My first experience getting food stuck

[Ivernous 0]

Well Friday night I was eating chicken with my husband and after like 2 bites -BAM stuck! I knew it was stuck, felt like severe heart burn and a big lump in my throat. While I waited I could feel the piece moving its way up my throat. I went to the bathroom and stood over the sink for about a 1/2 hour when it finally came up. I threw up the chicken. It felt much better afterword even though I was still doing some heaving. But I thought I would share.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Ivernous

[Bdoll 1]

My first and ONLY stuck episode was also with chicken. My nurse told me chicken is one of the worst for this problem with band and bypass patients. It is just a VERY dry meat. She recommended always adding something to chicken like salsa, marina sauce, gravy, or spaghetti sauce.

I know it was a scary thing to have happen. I cried and told my husband to stay away until I got it unstuck. It was definately a learning experience.

Best of luck to you on NEVER experiencing this again!

[rcruz 0]

Yes chicken is what gets me EVERYTIME!!!

I tried the breaded kind and although it is a NO NO it does seems to go down rather than plain chicken breast, even dark meat gives me problems and it's juicier!

[PATCHELTON 0]

I eat chicken all the time without a problem, but I don't eat it by itself. Like the other poster mentioned, if you add something to give it moisture . . . I don't like to cook, so I have developed a standby dinner that I eat a lot, which is chicken caesar salad. I cook chicken breasts (I get bulk packs frozen at Costco) in either Olive Oil or Pam (olive oil gives you healthy MUFA's--monousaturated fatty acids). I cook up as many as will fit in the frying pan on a low heat for a while (I check it now and then). When it is finished you can break it with a fork. I store in fridge and use one chicken breast per salad. It is so tender that I can break it apart with my fingers--don't even need a knife. I cut up a hard boiled egg (another thing that can be a little dry, but not in the salad). I buy Romaine in heads and store in those green bags you see advertised everywhere (they really do keep produce). I break up some Romaine, cut up the egg, break up the chicken breast, sprinkle Parmesan cheese, and use either Marzetti's Light Supreme Caesar or Bolthouse Farms Caesar Parmesan (it doesn't say light but it is yogurt based and the nutritional breakdown is pretty much the same as light). I top with fat free croutons (they crumble so they don't get chewy--I have trouble with bread so I eat very little). Sometimes I add Almond Accents for something different. I have no trouble getting the chicken down.

I have gotten stuck with ham, however. I don't have a huge amount of restriction (about 3ccs) so I can eat more than many people, but it depends on the density of the food. Not that I like getting stuck, but it does remind me that I didn't chew thoroughly enough, and besides ham, I have to eat slowly and chew shrimp thoroughly. I love shrimp, too.

Sometimes stuff that goes down okay will suddenly get stuck, and it is usually because I didn't chew thoroughly, or I ate too fast.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I buy a whole rotissiere chicken and remove the skin as I use it. Then I slice chicken off this and add it to fat free gravy (over mashed potatoes) or add some BBQ Sauce to it. But it seems moist enough that I don't think it would get stuck by itself. Chicken is almost the only meat I eat. I got stuck on an onion ring and too big a bite of turkey and stuffing.

[Gus-Gus 0]

I have gotten stuck several times on different foods, but chicken is still the worse. I find that chicken thighs in the crockpot with salsa makes it really soft and easy to eat.

[luvrofmusik 0]

Well Friday night I was eating chicken with my husband and after like 2 bites -BAM stuck! I knew it was stuck, felt like severe heart burn and a big lump in my throat. While I waited I could feel the piece moving its way up my throat. I went to the bathroom and stood over the sink for about a 1/2 hour when it finally came up. I threw up the chicken. It felt much better afterword even though I was still doing some heaving. But I thought I would share.

i had my first stuck of food last night. No fun at all. Mine happened with a piece of pork chop. It was very soft, but it was also my fault. I knew better to be eating too fast and I did and I upchucked it. I did not think my band was working. I had not felt it work until last night. I have been hungry ever since I got my first fill last Tuesday. Now, it feels like it is working. I has a piece of cheese this morning and then I had some of my Protein Shake. Lets just say my band was not crazy about the Protein shake this morning. I threw it back up. I am sitting here now and I can drink the shake. This band thing is definitely trial and error. I am learning things that I did not know about it. I don't think that the doctors inform us of everything. I must say, I still don't want to go back the way I was, because I have lost 25 lbs. and I am proud of that. It seems so good to step on the scale and see the numbers go down instead of up now. I think all lap banders experience a food stuck one time or another. I said I was going to be careful so that it did not happen to me, well it did. I know what it feels like and I really don't care for another, but with my luck and being that I am still learning, it will probably happen again.

[CiCiRN 1]

chicken is truly the culprit!! My first stuck was w/chicken, I probably ate too fast and BOING it was back up..I didn't eat chicken for a month..at least.

A really tasty thing is canned white chicken, 6 ounces is great, a 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese, 1 tbl of chopped onion, a spice like 'what's this' or mrs Dash, 1/2 roma Tomato, or whole if you like. mix and eat. It is SO YUMMY!

What's this is a spice that I found down south..I live in the north, so I order it online, if you like tasty..try it..DIVINE makes every thing taste wonderful..

[stevenjoec 0]

So experiences of being "stuck" are different than what I keep reading. I'm assuming what I'm experiencing is being "stuck", but I'm not sure. I tried to eat a french fry b/c a friend of mine who is banded said she can't eat them. I tried chewing it really well and in a few moments I could feel this tightness in my chest and it felt like I was going to throw up. The only difference is, I never do. I never have anything come up. This has happened a couple of times now. I sit there and take deep breaths and after a few moments it goes away.

Last night, I was laying in bed and I realized I forgot to take my medicine before i went to bed. So I just sat up in the bed and took the pill (it's small and I break it in half). I immediately felt a problem...just like being stuck. I couldn't lay down. I was so uncomfortable....miserable!!! The interesting thing for me is that I take pills during the day sometimes and have no problems. I'm assuming my problem was that I was not standing when I took the pill. This uncomfortable feeling seemed to last forever. I got on this website looking for a solution. I read where someone said to mix lemon juice and meat tenderizer and Water. So I did....it helped, about 30 min to an hour later. Valuable lesson learned about taking pills!!!!

[vickyd 24]

Stevenjoec-You can certainly be stuck and not throw up. What you are describing is exactly what happens to me when I get stuck. I have been stuck several times...normally on pork or chicken (especially canned chicken) but I have only thrown up twice.

[54Shirley 105]

My first time getting stuck was chicken breast. I told my surgeon it is to dry for me. So he said eat the dark meat instead. So I do. But I make sure I have a dipping sauce for it like BBQ, or it will get hung up. So chicken breast, and bread are sure to get me every time.