Getting Stuck and Unstuck

[divaofsongs 42]

I am having my surgery on December 13th and have been hearing a lot about being stuck and getting unstuck. What type of foods cause you to stick and how do you get unstuck?

[LapBandit 5]

Well, we all seem to have different foods that can get stuck depending on your level of restriction but sometimes something just plain doesn't go down well out of the blue, even if you've eaten it successfully in the past. I don't really have a clear-cut answer for that part.

But, as far as how you get it unstuck...my body usually takes care of that for me! I just go along for the ride. Usually, if something isn't going down right my chest hurts, a lot of slimey liquid forms and usually I spit up. It's not really vomitting but kind of like a spit up. You'll know its coming though so don't worry about doing it in front of people unexpectedly. I can feel it coming on and know I need to be alone.

The trick is to follow the rules of eating slowly and chewing really, really well to avoid having issues. And, although I sound like I've got a lot of experience with this...I don't. It doesn't (and shouldn't) happen often. If it does then the band might be too tight and may need loosened a bit.

I hope that helps!

[travelgirl 3]

Everyone has different experiences with this, for me, there's not much that I can't eat, but lots of things I have to be very very careful with or I can be in big trouble.

When I'm stuck, there's nothing I can do except wait it out. Sometimes that means enduring some pain or discomfort from a few minutes to maybe half an hour. Other times, I'll have to go vomit, and this can be painful or it can be a non-event. Sometimes, I'll lean over the toilet, and open my mouth, and out it comes without any effort. Other times it's a lot more difficult. I never know what to expect when I get stuck, it's just something I have to let my body decide what to do about it.

I'm a little worried about tomorrow being Thanksgiving, turkey is generally too dry for me, so I might be doing the vegetarian thing tomorrow.... It will depend on if I feel like drowning it in gravy or if it's moist enough.

My best advice, though is to SLOW DOWN and take SMALL BITES. My worst problems are caused by eating way too fast, and then I'm beyond full, and there's nowhere for the food to go.... I just bought a one minute hourglass timer, after I swallow, I turn it over, and wait that one minute before I take the next bite. I just got it today, and I've only used it for one meal so far, so we'll see if it helps!

I hope this helps you!

[Jachut 487]

Everyone has trigger foods, often different but common ones are bread, dry meats, stringy vegetables. But any food can stick, if you take too big a bite, dont chew enough, dont concentrate whilst eating, or happen to run into some unexplained tightness (stress, hot day, period time, etc).

You get unstuck in a number of ways - you will slime (produce tons of saliva that you cant swallow), have pain in the chest and then productive burp which sounds so sedate the way others describe it, open mouth, expel problem food. If you're like me, after the warning I just ate a golfball and its lodged in my chest feeling, massive sliming for like an hour followed by a very violent, very loud chunder. Which is just like vomiting, but without nausea - for some reason, horrid as it is its way less traumatic than nauseous vomiting which still makes me cry like a baby. But for me, PBing is not something I could hide in public, it would be supremely embarrassing if it happened anywhere other than at home, but thankfully its happened three times in 2 years. For others it happens more often but is quick and not always so embarrassing and obvious.

[godzgurl75 0]

ok i was banded on oct 24th and tonite ate a bowl of veggie Soup. i guess old habits resurfaced and i ate too much too fast and had the most excruciating pain on my left side and up into my shoulder. the only thing that helped was laying down and it felt better after that. the worst pain i have ever felt and dont care to feel that again i have been stuck but gave it a few minutes and the discomfort went away

[TulipStar 2]

Most of the time, it's not so much the food as the time of day for me. If I try to eat anything cold or bread in the morning, then I will get stuck.

The first stuck food that I had was a mini-muffin.

You just have to wait for it to pass. It's either going to go down or come back up. It can be a painful process. Someone once posted on this board to hold your arms straight up towards the ceiling and that will help it pass. that works for me if I am starting to slime and it doesn't want to go down.

[Mom of Chuy 0]

I had my first PB just the other day. It was not what I ate but because I ate too big a bite and too fast. It was cottage cheese, had a regular size spoon and just gulped it down like before my band days. I sipped a drink of pineapple juice and the pain went away very fast. Do a search on pineapple juice and you will find many people swear by that remedy.

[LapBandit 5]

I sipped a drink of pineapple juice and the pain went away very fast. Do a search on pineapple juice and you will find many people swear by that remedy.

I've not heard of this, I wonder why it works?? But, a word of caution...In my experience drinking anything when you've got something stuck can backfire. It's like running Water in a stopped-up sink...there's no where for the liquid to go and it can be very painful. I try very hard to avoid drinking until the stuck item is resolved. We're all different though so pineapple juice might be the trick for some folks.

[kacee 3]

The operative ingredient in pineapple juice seems to be the enzyme which acts as a tenderizer, and breaks up mucus. I agree with Bandit though. Drinking something on top of a plug-up can cause BAD results. You could also try something called Clear Ease which you can get through Amazon. It is dissolved in the mouth as a lozenge and has bromelain, protease and papain, all ingredients which aid in the breakdown of Proteins.< /p>

[Dani-X 0]

I agree with the others... I wouldn't put a drink on top of some stuck food. Especially anything cold! Fortunately, I've never had to PB in front of people. I've always known that I needed to step away and have had plenty of time to reach a restroom.

If I feel something is stuck, I try to stand up and walk around a little. Putting the arms over the head does help - along with a few deep breaths to try and relax yourself.

If I know it won't go down, I do a downward dog pose and it usually comes right up.

[juliegeraci 7]

Mone, even though scrammbled eggs are considered a mushy I have difficulty with them. Typically I will throw up or PB. Julie

[purplegirl1818 1]

bread BREAD BREAD. oh my goodness do i have to be careful with that. and meat, i just got venison stuck not 10 minutes ago. and i also agree with julie, i get scrambled eggs stuck too

and dont drink ontop of something stuck, it just makes it worse

[Mom of Chuy 0]

Thank you everyone with the warning. I will just put my arms up in the future (hopefully I won't need to). Although, I only took a very small sip of the juice and it cleared it up almost immediately. But, I will go online and order some Clear Ease for the future just in case.

[divaofsongs 42]

Hmmm, it seems that one way to get unstuck is to BURP yourself.... I know when a baby doesn't burp well, if you put them over your shoulder with their arms up, it will usually do the trick. I guess my husband better get prepared, because I don't like being uncomfortable. I will very quickly jump on his lap, throw a towel over his shoulder and put my arms up and have him rub my back til the stick comes unstuck!

Thanks everyone for all of the great advise. I will be carrying pineapple juice with me everywhere. I just hope someone doesn't make me mad, because I can think of some pretty interesting things to do with the slime everyone is talking about.:spit: