Food stuck in throat feeling & needing to vomit - new user story

[TanzPerthAUS 3]

Hi everyone

This is my first post. I had banded gastric sleeve surgery done on the 8th December this year in Kuala Lumpur. I'm from Perth Australia. My surgeon was quite amazing & suggested to have my sleeve banded to prevent dilation in the future. My recovery has been ok. I had severe pain & discomfort 2 or 3 days post op and couldn't keep a thing down. I'm now into my third week post op & am finding when I eat or drink I can sometimes feel the food stuck in my esophagus and the only way to relieve this discomfort is to throw up a bit. I now am experiencing what I think is heartburn after throwing up and then find it almost impossible to get anything in, including Water, even hours after.

Is anyone else experiencing something similar & what did you do about it.

Many thanks.

[I'mDoingIt! 88]

what types of foods are you eating. For weeks 3 and 4 I was on pureed food, i.e. yogurt, cream Soups, egg drop Soup. Your stomach is still healing. Also, no liquids 30 minutes before or after you eat. It does get better. good luck!

[Jersrose43 837]

It sounds like you're overeating

Take a bite of food and stop eating for 5 minutes. Take another.

This may seem annoying but will give you a chance to know when you're actually full

[tfarr 270]

Maybe you have a stricture

[TanzPerthAUS 3]

I am eating soft wet foods & about a 1/4 cup at a time, 3 times a day (on a good day). It could possibly be the speed I eat - if I eat that amount over an hour I seem ok but if its anything less than that I suffer. I've decided to go back to full liquids for a couple of days to see if it helps. I've been able to keep down so little the last couple of days that I feel I'm running on empty & so tired today. Hoping it will get better soon. Thanks for everyones input!

[LipstickLady 25,682]

Use baby spoons for tinier bites and wait a minute to 90 seconds between bites. Measure your food and stop about halfway through and reevaluate if you need more.

I have a teeny sleeve. I can barely get in 1/2 cup at 19 months out. I eat tiny meals (2-4 bites) 6-8 times a day. I'm a grazer, but I make great choices so it works for me.

[juliedee 11]

If you need help eating slower, get the "Eat Slower"app on your phone/tablet & use that when you eat. You set the timer for however long you want to wait between bites, and then it gives you a signal when to take the next bite. Helped me to slow down a lot, even pre-op

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

I agree with others. You need to eat slower. Throw up a "little bit" is not a good eating habit to develop. It can lead to ulcers further down the road. Figure out how to slow down and even take a break when eating. try to listen to your body and learn to stop eating before you are full. My lunch sometimes become my lunch and afternoon snack because I need to give my body a rest for a bit. I may wait 30 mins to an hour before finishing my meal.

[tamg26k 479]

I've had this problem in the past. It has always been from either eating too fast or taking too big a bite of food. It is not a nice feeling at all so I know exactly how you feel. I had to do exactly the same and get the food back up followed by lots of "foamies". It usually took me about 2-3 hours to completely get everything out before I could even take a drink of Water. The good news is that it does get better. I make sure I cut all of my Proteins into really small pieces and I try to eat slower. I still struggle with how long it takes me to eat.

Best of luck!

[Justoperated 141]

If you can't even keep fluids down then you might need to seek medical advice. First time for me to hear that sleeve is banded as well.

Your band may be too tight.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Justoperated

[TanzPerthAUS 3]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I've been going pretty good the last week. I've slowed right down now - taking about an hour to eat a tiny meal & it def makes a difference. It's frustrating but worth it.

Thanks again for all the help

[TanzPerthAUS 3]

Justoperated - the banded sleeve is a relatively new concept. My surgeon explained that it's more like a ring very lightly positioned around the stomach so that it prevents one from overeating & stretching the sleeve in years to come. It is a very good trigger in telling you that you're full & becomes very uncomfortable if you do eat to much. Was told I should be able to go 15 years without any issues. Fingers crossed!

[markyrome 4]

I had my gastric sleeve done on Dec 19th. I just went through this over the weekend. I did not force myself to throw it up, but it hurt like heck for a couple hours to get it down. My wife mentioned that she saw somewhere that around week 3/4 that the stomach is starting to heal fully and that some people can not eat as much as the week prior. Yesterday, i ate slowly monitored the portion size and i actually went down 2oz.

[heynowkc 329]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I've been going pretty good the last week. I've slowed right down now - taking about an hour to eat a tiny meal & it def makes a difference. It's frustrating but worth it.

Thanks again for all the help

Yeah I suspected this was the case. I am only 3.5 weeks (almost 4) out from surgery and definitely have experienced this feeling, especially transitioning from the full liquid diet to the puree/soft foods stage. Now that I have begun eating slower (could still probably eat a little slower, it's hard!) I don't feel this so much, only a little bit. When I was frequently feeling that sensation, I never let myself throw up, I just sit there unhappy for 30 minutes until I could drink Water again to help "wash it down."