How Long Does A "stuck" Last?

[Grider 92]

I went out for some food- which I never do anymore- and brought it back to work as it was raining. Well it had a million onions and my co-worker made a huge stink about it, so I really got mad- and went to another area to eat my gyro. It was the wrong thing to eat, and I basically swallowed a few bites and threw most of it away. BUT it was a hard swallow, and even though I have drank my coffee this morning and had some Soup for lunch, still have that gas -tightening in back and neck and deep burping. My tummy is hard and somewhat tender. I didn't really feel anything after that lunch until later that afternoon- I picked up some heavy things from lowes and that's when I started feeling bad. I have only had one fill, so I guess the band is aggrivated? Could food still be in there? I am drinking my Water ok, but feel that gas pain 24-7. Mylanta hasnt helped too much, going for a hot shower to see if it helps... anyone have any heavy lifting affecting the band?

[elcee 3,341]

In reply to your title -

How long is a piece of string?

[elcee 3,341]

You may still have food stuck and drinking etc may just be aggravating it. Try to relax, if you are tense it will be worse. Suck on crushed ice, it helps to reduce swelling and may make enough difference for the item to slip through if it is still there. Even if it isn't there you have obviously caused swelling which is painful and the ice will help to soothe that.

For the record, onions have given me problems a number of times. they can be pretty tough and indigestible so you may want to be careful with them in the future.

As to the heavy lifting I have no idea as it's not something I do.

[Grider 92]

^{Makes sence thanks- if by morning I still feel same will do the ice thing. The lifting was 2 pieces of peg board but i had to carry it all way to my apt. I just know I did not feel good after. The hot bath helped and took all that binds off,,, and got into pjs.}

[success150 12]

Hi- i don't know how long your stuck is going to last, i can only tell you that mine lasted for a month and a half. and yes drinking stuff aggrivates it but you have to take your time and sip things slowly. hot liquids worked for me i found that cold liquids made things worst. so go back to your liquid diet until it resides, i mean that is what i had to do. will love to know how things turn out for you. good luck and God Bless.

[Grider 92]

Thanks, a month wow. I do wonder as they fixed my hital hernia if this got aggrivated as well with the lifting. Tue is Dr day. Hope the knot is gone by then so he can do my 2nd fill.

[Cocoabean 430]

Hi- i don't know how long your stuck is going to last, i can only tell you that mine lasted for a month and a half. and yes drinking stuff aggrivates it but you have to take your time and sip things slowly. hot liquids worked for me i found that cold liquids made things worst. so go back to your liquid diet until it resides, i mean that is what i had to do. will love to know how things turn out for you. good luck and God Bless.

You actually had something stuck for a month and a half? Or did you just get into a cycle of irritation/swelling/stuck?

I sometimes go through cycles where if I have a bad stuck episode I get some swelling. Then I don't lay off long enough, so I get stuck again, more swelling...so on, so on, so forth.

So now after a bad stuck episode, I tend to do liquids for at least a day afterwards.

Grider, I hope you are feeling better!

[1shauna1 129]

I don't really see how you could be stuck if you can drink water.....generally when I am stuck it has to come up. Did you have to bring up the gyro or did it go down? You could be just irritated. Try the papaya enzyme pills to help with stuck food.< /p>

Edited February 19, 2012 by 1shauna1

[Grider 92]

I dont think its stuck in that way-unless there are food particles NOT digested. I think we must chew food to death because there is NO digestion in the pouch??, just pushes food down to reg part of stomach. I feel like I ate a lump of something- just aggrevated and swollen. I need to get the enzime pills- anything else wouldl help/ warm tea? trying that next-Nothing has ever come up, not even froth, just the knoting up of tummy feeling and gas and swollen -dont want anything tight around my waist..

[Grider 92]

Thanks coocabean. I felt this same way early when I ate an empanada in 3 weeks post op... I think you are right- liquids till swelling goes down, I think I did tylenol too. I did nto eat much of the gyro, maybe 1/3 of it n threw it away, but I rem gulping that one peice if the bread hard. poor stomach! now its payback time.

[Cocoabean 430]

Our pouches do grind some. We differ from gastric bypass that way. Their pouches do not grind at all. They depend on gravity to move the food out of the pouch.

Our pouches can sometimes eventually work a stuck item through. For me, if I feel the first inkling of being stuck and I stop eating, I might just have some pain for a bit and it will go down. If I pile more food on top, then it gets truly lodged, the pain becomes intense and I start to slime. Once I start sliming, it generally means the food is coming up, not going down. The sooner that occurs, the less trauma in my opinion. I'd rather urp quickly than have my pouch grinding for hours trying to get something to go down.

Of course, the book answer is to chew, chew, chew and not get stuck. And if you do get stuck to seek medical attention. Uh huh.

My worst stuckage was on loose cooked hamburger. It was shortly after I was banded. It went on for about 5 hours. Pain and buckets of slime. I had NO idea the body could manufacture that amount of saliva and goo.

So, the onions or pita might have had a hard time going down and now you are irritated. Go way easy until you feel back to normal. There are speed bumps along the banded road, that is for certain.

[1shauna1 129]

I posted on another topic as well, that one of the foods I am supposed to avoid according to my doctor is onions. I guess it's the texture (they can be stringy; also, asparagus). Haven't had issues with asparagus, but sometimes, with onions.

[Grider 92]

I may have problem with onions after fills? so far nothing- anyhow I did not eat the onions off the gyro i had like 3 pieces of mystery meat and other stuff inside and the hard one was the piece of that pita bread which i swallowed (no chewing) it was hard going down, then I threw it all away. anyhow its slowly getting better- I guess we can hurt/aggrivate/ strech the pouch with a bad piece of food.?

[laddie1229 18]

I haven't had any trouble with onions or asparagus but found out Friday I can't eat coleslaw anymore. However, cooked cabbage doesn't bother me.

[lorena st 33]

I have been stuck a couple of times (peanut butter is evil!) and it usually lasted for less than an hour. Tons of slime. I didn't throw up, but I wanted to. I now listen to my body and if it hurts, even a little, to eat food...STOP EATING! After the sliming incidents, I went back to normal eating the next day (normal for a banded person) and didn't have any additional problems. I am grateful that this didn't last longer like some of the other posters, so maybe I just had "minor" stuck episodes.