlesswonder]

If you bring up food residue or cough mucus from the lungs and these are stained orange then that coloration is indicative of Bile