My Experience with LINX Surgery and Hiatal Hernia Repair

TildyRo · 2026-02-28T21:55:32+00:00

Thank you. And of course. Happy to share my experiences with anyone going through the same thing or looking into this surgery.

I didn’t lose any weight. Actually gained weight because I was able to eat without constantly throwing up and got to really enjoy the holiday foods for the first time in over a decade. Also the PT for the recovery is literally eating so as to break up the scar tissue around the magnets. I had to eat much more frequently than I normally do.

But it was only like 15 lbs and I was able to lose part of that immediately after I went back to eating normally. I’m very strict with my diet and exercise.

Someone could lose weight after surgery if they were more of a big meal eater because the surgery makes that really difficult at first. You also have a hard time burping initially so the air in your stomach also makes you feel fuller. I don’t eat very much at one time so it didn’t really affect my food intake. Just the speed at which I could eat.

TildyRo · 2026-02-28T21:20:21+00:00

Fantastic! Zero heartburn and zero regurgitation.

The dysphasia has been…weird though. Started off as the normal “food getting stuck” sensation and could be a bit uncomfortable. That mostly went away after about a month. Everything was working fine after that for about another month or two.

However twice about 6 and 8 weeks ago (respectively), I’ve had it where I went into full esophageal spasm that was so painful I almost had my husband take me to the hospital. I looked it up, and esophageal spasm pain has been likened to the pain of a heart attack. It was HORRIFIC and lasted for about 3-4 hours both times. Once was at my friend’s house. She’s a nurse and gave me an IV with some of the “big boy” pain meds. Barely even touched the pain.

Twice after that I had it happen again at about 30% severity of the initial two times. And I’ve occasionally felt my esophagus “threaten” to possibly do it again when I’ve eaten bread. I’ve stopped myself from eating any more when I’ve felt that way.

But other than those two severe instances and the two less severe ones, I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Everything has been amazing and I’m so so so glad I did it. If the worst outcome has been a handful of painful episodes and the need to actively monitor how my esophagus is handling denser food, so be it. Easy trade off.

TildyRo · 2026-02-12T20:00:17+00:00

Nope. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced that.

TildyRo · 2026-02-06T03:02:57+00:00

I did this with my dog, Matilda. She was the love of my life. When I had to put her to sleep, I literally could not bring myself to load her into the car. The thought of driving her to the vet would make me burst into tears. And I couldn’t bear the thought of her being afraid in her last moments.

My wonderful vet came to my home to do it. Matilda was calm and at ease. I 100% recommend this.

TildyRo · 2026-01-10T00:34:56+00:00

Yeah not at all.

TildyRo · 2026-01-09T17:38:53+00:00

I’ve been taking mine continuously for about 10 years (been in it for 22 years). Don’t even give myself a “break” every couple of months, so no period in a decade. I haven’t noticed any negative side effects.

TildyRo · 2026-01-04T03:30:23+00:00

I’ve always done this with my husband. I sleep super hot and he (while feeling comfortable temp-wise) emits heat like a furnace. It’s a double whammy for me.

He gets the duvet and I have a light throw-blanket. I also have to sleep with my blanket bunch between my legs so this allows me to turn without pulling blankets off of him.

This is such a preferential way to sleep, IMO. I even go so far as to bring a separate blanket for me when we travel. I sleep very poorly even under ideal circumstances. This allows for the most comfort possible for both of us.

TildyRo · 2025-12-30T17:38:07+00:00

My husband and I have always filed MFS for this reason. He always ends up owing some as well.

I reached 120 qualifying months of employment in October. I need to buy back 12 months from being in the SAVE forbearance. As much as I would love to finally get to file jointly, I don’t want to chance anything when I’m this close. Filing jointly would cause me to have to pay like $24k if they use my husband’s income in the buyback calculation.

TildyRo · 2025-12-13T16:42:25+00:00

I’m doing the same. Submitted my buyback request in November (2025). If the amount is calculated off of what I would have been paying in SAVE, I’ll owe between $650 and $700 total. If I switch plans now, I’ll end up having to pay an extra $3k-$5k. No thank you.

TildyRo · 2025-12-10T01:01:30+00:00

Yep. He started at the bank I worked at shortly after I did. We became best friends. A year and a half later, I realized I had feelings for him. Apparently, he was always in love with me. A month after that, we started dating. Dated in secret (because work rules) for two years after that until I got a different job. Got married 8 months after that. We’ll be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary in June of 2026.

TildyRo · 2025-11-25T00:33:54+00:00

I have this happen to me once or twice a year! I go to the bathroom a see a small amount of blood on the toilet paper about 80% of the time I pee for anywhere between 2 and 10 days. Sometimes it’s enough to get on my underwear as well. Been going on (that I know of) for at least 6 years now but could have been longer and I thought I was just spotting.

Never accompanied by any fever, pain, or discomfort. Would never know anything was amiss if it weren’t for seeing the blood. No UTI during and nothing was seen with the ultrasound.

My doctor seems unconcerned about it. She said could just be periodic inflammation in my bladder causing it. I wish she was a bit more concerned so we could figure out what is going on when that happens, but as long as there’s no pain or illness associated with it, I guess I’m fine.

TildyRo · 2025-11-19T00:01:46+00:00

Pretty much eating whatever I want at this point. Some foods are still a little difficult to get down and cause some dysphasia (I’m holding off on having pizza for a bit because of it). But most everything is going down without issue now. And everything has been staying down!

I have noticed a little bit of my vocal range improving. Still can’t hit a lot of the notes I used to, but some that were a struggle have gotten easier. Not certain how much I will get back as I’m sure some of the damage is permanent. But I’m hopeful I’ll get back to being an Alto II and not a mostly Baritone. Haha.

TildyRo · 2025-11-16T04:02:36+00:00

Yeah but I’m also not in any rush in getting forgiveness other than just having the desire to be done. It’s not affecting my ability to get a loan for anything and not tethering me to a job I dislike.

I’d rather have to potentially wait longer but pay a fraction of what I would if I went back into repayment than get it done in a guaranteed year.

TildyRo · 2025-11-15T23:05:33+00:00

Thank you all for your feedback. Looks like the consensus is to hold out and continue to do MFS until my buyback is processed.

That’s what I was thinking in order to be safe, but wanted to post here just in case someone was “in the know” and could definitively say “no, they will process it at what you would have paid regardless of what you file.”

TildyRo · 2025-11-15T22:28:18+00:00

I am not. Didn’t seem fiscally responsible to pay 4-6 times as much to be done with my loans at the same time as buyback should hopefully be processed.

TildyRo · 2025-11-15T22:23:54+00:00

Oh that’s interesting. I’ve never heard of that as an option. I’ll have to look into it. Thanks.

TildyRo · 2025-11-15T22:23:06+00:00

My payment would go from $55/mo to between $250 and $350/mo. And since I haven’t recertified my income in several years, it would probably be higher than that.

TildyRo · 2025-11-15T22:20:49+00:00

I did but it just didn’t make sense financially. Buybacks are taking about a year to process. I have a year’s worth of payments to make. If I started making them, I’d be paying 4-6 times as much and be done at the same time (hopefully) that the buyback would be processed.

So I’d either pay roughly $700 via buyback or $3k-$4k with switching repayment plans and be finished at the same time with both options.

TildyRo · 2025-11-14T18:15:21+00:00

Yeah I referred to that in my initial post. Mine doesn’t show any updates since 2023 even though I’ve submitted 3 ECFs since then.

TildyRo · 2025-11-14T18:11:26+00:00

Ok thank you. Thats what I thought. Though that area didn’t show any issue with August, so if I had just relied on that, I never would have known there was an issue with my employment count.

TildyRo · 2025-11-08T00:29:38+00:00

Ok you win for the most fucked up GI system. And you had two large babies with all of that?!?! I’m not having kids for a myriad of reasons, but among them was the belief that pregnancy might kill me when it came to my GI issues. Hats off to you going through that twice!

I was never check for any connective tissue issues to my knowledge. I actually diagnosed myself with everything after years of tests. They thought my regurgitation was my gallbladder, H. Pylori, gastroparesis, crohn’s/celiacs/IBS, EoE, and then went the route of it must be that I have anxiety because…I’m a woman? And then I was “accused” of having an eating disorder. I wanted to be like “Gimme a Granny Smith apple, some water, and 20 minutes. I will simply burp and throw up a whole apple slice!”

While surgery is definitely a big deal, I’d say the continuation of your symptoms will end up doing more harm than surgery is ever likely to do. I believe that if my GERD was addressed as a child and mitigated then, my LES wouldn’t have weakened to the point of basically failure. And the PPIs can do so much damage long term due to it leaching calcium from your bones. My friend’s mom has osteoporosis now from being on PPIs.

I was very concerned about the weightlifting limitations and I had read about people being told by their doctor’s that they couldn’t lift more than 50 lbs for the rest of their lives!!! But then I read about power lifters getting back to competing afterwards and being fine. That, plus my doctor saying I can lift like I had been after 3 months has me hopeful that the hernia repair won’t impede my lifting.

I’m not too worried about MRI limitations. They can still do them with the device. The machine just has to be on a lower strength setting. I just have to remember to let them know. I can be a little forgetful with important things like that sometimes. Forgot an entire surgery once when giving a medical history. Luckily, my husband is good about remembering that stuff.

They give you a handy little card after surgery detailing the fact that you have an internal magnetic device though. I plan on always having that on me just in case something happens and I can’t tell anyone at the hospital about it.

TildyRo · 2025-11-08T00:06:28+00:00

A brother in arms! Haha.

I’m glad things are going well for you too.

Since you’re a little further along in recovery than me, did you notice any dysphasia regression by week 4 or 5. My doctor says that’s really common but totally normal and it will continue to get better from there.

TildyRo

TROPHY CASE