Treatment for a hiatus hernia
Broadly, treatment follows these steps:
- Change your eating habits – for example, eat smaller, more frequent meals and do other things to help with the symptoms of GORD.
- If you smoke, try to give up – tobacco smoke can irritate your digestive system and make your symptoms worse.
- Buy medicines from the pharmacy – ask the pharmacist what you should take to help with the symptoms of GORD.
- See a GP – if medicines from the pharmacy and changing your eating habits don't help, your GP can prescribe stronger medicines.
- Further tests – if stronger medicines don't work, your GP can send you for further tests to find out if your symptoms are caused by a hiatus hernia. They might also prescribe medicines for long-term GORD.
- Surgery – your GP might refer you to a specialist to check if you need surgery. This usually only happens if other treatments haven't worked and you keep having very bad symptoms.
Surgery for a hiatus hernia
Keyhole surgery is usually used for a hiatus hernia – this involves making small cuts in your tummy (abdomen). It's done under general anaesthetic, so you'll be asleep during the operation.
After surgery it usually takes:
- 2 to 3 days to go home
- 3 to 6 weeks to go back to work
- 6 weeks before you can eat what you want
- a few months to recover from side effects like bloating, burping, farting and difficulty swallowing
There's a small risk (about 1 in 100) that your side effects won't go away and you'll need more surgery.
Introduction 