annie
I feel for all of you. I had a year long battle with my hiatal hernia. I had every test known to man to rule out heart problems, cancer, and many other things. I took every med available for GERD, reflux. I couldn't eat. I threw up every day. I would get a pain on the left side that felt like I was being stabbed and made me feel like I couldn't breathe(I later learned that the pain came from my stomach moving into the thoracic cavity due to the enlarged opening in my diaphram). I was in the ER every week to get hyprated and was very bloated from my kidneys not working properly. Oh and the acid!!! My dr finally said that I needed behavioral therapy to figure out what I was doing wrong. Instead, I went to a natropathic physician. She physically pulled my stomach down out of my diaphram and helped me with my diet. It has been two years since I first went to her. In the last year I have had about three bad days with my stomach. Stress makes it worse but at least I know what to do now. My cousin also went this route for her hiatal hernia and is doing fine and off meds. Please give this a try if surgery and meds for the rest of your life does not sound appealing.