Tell Me What The Sleeve "pb" Is Like

[Wheetsin 714]

I'm being somewhat facetious. Now that that's out of the way...

First of all, "PB" is a load of crap. "Productive burp" sounds almost kind of cute, like I want to put it in my lap and feed it treats. No one told me PBs hurt, a lot, and can last a really really long time. The first time I had to PB, DH was minutes from calling the ambulance. And I'm a pretty tough cookie with a pretty high pain tolerance.

Remember your pre-band days, maybe your band researching days, when you had no concept of how stuck food became unstuck. You didn't know saliva took on egg white consistency. You don't know how much of it could come streaming out of your mouth, or that it could hold its shape in Water. You didn't know your body could churn it into Shampoo lather. You probably never guessed you could irp up saliva and get that much relief. You probably didn't know you'd probably slime & slime before anything came out. Etc.

I really wish I'd known that going in, but that's not the kind of stuff the chumps in my "support group" talked about. They talked about whiny things like wah, I was walking and my underwear fell down or wah, i won't be able to drink my Chianti anymore.

So if someone out there is willing to share, I'd really really like to know your "no holds barred" account of what the VSG process of having to bring something up is like, in as much unsavory detail as you'd like to share.

And if you're that willing to share, I'd also like to know things like - how do you know when enough is enough? What are you feeling? What is the discomfort like? Where do you feel it? What do you feel? I see cute euphamisms like "toilet problems." Bah. A toilet problem is when my flusher breaks. What does "toilet problem" really mean? I see things like "one bite too many". Bah again. How do you know it was too many - what are you feeling/doing that's telling you such? With the band there was a fairly clear difference between "ok" and "uh oh". Same with VSG? With the band, if you were at "uh oh" you didn't just open your mouth and out it came. You knew, you could make it to the bathroom, or at least behind some bushes (ahem). You could have some control over when it happened. Same with this? I see "really hard to get my Water in." Why? Does it hurt? Can you just hold so little at a time? What happens if you drink too much?

Hope you xbanders turned sleevers get the gist of the info I'm after. I just want "the real deal."

I'm not afraid of it. It isn't going to change my mind, and I'm not going to be grossed out - so please be frank. I just really like to know what to expect. I didn't know with the band because for whatever reason no one was willing to really talk about it, and I had to learn the hard way that what I was experiencing was fairly normal.

[IowaAndy 95]

I am 10 weeks out and I have vomited once since I had my sleeve. This was entirely my fault as I was pusing the envelope and decided that I wanted more when my stomach said no. I ate the rest and was in such misery that I went to the bathroom and actually stuck my finger down my throat and gagged until I made myself vomit. Granted this took me about an hour to make this decision as I was sure that if I put this pressure on my stomach I was going to pop a suture and end up with a leak and back in the hospital. Since that time I have learned when my stomach says "enough", that I stop eating and walk away from the table.

On the other hand when I had my sleeve I did not have to make myself vomit. It just happened as I would just get sick and I would start to salivate until I was wretching and over the stool.

[Sassygirl06 962]

my one bite to many sends me to the bathroom to puke. I have control over it, and usually make myself throw up, not by sticking my finger down my throat but by squeezing my stomach muscles together, and out it comes. it doesnt hurt when I throw up, or taste bad, i dont have hardly any stomach acid, so it tastes the same coming out as it does going in. if i'm hungry i get the hic-ups and if im full i get the hic-ups. i dont have any trouble getting Water down now, (6 months post-op) but in the beggining it hurt to drink water...like my sleeve was going to pop. you can feel the bulge in your stomach. I did get the slimmys when i first started, nasty, and felt like they would never stop. if I eat anything with sugar in it i get a little nautious. i never had any problems with burping, but farting is something i do a whole lot more then before. I know when one more bite is going to be to much because while i am chewing the bite i feel like i am going to throw up. i promptly spit it out and that is that. one of my goals for losing this weight was to be able to go to an amusement park and fit on the rides, the only problem with that is i was able to do this however with my new tummy i felt like i was going to hurl with every ride i was on. i can get nautious and feel like puking at the drop of a hat. even the car rides can make me sick now, and i used to have the strongest Iron stomach there was. however even with all of that, still the best thing i could have ever done for myself. there are always going to be down sides to this surgery......but the rewards are to many to count, and that was totally worth it!

[circa 333]

not to make light of the issue but your description of "productive burp" just about landed me on the floor, I was laughing so hard!

I have yet to have this happen and hope I won't, but my understanding is that it IS painful.

[MoonSiren 48]

I hate it when food gets stuck with a passion. Last night I had a Bible Study group and for Snacks they had oreos with milk and Snyders mini pretzels. I did not have dinner before going so Stevie Sleeve was telling me he was hungry by growling and making me feel pain.

Once the study was over, I ran over to eat some pretzels since the Oreos were too high calorie for me. I ate one and then another while talking to someone so was not paying attention to my food. I then dunked an Oreo in milk and ate it since everyone else was and I wanted to belong. Someone came up to me and started talking about how much weight I loss. I was trying to talk back but suddenly felt like a frog was jammed in my throat and thick foam began streaming into my mouth. I excused myself and ran to the bathroom to belch over the toilet. I was sure that people must have heard me outside so felt so embarassed and miserable. I just kept on burping but still felt a lump stuck.

Then I tried to burp and I couldn't so a pressure started building until I wretched into the bowl. There wasn't any stomach acid since this food never went down there, just tasted like pretzels and Oreos with thick saliva foam. I had not had pretzels or Oreos since before my surgery so probably couldn't tolerate these dry carbs yet.

I can't eat hard vegetables like carrots or cauliflower, which I used to love, without them getting stuck either. I always have to eat my meat with sauce to lower the chance it will get stuck. I don't enjoy eating anymore at all because eating makes me feel pain and misery half the time.

[Rootman 1,101]

I've been lucky. in 14 months this has only happened 3 times, by far the worst was last Friday night. We went to our favorite burger barn and I ate 1/2 a burger, that is 1/2 the bun and fixin's and the entire turkey meat burger. I also had maybe 6-10 steak fries and two, count 'em TWO small bites of a chocolate sundae the wife got. I was sufferin'.

We went hoe and I immediate headed to the john. I stood there with saliva ROLLING out of my mouth and the pressure wanting to bust me open. Twice I urpped up, as you say a snot like moucososy saliva, it had the consistency of KY jelly. I felt SOME relief from this but after a few hours I just gave up and stopped fighting the urge to barf and more or less COUGHED up a small mouthful of well processed vomit. Instant and TOTAL relief.

I AGAIN was taught ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and by ENOUGH I mean STOP it NOW, not ONE bite more. I firmly believe I could of handled it without the last two small bites of dessert. IT pushed me over the edge.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

I have not had any of these problems. I tend to under eat my sleeve. Oh wait, In the beginning, I use to have food sit right in my esophaus which felt really wierd, but would be gone in 10 minutes. I do have alot of Constipation which can sometimes be painful passing. But other than that, no problems. I do have stalls like everyone else. But overall, no slimes, I do burp but not much and I have alot of gas and I fart!. I can handle these. I love my sleeve.

[Catracks 865]

It's happened to me twice, but it's been a quick process. I ate one small very done pork chop way too fast. The meat was dense and it was too much. I tried to live with the stuck feeling, but then I got the nausea and salivating. I was camping at the time so I quickly walked off behind a creosote bush and let it come up.

It only happened when I ate too much. All you need to do is listen to your full signals. Mine is burping noiselessly and hiccuping. I can also feel myself getting full. Sometimes it's hard to stop when the food is good, but the consequences are not nice.

It doesn't hurt that much. It's just uncomfortable to me. It's my sleeve doing what it's supposed to.