I had the same problem as you; I was helped by upping my Omeprazole to 40mg per day (20mg on waking and 20mg in the eve) for hiatus hernia. It had got to the point where I could not eat anything at all without feeling like I was having a heart attack. I ended up cutting all allergens from my diet- potatoes, tomatoes, citrus, gluten, oats, salt, sugar, processed food. Basically I cooked from scratch, protein and vegetables, shopped at the Wholefood shop, never ate after 7pm, got a wedge for under my mattress and halved my portion sizes. I've not had heartburn or indigestion since- very rarely. i am sure I still have the problem but it does not give me pain like before. If you want to avoid the operation, do give these conservative treatments a go?