1.5 years out & still throwing up?

[SparklyInNOut 26]

I always see posts without an update, so I wanted to be sure to come back & five one!

we were all correct. The daily regurgitation was not normal. I went to a new surgeon in October. He was skeptical & wanted to blame it on too big of bites or overeating. I kept insisting I would have a feeling of being overly full eating less than one chicken finger, and I would still regurgitate it even an hour later. He decided to run some tests while giving me some food counseling. He was not a fan of the fact that I had little to no aftercare post surgery with my old surgeon.

I went back on purées. Basically every time you vomit, it causes swelling & takes about 3 days for the swelling to go down. We needed to get the swelling down for many reasons. Getting it under control helped me move back onto solid foods with small bites & portions.

We did the barium swallow test which showed liquids were going through fine, but I have a twist in my esophagus. Going in for my EGD scope, my surgeon was still claiming it was all bite size. He walked in after my scope & said, “yeah. So your anatomy is screwed up!”

Along with the twist in my esophagus (which basically means if I need to be tubed, it could be “more difficult”), I have a major kink in my stomach from scar tissue on the outside of it. Instead of being sleeve shaped, as it should be, it is like a capital N or S. In the middle there is a kink that he had a hard time even finding the opening of. Basically if it’s not liquid, it has to sit to digest to go down. This explains why I resorted to drinking my calories & eating easy carbs. He said it could have happened when I threw up right after surgery (a staple could have caught on something) or anytime in the initial healing.

So where does that leave me? I’m going in for a laparoscopic surgery to remove scar tissue January 13th. He can see the shape of my stomach from the scope, but he can’t know what the scar tissue is attached to or how bad it is til he gets in there. It could be attached to my liver. Yikes. So surgery could be half an hour, it could be 3. He may have to revise my sleeve to a bypass. I don’t want that because I have ulcerative colitis, so that’s very much so not recommended. However, I want to have the ability to eat without losing it.

I’ll be on a 2 week pre-surgery liquid diet, and then after surgery, it will be the post sleeve progression. I have about 30 lbs of regain. He expects I’ll lose that fairly easily by the time I’m on solid foods again. That’s good news.

Knowing I actually have something wrong with me, and I’m not crazy has been HUGE for me. I knew something was wrong, but I kept being told “bite size bite size bite size.” I have multiple friends with sleeves, and what I was experiencing was nothing like them. The eye opener was looking online & finding no one like me. So if you’re here because you’re searching, go for answers! :)

[sidvicious 20]

Stress, which you sound like you have an abundance of, can trigger an inflammatory response. That in conjunction with a carb heavy diet (especially for a carb addict) will make the inflammation even worse.

Maybe time to look at the control center... your brain. Give it rest (for survival) , pray or meditate, seek out a group like OA for support.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

3 hours ago, SparklyInNOut said:

I always see posts without an update, so I wanted to be sure to come back & five one!

we were all correct. The daily regurgitation was not normal. I went to a new surgeon in October. He was skeptical & wanted to blame it on too big of bites or overeating. I kept insisting I would have a feeling of being overly full eating less than one chicken finger, and I would still regurgitate it even an hour later. He decided to run some tests while giving me some food counseling. He was not a fan of the fact that I had little to no aftercare post surgery with my old surgeon.

I went back on purées. Basically every time you vomit, it causes swelling & takes about 3 days for the swelling to go down. We needed to get the swelling down for many reasons. Getting it under control helped me move back onto solid foods with small bites & portions.

We did the barium swallow test which showed liquids were going through fine, but I have a twist in my esophagus. Going in for my EGD scope, my surgeon was still claiming it was all bite size. He walked in after my scope & said, “yeah. So your anatomy is screwed up!”

Along with the twist in my esophagus (which basically means if I need to be tubed, it could be “more difficult”), I have a major kink in my stomach from scar tissue on the outside of it. Instead of being sleeve shaped, as it should be, it is like a capital N or S. In the middle there is a kink that he had a hard time even finding the opening of. Basically if it’s not liquid, it has to sit to digest to go down. This explains why I resorted to drinking my calories & eating easy carbs. He said it could have happened when I threw up right after surgery (a staple could have caught on something) or anytime in the initial healing.

So where does that leave me? I’m going in for a laparoscopic surgery to remove scar tissue January 13th. He can see the shape of my stomach from the scope, but he can’t know what the scar tissue is attached to or how bad it is til he gets in there. It could be attached to my liver. Yikes. So surgery could be half an hour, it could be 3. He may have to revise my sleeve to a bypass. I don’t want that because I have ulcerative colitis, so that’s very much so not recommended. However, I want to have the ability to eat without losing it.

I’ll be on a 2 week pre-surgery liquid diet, and then after surgery, it will be the post sleeve progression. I have about 30 lbs of regain. He expects I’ll lose that fairly easily by the time I’m on solid foods again. That’s good news.

Knowing I actually have something wrong with me, and I’m not crazy has been HUGE for me. I knew something was wrong, but I kept being told “bite size bite size bite size.” I have multiple friends with sleeves, and what I was experiencing was nothing like them. The eye opener was looking online & finding no one like me. So if you’re here because you’re searching, go for answers!

Wow! I am so very glad you got to the bottom of this and will soon have a remedy. Saying prayers hon. And congrats on being a good self-advocate!!!!

[SparklyInNOut 26]

2 hours ago, sidvicious said:

Stress, which you sound like you have an abundance of, can trigger an inflammatory response. That in conjunction with a carb heavy diet (especially for a carb addict) will make the inflammation even worse.

Maybe time to look at the control center... your brain. Give it rest (for survival) , pray or meditate, seek out a group like OA for support.

I appreciate your response, but I’m not sure where you’re coming from here. I have smiled through this entire experience & thanked God for my tool. The regain from carbs was because those were what would go down without coming back up. I have a major issue with my anatomy.

For what it’s worth, I have been in therapy, and I do have many tools to handle stress & disappointment which I use. I just wanted to give the community an update on my strange situation. Especially since I was told for a year that it was all in my head.

[SparklyInNOut 26]

1 hour ago, FluffyChix said:

Wow! I am so very glad you got to the bottom of this and will soon have a remedy. Saying prayers hon. And congrats on being a good self-advocate!!!!

Thank you! I know you showed genuine concern earlier, and I appreciate it! I’ll update as this process progresses. I have had to give up part of my Christmas travel plans to make this work, but there are other times for travel! My health comes first!

[SparklyInNOut 26]

Oh & here’s the other crazy bit! Because it is truly regurgitation, I have no damage from acid, no GERD. In the barium swallow test, they couldn’t even trigger acid reflux. The surgeon also kept saying GERD til it was confirmed that it was not that. So that’s good news in my book! It’s simply the kink in my stomach that’s an issue to be repaired.

[Wendyfm 494]

I’m five years out and there are some foods that bother me sometimes. chicken is one of them. Try crockpotting some meats.< /p>

[Losingit2018 1,170]

Wow. So sorry that you are dealing with all of this. Very glad that you finally have some answers though.

Please keep us updated as I wish you best of luck and will be following.

[Sandra Nuelken 419]

15 hours ago, Wendyfm said:

I’m five years out and there are some foods that bother me sometimes. chicken is one of them. Try crockpotting some meats.< /p>

I shred all of my meat and I have a set of children's stainless flatware I got from Amazon that I eat with all bites are naturally smaller. I also put olive oil on all of my food then sprinkle Italian seasonings on it. This not only makes the meat moist but also raises my good cholesterol. I use cold-pressed olive oil only and make sure I get a tablespoonful a day on my food. Costco's rotisserie chicken works for me. I pack the meat in 4 oz bags then put them in the freezer. All I have to do is microwave for dinner.

[froufrou 678]

aaaah crap! I have this same issue and I was hoping it would just go away. fml. Guess I know what I'm doing in the new year.

[froufrou 678]

p.s. I know exactly what you mean about carbs being easier to get down - I've been telling my husband since my surgery. If I eat Protein it comes back up... after sitting like a brick in my chest. If I don't eat carbs I'll die from not eating at all! My surgeon wanted me to do a scope a while back but then it seemed to be ok... or maybe I just wasn't thinking about what I was eating. Anyway - I have the EXACT issues you have.

[SparklyInNOut 26]

On 12/16/2019 at 3:43 PM, froufrou said:

aaaah crap! I have this same issue and I was hoping it would just go away. fml. Guess I know what I'm doing in the new year.

Go get it checked out. I’m sad I didn’t do it sooner. Could have gotten my quality of life back much quicker & kept losing.

[SparklyInNOut 26]

On 12/16/2019 at 3:49 PM, froufrou said:

p.s. I know exactly what you mean about carbs being easier to get down - I've been telling my husband since my surgery. If I eat Protein it comes back up... after sitting like a brick in my chest. If I don't eat carbs I'll die from not eating at all! My surgeon wanted me to do a scope a while back but then it seemed to be ok... or maybe I just wasn't thinking about what I was eating. Anyway - I have the EXACT issues you have.

It is nice to know I’m not alone, but I hate that it’s happening to you. They’re revising me to bypass, which I didn’t want, but it’s the best option for me.

[Yaya 81]

On 12/15/2019 at 3:42 PM, Wendyfm said:

I’m five years out and there are some foods that bother me sometimes. chicken is one of them. Try crockpotting some meats.< /p>

On 12/16/2019 at 3:49 PM, froufrou said:

p.s. I know exactly what you mean about carbs being easier to get down - I've been telling my husband since my surgery. If I eat Protein it comes back up... after sitting like a brick in my chest. If I don't eat carbs I'll die from not eating at all! My surgeon wanted me to do a scope a while back but then it seemed to be ok... or maybe I just wasn't thinking about what I was eating. Anyway - I have the EXACT issues you have.

I'm 7 years out, and chicken will often do this to me. So will ground turkey if it's too dry. I relate to the brick feeling with Protein (if I'm eating out with people, I'm usually done after about 4 bites, and they wonder if my food was no good!) and unfortunately carbs go down no problem.

I can usually tell when it's coming, as I can feel saliva build up fast in my mouth, and it's really salty. I know I better start heading for the sink! Sometimes, just spitting out the saliva as it comes helps and I don't regurgitate. And it is regurgitation, not vomiting.

It's not fun, but it's not all the time, maybe a couple of times a year now. I can handle that.

[SparklyInNOut 26]

So I’m now 3 days out from reparative surgery. My surgeon removed scar tissue and converted to a RNY Bypass bc he was not sure he could straighten out my sleeve enough. He also repaired my hiatal hernia. Said he removed a “ball of tissue & mesh.” 😳😳😳 He did say repairs fail sometimes bc that was from my previous hiatal hernia repair.

This surgery I got to stay in the hospital for a night. It was great to be supported as I started healing & drinking Water. I’m also home with a drain (kinda gross) which he does for any revision. Everything looks good though.

Drinking my meds & water is already so much easier than recovering from my sleeve! I can tell a huge difference.

I do have shoulder pain which they’ve told me is not gas but “positional pain” due to having my arms in one position for the entire 2.5 hour surgery. Thankfully, that means pain killers help. The hospital pushed fentanyl as much as they could once they figured out why I was pretty much screaming in pain. Then I had a morphine button I could push every 7 minutes. I walked a TON in the hospital. When they took me off of the pain meds, I ended up in severe pain again, and they had to give me another dose to make it home. Couldn’t sleep last night but got new pain meds this morning which really help.

Would I do it again? Yes. Complications happen. The soreness will decrease. The healing will happen. More weight will come off. It’s going to all be ok. I’m just glad I finally got someone to listen to me.