5 Ways Getting Anti-Reflux Surgery Will Change Your Life In 2017
The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions, a time to look forward and think about the changes we’d like to make. So often our resolutions revolve around our finances, our careers, and ticking items off our bucket lists. Oftentimes the most impactful resolutions, and the ones we make the least, are related to our health.
Approximately 7 million people in the US are dealing with GERD, and symptoms from the disease like chronic acid reflux, painful heartburn, nausea and regurgitation, and many others are affecting them on a weekly or even daily basis.
GERD has a nasty way of taking a patient’s control of their life away, of keeping them from accomplishing resolutions that may seem simple to others. Simple things like your ability to exercise, travel, sleep, and eat whatever foods you like are impacted by your GERD. It’s a disease that truly does affect the most basic aspects of our daily lives. That’s why this year, we’d like to see patients add “Get rid of my GERD for good” to their New Year’s resolution lists. It’s a resolution we’re happy to help you cross off your list, and it’s one that’s easily accomplished through simple anti-reflux surgery.
There are many different ways to treat GERD, but anti-reflux surgery is by far the best way to efficiently relieve symptoms long-term because it’s the only method that actually treats the root cause of your GERD (Not sure what causes GERD? You can read more about that here). Surgery is a scary word, but the anti-reflux surgeries we perform at Tampa Bay Reflux Center (Lap Nissen Fundoplication, TIF, and LINX) are minimally invasive, and the positive impacts they’ll have on your overall health and quality of life are well worth it. Getting anti-reflux surgery will change your life in a number of ways, but here are five key areas of your life where you’ll see the impacts:
1. You’ll save all that money you’ve been spending on heartburn medications and trips to specialists.
2. Exercising will be easier. Exercising with reflux is incredibly difficult, not to mention unpleasant. Many patients with GERD find themselves unable to properly exercise without experiencing painful heartburn or regurgitation, something that drastically impacts their overall weight and ability to participate in physical activities.
3. You’ll be a more rested individual. Night-time reflux is a huge issue for people with GERD. Many of our patients can’t remember the last time they got a full un-interrupted 8 hours of sleep, which is a huge problem. Getting anti-reflux surgery will help you say goodbye to those sleepless nights of heartburn and help you tackle 2017 well rested.
4. The list of foods you can eat and enjoy will drastically grow. Diet is the number one area of patient’s lives that is impacted by their GERD. Painful heartburn and reflux episodes force patients to stay away from foods like chocolate, red wine, tomatoes, spicy foods, and fried foods. After anti-reflux surgery, you’ll have the freedom to choose what you eat without having to live in fear.
5. You’ll rid yourself of the many health risks that result from GERD. Not only are the symptoms of GERD a nuisance, the disease also comes with a number of health risks including damage to the esophagus, Barrett’s Esophagus, an increased risk of esophageal cancer, voice and throat problems, asthma, dental issues due to reflux, etc. Getting anti-reflux surgery will not only relieve your GERD symptoms, it will help make you a healthier person.
Getting surgery to treat your GERD can sound terrifying, but it's scarier to think about living the rest of your life plagued by painful heartburn, discomfort, and other reflux-related symptoms associated with your condition. It's scarier to accept that there are foods you'll never be able to eat and things you'll never be able to do because GERD is holding you back. Change can be scary, but so is living a life where your decisions aren't your own.
If you’re interested in learning more about how anti-reflux surgery can treat your GERD and help you get your life back, schedule a consult to speak with one of our reflux specialists.