Warning to new sleeves

[hopeandfaith 6]

I'm embarrassed to write this but I want to warn NEW SLEEVES. LISTEN to what your doctor says! FOLLOW his food rules...HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT!!!

I will be out three weeks on Tuesday. I'm on puree food right now. Well I took out a cooked chicken leg last night and I was going to puree it. Only I got a phone call and needed to leave and go to the ER for my father in law. SO instead of puree the chicken leg LIKE I WAS TOLD TO DO...I ate it. In fact I enjoyed it so much I ate some of the skin too. Well I don't live very far from the hospital so it MIGHT have taken me 5 minutes to get there. I went in and got to go in the room to see my father in law. ALL of a sudden the Chicken hit me. I HONESTLY thought I was going to THROW UP AND CRAP MY PANTS! I quickly found out what happened and what they were planning on doing with him and told him I had to go. Went straight to the bathroom and well lets just say I didn't throw up but I did do the other and just barely made it.

I then had to leave the hospital because I felt SO BAD! Had to hit the bathroom several more times when I got home. OMG I know I MESSED UP with the SKIN but that is an OLD HABIT I have to NEVER TOUCH AGAIN!

I haven't been sick with anything else and thought I was doing SO GREAT I could have anything. I was WRONG...I HAVE to LISTEN to my doctor! Just because I feel great and normal I'm NOT!! My stomach is still LEARNING!

GOOD LUCK everyone!!

[valsdetermined2lose 0]

Sorry you went through this, but everyone is different with surgery stages. Ive been lucky to not have any problems at all, thank god! I m almost 4 weeks out and baked some pork chops , i chewed and chewed and luckily it went down very well. I agree though listen to your doctor. This surgery is all about trial and error because everyone is different.

I'm embarrassed to write this but I want to warn NEW SLEEVES. LISTEN to what your doctor says! FOLLOW his food rules...HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT!!!

I will be out three weeks on Tuesday. I'm on puree food right now. Well I took out a cooked chicken leg last night and I was going to puree it. Only I got a phone call and needed to leave and go to the ER for my father in law. SO instead of puree the chicken leg LIKE I WAS TOLD TO DO...I ate it. In fact I enjoyed it so much I ate some of the skin too. Well I don't live very far from the hospital so it MIGHT have taken me 5 minutes to get there. I went in and got to go in the room to see my father in law. ALL of a sudden the Chicken hit me. I HONESTLY thought I was going to THROW UP AND CRAP MY PANTS! I quickly found out what happened and what they were planning on doing with him and told him I had to go. Went straight to the bathroom and well lets just say I didn't throw up but I did do the other and just barely made it.

I then had to leave the hospital because I felt SO BAD! Had to hit the bathroom several more times when I got home. OMG I know I MESSED UP with the SKIN but that is an OLD HABIT I have to NEVER TOUCH AGAIN!

I haven't been sick with anything else and thought I was doing SO GREAT I could have anything. I was WRONG...I HAVE to LISTEN to my doctor! Just because I feel great and normal I'm NOT!! My stomach is still LEARNING!

GOOD LUCK everyone!!

[Raechelle 0]

I have been listening to my doctor and am almost 5 weeks out, but more importantly I have learned to listen to my body. I eat fast and have always eaten fast. The last two weeks since I have been introducing solids back into my diet I notice that different foods go down differently. chicken and eggs, for me, is 2 to 3 small bites, but I can take 6 small bites of Pasta. Sometimes I eat so fast that I dont realize I am full until I am vomiting. So learning what this new full feeling actually feels like is different for me. I take it slow, very small bites chewed well and one swallow at a time. Then when I feel the density in my stomach I quit, I probably could eat a few more bites but I hate to vomit. Listen to your body and you will do well.

[KabinKitty 11]

Wow, I will remember that chicken leg story after my surgery. Sometimes with my job I have to grab my food in a hurry. I hate to gulp my food. The past few months I have been trying to take smaller bites and to eat even slower. Guess I will always keep a few Protein shakes in the fridge at home and at work, for those times I have to grab and run, so I can sip slowly and enjoy.

I know sharing these kinds of stories are embarassing, but I am so thankful for those who do! It's going be a whole new way of eating, and stories like this should really make us get serious about changing our old habits....even before surgery!

[tiffnie 3]

I have been listening to my doctor and am almost 5 weeks out, but more importantly I have learned to listen to my body. I eat fast and have always eaten fast. The last two weeks since I have been introducing solids back into my diet I notice that different foods go down differently. chicken and eggs, for me, is 2 to 3 small bites, but I can take 6 small bites of Pasta. Sometimes I eat so fast that I dont realize I am full until I am vomiting. So learning what this new full feeling actually feels like is different for me. I take it slow, very small bites chewed well and one swallow at a time. Then when I feel the density in my stomach I quit, I probably could eat a few more bites but I hate to vomit. Listen to your body and you will do well.

I am almost 5 weeks out and the same happens to me. I take small bites like Im supposed to, but I take them too quickly. I go from hungry to stuffed in literally like 5 or 6 bites, and on SEVERAL occasions I have had to run to the bathroom and throw it up, which I absolutely hate to do. And I have never ever been one of those people who threw up for anything, not the flu or while I was pregnant. Right now Im really working on slowing down my eating, but its a hard habit to break. But Im getting better at eyeballing portion sizes for my new tummy so I dont get to that stuffed point.

[AChristian 112]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think it's important to remember just because one feels ready doesn't mean your stomach is.

[Kris 78]

I am going through this too ... just started mushies two days ago. I chew as much as I can and swallow, then wait to take a bite, etc. Yesterday I needed to go meet my mom and ate my lunch without taking a long enough break between bites, and within a few minutes I was feeling like I was going to vomit -- thankfully I didn't throw up, but I needed to sit down and keep my eyes closed for a good 10-15 minutes until the nausea passed. At dinner last night I ate with my husband (something I had stopped doing while on full liquids, because I couldn't stand to watch him eat food while I was stuck on liquids). I had pureed takeout chicken curry for me and DH had lamb vindaloo. It was hilarious. I could only eat I think 3 or 4 small bites, chewed to oblivion -- and then my tummy had that feeling like, "don't put anything else in here, girlie, or I am going to punish you!" So in the time it took my husband to eat a big serving of vindaloo, a big piece of naan, and about 10 pieces of chicken pakora (kind of like Indian style chicken nuggets), I had eaten this TINY amount of chicken (less than 1/8 cup) and still had more than half the portion I had measured out for myself (which I never did finish, btw). Of course I remember that before surgery I could put away nearly the same amount of food as DH while eating, and it such a strange and crazy and almost sad experience to eat dinner with him now. I have to eat so slowly and cautiously, and my head/mouth wants to keep eating but my tummy says "don't you dare!"

Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to have this tool. But it truly is a new way of eating -- literally I am learning how to eat all over again, like I'm a baby. I intellectually knew this would be happening prior to surgery, but like most other life lessons it's one thing to understand it intellectually and a whole other thing to experience it. And it is challenging and plain old weird!

[Plumpy 1]

I think that eating slowly and chewing everythiing into oblivion is going to be the hardest thing for me to learn post-sleeve. Have just had two eggs for Breakfast and realised that I barely chewed ........ no wonder it takes me ages to feel full.

(4 weeks and 1 day until sleeve day)

[NJMOMof2 17]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. We are all human and make mistakes. Because I had a bad experience with the LapBank. I am SUPER careful when eating. I find it difficult to tell when I am actually full, since I often get gas bubbles when I ear. I am 4 weeks out and I have not vomited. I am determined no to!!!! But I know there could be an instance.

Learning to eat again is probably the most difficult part of this process. I have to re-program myself to not fall into bad habits (like eating too fast). Little things like eating with a baby spoon really helps to remind me to take small bites and chew slowly. I will never forget the horrible feeling of getting food "stuck" in the LapBand and how the LapBand felt when it slipped. Unfortunately.....we learn most from bad experiences.

Good Luck in your journey...

[coops 1,790]

Nasty experience.... but great advice to the newbies here!

We have to remember that our bodies are delicate things really... hope you are ok now!

[pumpkin07 32]

For some reason whenever I tried to eat chicken on the bone, after the sleeve, I would take these huge bites and not chew. I guess it is an old habit. I find it is better, much better to debone the chicken after I cook it or before - but before eating. I can eat it on the bone now, but I could not for a long time bc I would take a huge piece and would feel it was stuck in my throat.

I think a chicken leg is something i used to sort of inhale. Who woulda known?

You are just learning what works for you. You might find later part of it was that you ate in a hurry on a nervy stomach. That is hard to do now, I Hate to be in a panic when eating. Very important for me to be relaxed and my sleeve to be relaxed.

[hopeandfaith 6]

YES eating SLOW and really THINKING about it is the hardest part for me! I should n't say hard but I have to work at that. I was used to eating in 5 minutes. Now I have to take my time and listen to my body. Yesterday i didn't and I PAID for it.

I went out to eat the other day and by brain told me to order the BOWL of Soup but I had to REALLY think and my stomach said only the CUP. Sure enough I barely could eat all of the CUP of Soup. My Mom laughed at me. I told her OLD HABITS are HARD TO BREAK and I'm having to retrain my BRAIN TOO! LOL

[Raechelle 0]

I am going through this too ... just started mushies two days ago. I chew as much as I can and swallow, then wait to take a bite, etc. Yesterday I needed to go meet my mom and ate my lunch without taking a long enough break between bites, and within a few minutes I was feeling like I was going to vomit -- thankfully I didn't throw up, but I needed to sit down and keep my eyes closed for a good 10-15 minutes until the nausea passed. At dinner last night I ate with my husband (something I had stopped doing while on full liquids, because I couldn't stand to watch him eat food while I was stuck on liquids). I had pureed takeout chicken curry for me and DH had lamb vindaloo. It was hilarious. I could only eat I think 3 or 4 small bites, chewed to oblivion -- and then my tummy had that feeling like, "don't put anything else in here, girlie, or I am going to punish you!" So in the time it took my husband to eat a big serving of vindaloo, a big piece of naan, and about 10 pieces of chicken pakora (kind of like Indian style chicken nuggets), I had eaten this TINY amount of chicken (less than 1/8 cup) and still had more than half the portion I had measured out for myself (which I never did finish, btw). Of course I remember that before surgery I could put away nearly the same amount of food as DH while eating, and it such a strange and crazy and almost sad experience to eat dinner with him now. I have to eat so slowly and cautiously, and my head/mouth wants to keep eating but my tummy says "don't you dare!"

Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to have this tool. But it truly is a new way of eating -- literally I am learning how to eat all over again, like I'm a baby. I intellectually knew this would be happening prior to surgery, but like most other life lessons it's one thing to understand it intellectually and a whole other thing to experience it. And it is challenging and plain old weird!

Dont feel bad my Dh hates eating with me now. He said it isnt the same as it used to be. And old habits die hard bc I still have a nerve to order my own meal when we go out to eat when I could just eat a bite or 2 of his food. lol

[Raechelle 0]

I think that eating slowly and chewing everythiing into oblivion is going to be the hardest thing for me to learn post-sleeve. Have just had two eggs for Breakfast and realised that I barely chewed ........ no wonder it takes me ages to feel full.

(4 weeks and 1 day until sleeve day)

As for over eating or not chewing your food with the sleeve, be careful. I am so stubborn and always in hurry so needless to say , I throw up about once a day. It is a miserable feeling, but there is a fine line between empty stomach and miserably full. I am still figuring it out. I make the smallest portions ever and sometimes I can finish them and sometimes i cant, so I listen to my body and I give it time to go down.

[klus263 9]

I could not even have meat the first 4 weeks post op per our guidelines and it said skin was distressful and to avoid it. In this case you would had been better off to grab a yogurt to eat once you got there. I was stuck in the ER room the other week with my husband who had a gallbladder attack.. I did not plan and did not bring any food and the vending machines did not have anything I could even think or want to eat. I did finally go down to the cafe and got just a single chicken breast. I cut it up but still ate too quickly so I could get back to him. He is having surgery on the 11th so I will plan much better in taking foods I know I can eat. A hard lesson to learn but thanks for sharing so we can learn from you.