I've scanned most of the links I've read and it has deterred me from even considering surgery. I did the same thing with my back years ago. I was on the fence, but I read somewhere, that in time, some people's disk recede back to where it belongs (unknown reason) and no longer impinges on a nerve. I already had my back surgery scheduled and called it off hoping that my research paid off. I was one of the lucky ones. In about 2 years with alot of pain and subsequent addiction to pain pills, my back pain is completely gone. I can sit now whereas before, I couldn't.

Back to my hiatal hernia. I'm trying to get to know my own body. As I mentioned, the symptom most prevalent from my hiatal hernia is vomiting ... and this has been going on for many months. However, there may be a week where for some reason, I feel good, as if I didn't have anything wrong with me. But then it comes back and it depresses me.

If I eat too much or if I'm wearing something that's a little to tight at the waist, it triggers the feeling to vomit. Last night, I made dinner -- some lean meat and pasta (allowed according to the GI doc) and I wanted more, but instead of eating it all, I stopped. And, I did not vomit. I've become very careful of not filling myself up with food with that full feeling.

I'm on my way to the Health Food Store, called Rainbeau in San Francisco. They have all these natural remedies you can take for various diseases . I even bought the encyclopedia of natural medicine that I bought from there, and looked up hiatal hernia but couldn't find it. To the person who said gargle after vomiting, well, who wouldn't??? Of course I do. I don't want to smell vomit. I usually gargle with a little bit of mouthwash, then water and I feel better.

What I wanted to ask was that someone had said that orange peels helped her. I'm sure they have it at the health food there. Can anyone else suggest anything else that I can get from the health food store.
Perhaps, I should ask them, as they are trained to know. But what I'm noticing is that people have talked about their hernias, and noone here that I have seen predominant symptom is vomiting. It's almost like a ritual. Occasionally I'm bad, and have maybe too much ice crream, and this may be hard to believe and disgusting, but when I vomit it, IF I have to (if I have a little I don't always), it's almost as if it comes out so smoothly and I can actually taste the ice cream a little. Then once it starts, it seems that whatever I've eaten earlier - in my stomach waiting to be digested wants to follow and often I press in on my stomach to speed up the process because there's a movie I want to watch.

But, one can't help but think, just fix this, and have an operation, but I've heard that people who have had operations have subsequent problems. Is there anyone who has had an operation for this and just feels better? My GI doc seems in no rush for me to have surgery. The only thing he said, you know, this can be fixed. But he never mentioned surgery. But a friend of mine, who is a doctor has mentioned it, if it continues for many more months. And yes, I've had a very difficult year. I wonder sometimes what caused this. What I remember is having a very bad flu for a time and then this started not long after having the flu.....

Feedback?

trudi