Pain whenever I eat solid foods

[psalm20 2]

Okay, I had this problem a little bit after my first fill, but it only lasted for a few days. I just had my second fill, and I can definitely tell there is good restriction. The problem is, even though I can drink liquids without a problem (in the morning they have to be hot, but they go down just fine) I just can't seem to eat any real food without terrible pain which radiates between my shoulder blades and lasts until I throw up the offending food. It's been a week since the fill, and I know that I'm supposed to be staying away from soft foods and Soup, but honestly, that's the only thing that will go down and stay down. I ate some cream of celery Soup for lunch and that did okay, but tried to eat a little very soft chicken for supper, and it hurt like crazy and then came right up. I looked for other posts on this subject, and I'm sure they are here somewhere, but I couldn't find them. I am not thinking I need an unfill, but I'm just hoping this isn't the "method" used to keep us from eating. I thought I'd just feel full after a little food, not that it would be torturous to eat. Any suggestions?

Kristine

Banded on 11/12/07

18 pounds lost, 70 pounds to go

[Sue Magoo 71]

Kristine:

Are you taking really small bites, chewing like crazy, and waiting at least a minute before the next bite? Is it an issue with the quantity you are consuming? I have problems when I eat too fast so I use a one minute timer before I take my next bite.

If it's not that, please call your doctor or your nutritionist and speak with them about what, how much, and how you're eating to see if they can make suggestions.

Good luck.

Sue

[psalm20 2]

Sue,

I'm eating the tiniest of bites, and usually the first bite hurts so bad it's more like 3 to 5 minutes before I could dare try another. I generally give up after 4 or 5 bites because I just can't stand the pain. It all comes back up anyway, but at least I feel like I tried to follow the rules. We are not supposed to drink anything when we eat, but when I finally get too hungry, I'll eat some Soup with a cup of hot tea just so I can get a little something down. Eating fast is not an option for me, and if tiny bites hurt this bad, I wouldn't dare to think about what a regular sized bite of food would do to me.

I read in one post that the pain between the shoulder blades is caused by trapped air. I guess that makes sense, but it only seems to happen with solid foods, not liquids. At any rate, I'm sure I'm not the first person who has experienced this, and I'd really like to hear from others that have had this problem. What helps to alleviate the pain?

Kristine

Kristine

[socalgal3 4]

I know you may not want to hear it, but an unfill may be in order. Just a partial one, not a complete unfill. Or, you may be swollen from PBing. Do at least 24 hours on liquids and slowly reintroduce solids, taking very small bites and chewing thoroughly. It is NOT supposed to hurt when we eat. That is a sure sign of irritation or overfill. The trapped gas pain is generally right after surgery, not at your point of the journey. Best of health!

[jbrad71629 2]

psalm20

I have to agree it sounds like you need a little bit of an unfill. I had to go today and have .5 cc taken out. My second fill just had me too tight. I was doing the exact same thing you are, After the .5cc came out I was able to eat a lttle chicken breast tonight and a few Beans. It was my first real food that stayed with me in nearly two weeks and it was so nice! I just wanted to let you know that a very tiny unfill can do wonders!! Best of luck!

[kbinaz 0]

You may be swollen from the fill. Lots of doctors have you do Clear Liquids after a fill for that reason. You need to be careful because eating anything hard while swollen can cause band slippage. Try only eating really soft foods for a few days. Have some cottage cheese or eggs. Remember to take really small bites and all the other things people have posted. If, after four or five days you still can't eat solid food you need to go in and get an unfill. It is not good to only eat liquids or soft foods so you need to fix that.

[mscags 0]

I have just experanced this myself. I was too tight for tso long that My last adjustment was in October and i kept telling my self that everything was fine, well i over aggrevated my stomach so much that i had to get a complete unfill. The doc thought it might be my gall bladder but a week after my unfill i feel fine. I am planning on getting another fill in a few weeks. I think that my stomach needed the time to heel from constantly aggrevation it. All i can say is don't wait till you get to my point visit your doc asap.

good luck!!!

[psalm20 2]

Wow, am I thankful for this forum. Until I read your posts, I had no idea the pain could possibly be caused by inflammation. Since November, when I got the band I have had the pain when I ate, so I really did think that was the "dirty little secret" of lap bands. I assumed they were successful because it was so painful to eat that you would just learn new behaviors. After reading what you said, I decided to try going back to liquids (they were thick liquids, but still just liquid) for a couple days to give my stomach time to settle back down. It seemed like a good thing to try, since having an unfill would have required liquids for a couple days anyway. Then last night I tried some food. I put my food on a (teacup sized) saucer, and chipped up some bits of hamburger, salad, corn and baked Beans. The portions were tiny, to be sure, but this was real food. I used a demitasse spoon to eat with, so that I could measure out every single bite precisely. It took me about 1/2 hour to eat about 1/2 cup of food, but every bite went down, and for the first time since November 12th, I HAD NO PAIN! Afterwards, to my complete shock, I actually felt FULL. So, I guess for me, this was the first real day to experience a lap band.

I can't tell you how thankful I am for your feedback. If it hadn't been for that, there is no telling how long I would have gone on with pain. And based on other posts I've read, that could have resulted in complications. Whew! Thanks again!!

Kristine

[Frustrated 1]

Something you may not have considered, but it could be the chicken itself that is giving you problems. For me, since I was banded, chicken has been hit and miss. Some days I can tolerate a small amount, other days as soon as I put it in my mouth I just know I have to spit it out because I'll have problems.

You can have 5 people with the lap band have 5 different experiences with chicken.

1) No problems at all.

2) Can eat it so long as it's the white meat only.

3) Can eat it so long as it's the dark meat only.

4) Can eat it so long as it's hot.

5) Can eat it so long as it's cold.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. And it's just with chicken. You could substitute bread or potato or any food/drink at all and have the same kind of results.

When you start back on your foods, take it really, really slowly. Perhaps a few crackers on your Soup to start with. Then mushy foods like yoghurt, mashed potato, cottage cheese, egg. Progress to something a little sturdier after a day or two, like canned tuna, softened fruit and veg, etc and slowly introduce other foods.

There are just some foods that will not go down. Remember that when making your own choices. It can change all the time too. You might be able to get rice down no problem at all this month, then next month your body does a complete turnaround and you can't even think about rice. Just adjust accordingly when these little obstacles surface.

[psalm20 2]

Ruby,

I hadn't thought about chicken being the culprit. I don't think that was the whole problem, because it truly was everything I tried to eat, and not just one food, but I do tend to lean towards chicken and fish most of the time, meat wise. I already know that bread, rice, and eggs are totally out of the question, and the list expands from time to time. Now I do find it very interesting that you said some foods might work one month and not another. That is the first time I've heard anyone mention that. There is much to learn about this band, I guess, and I'm just barely getting started. I wouldn't want to cause any damage to my health, so will continue to treat this very gingerly, but I have hope now that I might actually be able to tolerate the band much better than I thought. It is such a help to read what others have been through and have found to work. Sorry that someone else had to be the guinea pig, but glad it wasn't me! :cursing:

[cj033185 0]

I too defintely had the pain between my shoulder blades after my last fill. My docotor told me it was trapped air in my stomach. I dealt with it for three weeks before I had the unfill of the one cc that he put in. Wow how amazing you lasted for a couple of months. I was also wondering was this pain normal to lose weight, but everyone in here said there was not supposed to be pain. I'm glad had the unfill, because I said I would rather fight a few hunger pains (once in a while) than feel that pain ( between my shoulder blades) every single time I ate something solid. I'm no longer in pain for the most part, but I am still having trouble keeping solids down. Some days I really have to pick my chin up off of the floor. :cursing: and some days I have just come to accept the fact that everything involving food is different for me now. No one told me this journey was going to be easy, but I know nothing worthwhile comes easy. I like the idea of using the timer to wait in between bites, although I do not believe one minute is long enough for me. I'm going to set it for maybe three minutes. I had actually come to the conclusion that I'm not meant to sit down and eat a meal anymore. I'm trying to count calories and just take bites here and there instead of sitting down to a meal. So, for some sense of normalcy, I'm going to try the timer. I'm glad you were finally able to keep some food down, and I hope you continue to do so. Btw, I have lost 37 lbs so far

[Kat817 19]

You said that often the first bite hurt so bad that you wait several minutes. Makes me wonder if you are not having issues with "first bite syndrome". When you have a very touchy band, and yours might very well be since you are recently filled, and possibly inflamed. The other thing that makes me wonder if this might not be a help to you is the fact that your morning drink must be hot...to loosen you up.

With first bite syndrome, the pouch goes into like a spasm as soon as food hits it that it has to work to digest, and that is what causes the pain. And as it spasms it forces food back up which puts it in contact with your esophagus again, and leads to sliming, and eventual PB---or spitting it up.

What I have heard recommended is to take a few sips of a very warm liquid just before you begin your meal. Let the heat relax your pouch, and then try the tiniest of bites, just slowly ease into it, with the beginning heat to relax it.

This can be tried.....but if it does not produce results--I too would check into a slight unfill.

The band does not have to be painful.

Good Luck!

Kat

[juliegeraci 7]

There are 2 types of tightness. Tightness to liquids and tightness to solids. If you are tight to solids then you need a slight unfill, maybe only .1 or .2ccs. If you are losing on soft foods it will then be your decision when or not to get an unfill. In my case, I can eat solids. Just not much of them. 3-4 bites and I'm full. Good luck. Hang in there.

[Jason11 0]

I too am having this same situation right now. My first fill was 3cc's on my 14cc band. Then on this past Monday they gave me 3.3 more cc's. So right now I'm at 6.3 of 14cc's. I did the liquids for the first day after the fill, moved to soft foods and have been attempting to eat solid foods. I ate chicken last night and it got stuck and came back up. I really think my bite size was too big and I overchewed so now its just really irritated. I have the pain occasionally between my shoulder blades and am trying to just do liquids today like everyone suggest to see if it will get any better. Its a scary feeling, like I'm sure most of you know, so this is definetely something i'm not used to. If it doesnt get better to where I can eat solids at all, I'm gonna have some Fluid taken out. Water and liquids go down fine though. I did actually try the water and meat tenderizer this morning, not sure how effective that is but I guess its worth a shot. Anybody else had any luck with that method?