Re: I have to air out my frustrations......

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I had the same problem for 4 incredibly long months. I had a really good

surgeon and he was very concerned about me and kept prescribing different

medications (things to help contractions in my pouch and such). " The ball in

your

stomach " thing that you felt is very familiar to me - I found outt hat that

feeling was being caused by a blockage. Eventually the blockage would move on

but

I would be in excruciating pain in my chest from esophageal spasms until it

did. He mentioned at one point that he thought I might have a stricture but

that he doubted it because according to his statistics, only 1% of by pass

patients develop a permanent stricture. He referred me to a gastroenterologist

who

performed an EGD. The opening from my pouch into my intestine was half the

size it should be so he stretched it. That helped for a little bit and then

the problem kept coming back. My surgeon told me that it wasnt uncommon for a

post op patient to need to be stretched 1 or 2 times. During my 4th

stretching, the suture line ruptured and I had to have an emergency repair. I

did

indeed have a permanent stricture and since the repair everything has been

perfect.

Please dont suffer as long as I did. Ask your surgeon about a stricture and

see if you can have an EGD to find out why you are having the trouble you are

having. You may be doing ok health wise now, but you can go forever without

being able to eat.

Read about my surgery and post op journey starting here. See if any of it

sounds familiar to you

http://www.ami-michelle.com/fit/archives.html

click on any of the links on the right to take you to a journal entry. The

links on the bottom are from when I first decided to have surgery and the top

links are from my most recent entries.

~ami~

www.ami-michelle.com/fit

In a message dated 12/29/2003 12:09:20 AM Central Standard Time,

gracefuldancing@... writes:

I am 7 weeks post op. I cannot eat anything. I have my fluids and

SOME soft foods. EVERYTHING I try to put in my mouth I get a big

ball in my stomach or I get sick. Today I tried one bite of tuna-

sick. Next meal two tiny bites baked chicken and a few bites of

mashed potatos..... sick to my stomach. This has been going on and

that is all I have eaten today. So today besides vitamins all I have

had is water.I am not eating too much because I cant even get

started. I am tired of food and I just want to not eat. I want to

just drink. I know that sounds crazy and my Mom and Dr will not have

that. It is all I want to do. Some days I lie to my Mom and tell her

I have eaten when I really havent. I do not regret having the

surgery. I am just frustrated and tired. I know this has to end at

some point. Temperance is the key for me. The weird part is that I

am not really hungry but I know I have to eat. I know I am not

getting enough nutrition even with the vitamins. UGH!!!!! Am I doing

something wrong? There has to be something I can eat right? Is this

normal....heck, am I normal? I just want to scream. Sorry but I had

to air this out so I could sleep for once this week. I dont mean to

sound so unhappy. I do love life and I am happy that I had WLS. I

WILL get over this hump.

Thank You for Reading,

G.

11-12-03

Lap RNY

Park Place Hospital

Houston,Texas

Dr Hadgar Spivak

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I had the same problem for 4 incredibly long months. I had a really good

surgeon and he was very concerned about me and kept prescribing different

medications (things to help contractions in my pouch and such). " The ball in

your

stomach " thing that you felt is very familiar to me - I found outt hat that

feeling was being caused by a blockage. Eventually the blockage would move on

but

I would be in excruciating pain in my chest from esophageal spasms until it

did. He mentioned at one point that he thought I might have a stricture but

that he doubted it because according to his statistics, only 1% of by pass

patients develop a permanent stricture. He referred me to a gastroenterologist

who

performed an EGD. The opening from my pouch into my intestine was half the

size it should be so he stretched it. That helped for a little bit and then

the problem kept coming back. My surgeon told me that it wasnt uncommon for a

post op patient to need to be stretched 1 or 2 times. During my 4th

stretching, the suture line ruptured and I had to have an emergency repair. I

did

indeed have a permanent stricture and since the repair everything has been

perfect.

Please dont suffer as long as I did. Ask your surgeon about a stricture and

see if you can have an EGD to find out why you are having the trouble you are

having. You may be doing ok health wise now, but you can go forever without

being able to eat.

Read about my surgery and post op journey starting here. See if any of it

sounds familiar to you

http://www.ami-michelle.com/fit/archives.html

click on any of the links on the right to take you to a journal entry. The

links on the bottom are from when I first decided to have surgery and the top

links are from my most recent entries.

~ami~

www.ami-michelle.com/fit

In a message dated 12/29/2003 12:09:20 AM Central Standard Time,

gracefuldancing@... writes:

I am 7 weeks post op. I cannot eat anything. I have my fluids and

SOME soft foods. EVERYTHING I try to put in my mouth I get a big

ball in my stomach or I get sick. Today I tried one bite of tuna-

sick. Next meal two tiny bites baked chicken and a few bites of

mashed potatos..... sick to my stomach. This has been going on and

that is all I have eaten today. So today besides vitamins all I have

had is water.I am not eating too much because I cant even get

started. I am tired of food and I just want to not eat. I want to

just drink. I know that sounds crazy and my Mom and Dr will not have

that. It is all I want to do. Some days I lie to my Mom and tell her

I have eaten when I really havent. I do not regret having the

surgery. I am just frustrated and tired. I know this has to end at

some point. Temperance is the key for me. The weird part is that I

am not really hungry but I know I have to eat. I know I am not

getting enough nutrition even with the vitamins. UGH!!!!! Am I doing

something wrong? There has to be something I can eat right? Is this

normal....heck, am I normal? I just want to scream. Sorry but I had

to air this out so I could sleep for once this week. I dont mean to

sound so unhappy. I do love life and I am happy that I had WLS. I

WILL get over this hump.

Thank You for Reading,

G.

11-12-03

Lap RNY

Park Place Hospital

Houston,Texas

Dr Hadgar Spivak

[Guest guest]

I don't know if it's normal or not. But I had the same problem. I hated

the thought of eating. Just the thought of it turned my stomach. It didn't

matter what I tried. But I kept at it. Then one day at about 12 weeks out

I could finally eat. Not much mind you. But I did finally start getting

that 1/4 cup I kept hearing about.

Some people just take longer. Unfortunately we had to be the ones that take

longer. Try to relax. It will get better I promise. I didn't think it

would at the time but it did.

You may also want to bring it up to the doc again and make sure there isn't

something physically causing the problem.

Candi

I have to air out my frustrations......

I am 7 weeks post op. I cannot eat anything. I have my fluids and

SOME soft foods. EVERYTHING I try to put in my mouth I get a big

ball in my stomach or I get sick. Today I tried one bite of tuna-

sick. Next meal two tiny bites baked chicken and a few bites of

mashed potatos..... sick to my stomach. This has been going on and

that is all I have eaten today. So today besides vitamins all I have

had is water.I am not eating too much because I cant even get

started. I am tired of food and I just want to not eat. I want to

just drink. I know that sounds crazy and my Mom and Dr will not have

that. It is all I want to do. Some days I lie to my Mom and tell her

I have eaten when I really havent. I do not regret having the

surgery. I am just frustrated and tired. I know this has to end at

some point. Temperance is the key for me. The weird part is that I

am not really hungry but I know I have to eat. I know I am not

getting enough nutrition even with the vitamins. UGH!!!!! Am I doing

something wrong? There has to be something I can eat right? Is this

normal....heck, am I normal? I just want to scream. Sorry but I had

to air this out so I could sleep for once this week. I dont mean to

sound so unhappy. I do love life and I am happy that I had WLS. I

WILL get over this hump.

Thank You for Reading,

G.

11-12-03

Lap RNY

Park Place Hospital

Houston,Texas

Dr Hadgar Spivak

[Guest guest]

I don't know if it's normal or not. But I had the same problem. I hated

the thought of eating. Just the thought of it turned my stomach. It didn't

matter what I tried. But I kept at it. Then one day at about 12 weeks out

I could finally eat. Not much mind you. But I did finally start getting

that 1/4 cup I kept hearing about.

Some people just take longer. Unfortunately we had to be the ones that take

longer. Try to relax. It will get better I promise. I didn't think it

would at the time but it did.

You may also want to bring it up to the doc again and make sure there isn't

something physically causing the problem.

Candi

I have to air out my frustrations......

I am 7 weeks post op. I cannot eat anything. I have my fluids and

SOME soft foods. EVERYTHING I try to put in my mouth I get a big

ball in my stomach or I get sick. Today I tried one bite of tuna-

sick. Next meal two tiny bites baked chicken and a few bites of

mashed potatos..... sick to my stomach. This has been going on and

that is all I have eaten today. So today besides vitamins all I have

had is water.I am not eating too much because I cant even get

started. I am tired of food and I just want to not eat. I want to

just drink. I know that sounds crazy and my Mom and Dr will not have

that. It is all I want to do. Some days I lie to my Mom and tell her

I have eaten when I really havent. I do not regret having the

surgery. I am just frustrated and tired. I know this has to end at

some point. Temperance is the key for me. The weird part is that I

am not really hungry but I know I have to eat. I know I am not

getting enough nutrition even with the vitamins. UGH!!!!! Am I doing

something wrong? There has to be something I can eat right? Is this

normal....heck, am I normal? I just want to scream. Sorry but I had

to air this out so I could sleep for once this week. I dont mean to

sound so unhappy. I do love life and I am happy that I had WLS. I

WILL get over this hump.

Thank You for Reading,

G.

11-12-03

Lap RNY

Park Place Hospital

Houston,Texas

Dr Hadgar Spivak

[Guest guest]

hi michelle, check w/ your doc, in order to rule out a stricture. in the

meantime, keep hydrated, try different soft foods, try blenderized

high protein soups..

are you on any antacid? @ about 3 months out, i was prescribed some & was saved

from indigestion hell. ( & no, never had digestion

probs before wls).

lori h.

[Guest guest]

hi michelle, check w/ your doc, in order to rule out a stricture. in the

meantime, keep hydrated, try different soft foods, try blenderized

high protein soups..

are you on any antacid? @ about 3 months out, i was prescribed some & was saved

from indigestion hell. ( & no, never had digestion

probs before wls).

lori h.

[Guest guest]

Constance!!! How smart you are! I'd completely forgotten that as an

early post op when I was thowing up and dehydrated, my surgeon had me

drink 2 oz of Glucerna (diabetic Ensure), every couple of hours. The

cans are a little expensive, but I would put some plastic wrap on the

can after serving my portion and refrigerate it until the next dose.

Really , if you cannot get your nutrients in any other way,

and your dr approves, by all means, drink 'em. Sugar Free Carnation

Instant Breakfast, Glucerna (ask your pharmacist if you can't find it

on your own), blenderized soups... Whatever it takes, but do try to

get those necessary vitamins in, you'll feel better and heal much

faster.

Toi

> michelle,

> Since i haven't experienced any of this yet myself, the only thing

i can suggest--and what really worries me, is you say your are not

getting all of you nutrients. Do you think that until you can figure

out what the problem is, you can get some low carb version of ensure

or something. you have to get something in there and I thought that

may help. Do you think you may have something caught in there? i hope

you feel better soon. Think about the protein drinks with vitamins,

you need something to help you regain your strength. Take care

Constance

>

[Guest guest]

Constance!!! How smart you are! I'd completely forgotten that as an

early post op when I was thowing up and dehydrated, my surgeon had me

drink 2 oz of Glucerna (diabetic Ensure), every couple of hours. The

cans are a little expensive, but I would put some plastic wrap on the

can after serving my portion and refrigerate it until the next dose.

Really , if you cannot get your nutrients in any other way,

and your dr approves, by all means, drink 'em. Sugar Free Carnation

Instant Breakfast, Glucerna (ask your pharmacist if you can't find it

on your own), blenderized soups... Whatever it takes, but do try to

get those necessary vitamins in, you'll feel better and heal much

faster.

Toi

> michelle,

> Since i haven't experienced any of this yet myself, the only thing

i can suggest--and what really worries me, is you say your are not

getting all of you nutrients. Do you think that until you can figure

out what the problem is, you can get some low carb version of ensure

or something. you have to get something in there and I thought that

may help. Do you think you may have something caught in there? i hope

you feel better soon. Think about the protein drinks with vitamins,

you need something to help you regain your strength. Take care

Constance

>