I was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia beginning of last year. I also suffer from gastric reflux and i take Omperazole for this. Is this related does anyone know? i am trying very hard to lose weight to try and ease my symptoms but of course it's a long slow journey. I've had digestive problems now for so long that i'm actually getting quite concerned about it. As soon as i eat or drink anything i immediately start to burp, it sort of doesn't give time for the food/drink to go down. I don't know if it's my hiatus hernia causing these digestive problems or something more sinister :-(
Also, i forgot to add, i had an endoscopy which diagnosed my hiatus hernia. What else can an endoscopy test reveal?
The lower oesophageal sphincter is composed of two muscles that keep the oesophagus shut to prevent reflux - the crural and diaphragmatic muscles. The hiatus is the hole in the diaphragm the oesophagus passes through just before it reaches the stomach.
A hiatus hernia is when some of the stomach herniates (or protrudes) through the hiatus into the chest. In so doing it moves the diaphragmatic muscle away from the crural muscle so it can no longer form a tight seal. This, then, can permit stomach contents to enter the oesophagus - ie gastric reflux. Because this reflux can carry damaging concentrated acid from the tsomach, acid suppressants, like omeprazole, are prescribed to make it less dangerous.
The endoscopy can reveal considerable adetail about your oesophagus, stomach and duodenum. Principally, it will show if any permanent damage has been done by refluxing acid (ie Barrett's Oesophagus) and if so whether it is fairly benign or whether there are signs of dysplasia - that's mutations of the Barrett's cells that in some people has the ability to progress to cancer.
Visit the free book / website www DownWithAcid org uk to read up all about acid reflux, its complications and management.
Thanks very much for this information.