Anyone else have pain swallowing?

I'm 15 days out. I had one week liquids and one week puree. Now, I can eat any soft foods, but I'm having trouble. Even though I chew things small, after it hits my pouch it feels like a golf ball trying to sqeeze through the eye of a needle. Even if I forget and gulp water instead of sipping, I get a heavy pressure that feeels like either it is going to come back up or I can't take a deep breath. It is so uncomfortable and all I can do is wait for it to pass. Has anyone else had this? Does it get better? I know about 5% of people develop a stricture/stenosis, but I'm really praying that this isn't one of those? Any info on what I can expect in weeks 3 and 4 post-op would be hot. Thanks. Denise

Denise, I am also 15 days out and also have this, especially if I gulp liquids or try to eat quickly. I have felt that many times this is because I filled the pouch and a little more, and the esophagus DOES NOT like to have food sitting in it. My understanding of stricture of the stenosis, is you won't be able to get much in at all, because what you do will sit there forever and not pass through. If the discomfort passes in an hour or two, my guess is it is not a stricture, but I would run it by your surgeon anyway, as they have more experience with it than we do. One thing I have really noticed the last day or two, is that everything feels very different and my mind rarely understands what my pouch is telling it. Today I have found that if I eat very, very, very slow (15-20 minutes for 1/4 cup or less), it helps things to go in without feeling like as much of a lump. I am thinking that eating this slowly may allow the stomach to more gradually mix up the digestive juices with the food you are eating, so things are a bit more sloshy & soupy right away instead of taking 20 minutes to get enough digestive juices built up to get the food to that consistency, this is just my theory, I have no evidence, or research to back it up. The other thing I am thinking as that before WLS we had a lot of stomach. Even when we were full things never got quite as full and tight as they do now, so the stomach usually (except Thanksgiving or days like that) didn't feel much contact with what was sitting inside. Now we are filling our pouches very quickly, and our stomach does get to feel everything that goes in, especially when we fill it up. Another thing both my surgeon and dietician mentioned is that even though the pouch is healing, it will be swollen for a while, so we won't have as much room in there now, as we will once the swelling in the pouch goes down. Thanks for sharing your concern. I have been so confused with what my body has been telling me past week. Everything is so new, at times it is scary. But I take heart in the results that people have with this tool! And little by little I am beginning to understand! If you are still looking for input as to what to expect 3-4 weeks out and beyond, try posting on your state board. I have found that with the larger range of dates and experiences, I usually get a lot of good feed-back, and it is a little easier to keep up with names and faces! My best to you in your journey! Heidi L-S