Unable to eat

I am having a problem whenever I eat or drink anything. It started on Monday and continues today. Everytime I drink water, milk, or protein drink I hurt from my stomach area all the way down to my gut area. It just feels like a really bad stomach ache that lasts for several hours. Maybe I'm not chewing enough or taking small enough sips but I haven't eaten much today for fear I would get sick again. I have only vomited once and when I did I had just eaten a couple bites of moist chicken and took 3 bites of canned carrots. I didn't drink anything 30 minutes before/after. Before I threw up it felt like it was all in my throat and just wasn't going down and within minutes I was in the bathroom. I am going to call the dr office tomorrow and see what it could be but I wanted to ask here first in case someone else had the same problem. I just saw the doctor on Monday and told them I wasn't having any problems and then WHAM! I get home and it all starts. I am also wondering if the intestine was reattached if there may be a problem there. Seems like I was doing really good for the past 3 weeks and then this all happens. I just need to get some input from others who have been there before me. Thanks, Regina

Regina, ....De-Ja-Vu.... and yes, you are right in guessing that it has to do with where the intestine was reattached. That reattachment is called the 'stoma'. The body in it's wonderful self-preservation way, tries to 'heal' openings done to it by growing scar tissue to close a 'wound'. It sees the stoma as a wound. For ~80% of people, the body allows the stoma to heal as is intended. For the other ~20% however, it tries to help the healing along by growing scar tissue over the wound, thus closing up the stoma. The stoma should be 10-15 mm (~1/2-3/4 inches). If it gets too small, it won't allow passage of food, and liquid can become difficult to pass through also. Mine has been as small as 1mm (NOT fun!)...but then again, I've also had problems if it got to 8 mm or less. The cure? The surgeon will do an endoscopy (aka: 'endo' or 'scope'). You get a nice little concoction of 'forget me' drugs via IV. The surgeon inserts a tube down your throat that has a camera (for cool pics!) on the end. If you are closing up, the stoma gets vibrated back open with a balloon type of device on the end of the inserted tubing. The whole procedure takes about 10-15 minutes. Occationally, you may have a little bit of a sore throat afterwards and will want to take it easy that day. The next day, you are back on your food plan! RARELY, a person's stoma is extra stubborn so you may hear horror stories but don't let them scare you. It took 15 endo's before my stoma got the hint. The people I know of that took multiple endo's, I can count on one hand...so not that often, k? A little bit of steroids injected into the stoma did the trick for mine ! My Rules of thumb: If I can't keep down 1 meal, I chalk it up to eating too fast or a picky pouch day. If I can't keep down 2 or more meals in a row and I KNOW I didn't eat too fast and I KNOW I chewed it up well enough, I call the surgeon's office. If I can't keep down liquids, I call the surgeon's office. Good luck! Let us know how this turns out! Sherri ***Dawn....You might want to suggest to Gail that she read this post.

best to be safe than sorry.......though i would throw up chicken , chicken just did not agree with me......and to this day, it may or may not be an ok thing for me....call the office...

Ya can't beat Sherris advise.. once again she is RIGHT ON!!! I have had a mixture.. I know I didnt eat to big a bite or to much but had the pain...when it got to the intestine...but it was to dry.. so sit and hurt until the intestine broke it down.. Not fun either.. even had to have a cat scan to see if their was a blockage or something.. happens everyonce in a while but so far everything is fine. and I am almost 2 years out!! Linda

I'm like Angie, Chicken is about a 50/50 shot for me. The very first thing that made me sick after surgery was chicken. But boy did I feel better after it came out. But again, I'm with Sherri here, I poretty much follow the same set of rules for calling my surgeon.

Aaaaahhh Honey!!! I never experienced that. It doesn't sound too good, and you should talk to your doctor. Call, call, call!!! They want you to! Sherri the Wise is right!! Keep us posted on how you are! This board cares about you!!!!!

I hope all is well and DEFINITELY call the dr... can't let the pipe get clogged... Let us all know how it turns out.. God Bless Jessyca