Hiatus Hernia

[gussmithy]

My long-term Hiatus Hernia (HH) has recently got worse & described as "Large". It used not to bother me but now I can't eat a lot without feeling full and get uncomfortable feeling in chest, pain in left shoulder (GP explained why that odd symptom) and now pain petween shoulder blades after eating. Unusually, I think, I don't get much acid regurgitation. Having said that, I don't always get these symptoms after a meal.

I've not yet been able to identify whether it's cetain foods/drinks that bring the bouts on, slthough I have cut down on caffeine.

Have others suffered similarly? If so, I'd be grateful to hear of their experinces and whether/which foods they have to avoid.

Thank you.

[Iesgobdafydd]

Afraid I can't help a lot, but for what it's worth, my hiatus hernia is somewhat large and like yours in the past, rarely gives me trouble. According to Wikipedia, most hiatus hernias give no symptoms. Very rarely I get reflux - I can feel a bunch of runny stuff trying to come back up - it was more frequent for a while after I had an endoscopy, I guess it didn't like being poked with a camera, but settled down again. I occasionally also get pains in that area which I think are related to other things apart from eating.

I don't know if it's an option for you, but you might consider eating a little less at each meal and adding an extra meal or snack to make up the quantity? Since you say eating a lot tends to bring it on, and I've noticed reflux is more likely for me if I've eaten more than normal. Intuitively I would guess that easily-digested foods are less likely to cause problems than others as well, but what those are is different for different people. Best of luck figuring it out!

[gussmithy in reply to Iesgobdafydd]

Thanks, useful to hear your experiences.