Problem keeping food down.

I posted a fw days ago about my confusion in the diet. I am still stumped. I have just been switched to "real" food (as opposed to puree) and nothing seems to agree with me. I did try a 1/2 a piece of dry toast yesterday and that came back 90 minutes later. Today it was a bit of turkey breast that got stuck. Today was AWFUL. Every 30 minutes, for 3 times. I just know I did not eat that much to lose that much!!! So far dinner has stayed down but I went back to puree to see if that helped. I have been real careful about eating slowly and chewing well. My dinner last night stayed OK but not much else. I must say it certainly helped in the scale department but I could do with out that kind of weight loss. Anyone else having this kind of trouble? I know my surgeons office will say go back a stage (to puree or even liquid) when I call. I can't call till Monday. If absolutely nothing stayed down, I would put in an emergancy call but somethings do seem to stay, just not very much. Thanks, Jane -45

Well, your loss is great! You need to insist when you talk to your doctors office that you have repeatedly gone back stages but that nothing is working. Have you tried some semi-soft choices: Baked potato with cheese n sour cream, sliced cheese, deli shaved meat, veges well cooked, FF refried beans with cheese, eggs, soup. All these would be intermediate between soft/pureed and regular food. Meat is the hardest thing for many people. It may just take longer to get there. Hope this helps... Joy

I too have a problem keeping stuff down. I have protein powder and mix it with sugar free pudding to help get protein in. But pretty much i am living off chicken broth and sugar free popcicles. Real meats come back up. I am upset because i am dying for a piece of steak, but i know it will come back up, so why waste the time. nothing tastes the same to me. i wish they made protein in a pill form, cuz i would be popping them like crazy. If they do let me know, cuz i am so on it then. most of the time i really don't care much about eating, but it would be nice to be able to eat something good with out I don't even dare try to eat anywhere but at home. Last sunday i was at a wedding reception, and had a little bite of a meatball, and was in the bathroom and ppl were knocking on the door asking if i was ok. I was embarassed. I hope this gets better for you. I bet us who had WLS could make a bundle selling tic tacs that taste like food we can't eat! LMAO

I have nausea and vomiting for about 10 days now. Sometimes I throw up water and lots of mucus. This happens mostly at night. One thing my protein shakes and protein bars stay down. So does soup. Before this I had no trouble with tiny portions of different foods. I feel like I'm pregnant and have morning sickness...lol Dr. put me on some reglan to try and help. I'll let u know. Michelle

Well, it's hard to say what the situation is, so you are smart to seek your doc's advice Monday. It may just be that the solid foods are filling you up more and make you sick. I know when I eat that one bite too many I get sick too, but thankfully haven't hucked up yet. But the nausea is pretty intense. It's good you are able to get soft foods and liquids down. Maybe it's as simple as getting used to what your body will tolerate or not. I do know that many docs discourage the use of bread - even in toasted form. I will also dump on just plain crackers, so it could be just about anything. I recall reading an article online about stoma size and problems getting food down. Oh I remember....it was a transcript of an online chat with a surgeon who has a theory that keeping people from eating after surgery for longer periods of time causes the stoma to shrink too much and that the earlier patients eat solid food the less problems they have with the restriction. He did say he doesn't know this as a scientific fact, but that it was something he suspected of being true. Sounded logical to me. So *if* that is the case, it might just be a case of easing into solids until it relaxes up. Hopefully that will be the case for you. Let us know what your doc says on Monday. Oh - and you know we don't have to lecture you about calling him over the weekend if you can't keep anything down later! Dina

Yes. My surgeon told me not to eat bread at all (no bread, no rice, no popcorn, no coconut, all can expand or wad up inside you). I'm chewing up Wasa crackers or Ak Mak and those haven't bothered me. With the turkey, I am now eating ground turkey. I also got put on 2 medications because I was having sharp pain between my shoulder blades -- Protonix (pill) and Carafate (liquid). That may or may not be related to what is happening to you, the medicine I mean. I had acid reflux disease before my surgery and I'm not thinking I'll get lucky. Some people are just more sensitive to starting food. Try eggs, those worked for me. Ditto refried beans and fatty fish, such as salmon. Oysters are nice, as they slide right now if you like them (cut in little pieces of course). Repeated vomiting and keeping nothing down can be a stricture which your surgeon can adjust...but it doesn't sound like it. I had a blockage (chicken) and it was like you described and, yes, it was absolutely terrible. I will not touch chicken for many months. I can't say I'm thrilled with eating and am frustrated I can't eat that many foods. But I know from reading many bios that it passes.

Hi Jane: Sorry you are having these difficulties. May I suggest you try fish or shrimp. I can eat anything but the fish and shrimp were the easiest to start with. Both my kids had wls - 1 and 2 years ago and neither of them can eat chicken to well but they eat almost everything else. They both agree that fish is easy. Louise

I guess im a lucky one the only thing that has given me trouble is eggs and i dont have to have them. You didnt say on your turkey what kind it was...was it shaved from the deli...that is very easy going down because its already thin. you may try that with string cheese. ive been munching on beef jerky most the day so i have my protein in for the day. LaRhonda

Hi Jane: I had my surgery on March 15th 2004 and since then I have had to have 2 gastroendoscopies. I was really scared when I first heard them talk about it but it is a painless proceedure and they open up the hole in the bottom of your pouch which sometimes gets too small and the food you eat has no place to go. Mine grew completely shut due to scar tissue, so I couldn't even keep the fluids down. Perhaps you need to call your doctors office and tell them whats been happening to you. I thought I was doing something wrong at first too and I ended up getting really dehydrated and sick. Call right away. Good luck to you and God Bless.