Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Hiatal Hernia - Anyone know anything about it? My nan getting worse

I posted a while ago about my nan, but mistakenly put that she was having gallbladder problems. Turns out she doesn't, and that she has a growing hiatal/hiatus hernia. She has also previously had ulcers, but they're gone.

The thing is, the doctors aren't really doing much, other than changing her medication every week and sending her for yet another endoscopy, and we're getting really worried about her. She was tiny before, but as I posted last time she has been getting smaller and smaller due to not eating - as mum said earlier today "she has gone past frail, she's fragile".

Her main symptoms are feeling full and bloated quickly (she's eating 6 cornflakes with a splash of milk with half a cup of tea for breakfast, which completely fills her up til teatime - she's just drinking water during the day. At teatime she has a couple of forkfuls of fish or a couple of spoonfuls of rice pudding. Tonight she had one tiny jersey royal potato and half a slice of corned beef. She also gets really bad stomach pains and feels sick often. She doesn't experience the classic hiatus hernia symptom of burning heartburn.

We feel like we are running out of time, and we don't know what to do - we're watching her waste away, it's like watching her life fade slowly. My grandad is close to tears 24/7, as is my mum.

I don't really know what I'm asking really. I've searched for discussion forums on hiatus hernias but can't find any, and I'm just hoping against hope someone knows something about this - what should the doctor be doing? Is there anything we can do? Is this definitely hiatus hernia?

I guess I'm just grasping at straws, but I can't help it - I'm getting really scared we're going to lose her. She's in her 80s.

Thanks everyone,

Caroline

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