A few Questions

April 26, 2004

I have just a few questions i need to bother ya'll with......I read somewhwere in my research that 51% of people who have had lapband has had nausea & vomiting..have many of ya'll experinced this?......Is it true that you can eat bread after you have had the procedure or drink carbinated drinks? :mad: Is it painful?....Im sorry im so full of questions but i am seriously thinking about having this done ( i'm going to a seminar on tuesday ) and want to know everthing i can (clinical and personal ) before i decide that this the right choice for me. Thanks for any information you can give me.

birdee · April 26, 2004

Hello!

I only experience the nausea & vomiting when I eat too fast. It's not vomit like you would think. As far as bread and carbinated drinks...well for me it was gradual. At first I could eat/drink it. By the 2nd of 3rd adjustment is was over. But the funny thing about it is, I really don't miss that stuff like I thought I would. Don't get me wrong I WANT A SANDWICH, but it's not worth the pain and PBing that I would experience eating it. No matter what I have gone through, I would not go back!!!!!! Hope I've answered your questions!

:mad:

GeezerSue · April 26, 2004

Okay, while those numbers ARE accurate, they make a mountain out of a molehill. What the research calls "nausea and vomiting" is not at all like any kind of nausea and/or vomiting you've ever experienced before.

Because the stoma (the passageway between the upper and lower parts of the stomach) sometimes senses the food going down the esophagus as a blockage, it sends signals of a blockage to the brain. The brain (not having read the owner's manual) decides to send what seems like gallons of saliva, to wash the non-existant blockage through. But all that does is clog up an already full esophagus. If you can find a place to spit until the brain gives up, all is well. But, if you try to tough it out, and keep swallowing, then the nausea (the brain's back-up plan for blockages) goes to work and you need to empty the esophagus and maybe even part of the stomach, down to the stoma. This (erroneously IMHO entitled) Productive Burp is a regurgitation of the food which you have chewed and swallowed, but which never got to your real stomach. There is no stomach acid involved.

So, the banded person's job is to not eat the stuff or not to eat so fast or not to swallow without chewing better, so that the entire episode described above doesn't happen. AND, this is a big part of the learning we all have to do.

I can't eat much bread, others can. I can eat small amounts of un-doughy bread. I drink carbonated Water all day. But, I pour it and let it sit for a long time.

If this helps, a huge part of being banded (and the part I'm working on as we type) is learning that the stuff you thought you needed to make your life complete, and deal with frustration, anger, loneliness, boredom, abandonment, etc. really isn't necessary at all.

DeniseG · April 27, 2004

Geezer sue, I appreciate the info you had.

I know for me personally I can't eat bread. On rare occasion I can have french bread, but, I find bread to be more of a struggle than it's worth. Had my surgery in August and haven't had a soft drink since and I was addicted big time. Don't miss it now, of course drinking 8 glasses of Water is an all day event for me now. Remember, this is a life changing surgery........take some time to really think it over. I have to admit I miss potatoes-especially french fries, but, know I can't get them down so, why bother.

Some can drink sodas if they are extremely flat.

Also, I have never experienced nausea. When I get something stuck, if I can't spit it up I get an extreme stomach cramp, so, I try to spit it out immediately. It's not like the throw up you get with the flu..........it is more like baby spit up. Or what a momma bird regurgatates to her babies.

May 3, 2004

thank ya'll soo much

kellymoos · May 3, 2004

"Or what a momma bird regurgatates to her babies."

GREAT WAY TO PUT IT!! NEVER HEARD IT EXPLAINED LIKE THIS, BUT THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS LIKE

DeniseG · May 3, 2004

thanks kelly. People who don't have the lap band ask me that all the time, and that is the best description I know. When they ask me what it feels like when it gets stuck.........I say. "you know when you swallow a pill and it gets stuck?" "It feel like that except it is longer and more intense.

Looks like you had your surgery, Kelly, the day before me. Congrats on your weightloss so far