Acid reflux, is there a fix?

[MattB]

For years now I have been struggling with this and here is the latest: I am a 42yr. Male in good health for the most part. I get heart burn on every meal, have abdominal bloating during and after eating or even drinking fluids, have sore throats in the morning and am tired of it all and want a fix. I went to a gasteroligist and had my throat checked- ok except that he noted I had a sliding hiatle hernia along with acid reflux. The fix is to take medication for life and elevate our bed. I am posting here to find out if others feel this is a viable “fix” and if not than what others have had done with or without success. Any advise is appreciated, Thanks!
Matt

[Baseball_Mom]

Yes there are other options.  You can ask your Gastro doctor whether or not he thinks you are a good candidate for the Nissen Fundoplication Surgery.  I had a sliding hernia as well as very bad acid reflux in 1995.  I had this surgery performed.  It was very expensive (Approx $25K).  For 6 years I had no heartburn or any symptoms of a sliding hernia.  However, I've had several issues come up in the past 6 months.  I have terrible heartburn now. I was recently told that the Nissen Fundoplication surgery is not a "cure all".  That they can occasionally come lose and doctors have told me that they feel mine has come loose.  They highly recommend that I do not have surgey again for this and that I take Nexium for the rest of my life.  So for what it's worth, I'd try Nexium before I consented to have the surgery.  It comes with a long recovery period.  I think I was out of work for 6 weeks and then not back to feeling like my self for a couple months after that.  And now I'm back to having heartburn again, so was it really worth it???  In my opinion, probably not!!!  Best of luck!