How do you know?

Good morning my fine feathered banded friends!  I have a dual-question for you - How do you know if 1) you AREN'T chewing your food good enough and 2) if the meds you are taking (pill form) are too big to take (that you are taking at this time)...?  The reason I ask is I'm not having any "known" issues in this area, however, I am having a lot of issues with a tender stomach around the port area (lower portion of the stomach) and I'm not sure IF this were an issue, you would be able to "tell" from that area?  If it were an issue, where exactly would you "feel" it?  I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Good morning! If I don't chew my food enough or if a pill is big, I usually feel it as it is going down my throat, I don't feel it once it's able to be down in my stomach. I would definitely suggest seeing your doctor if you have continued pain. I know when I exercise, sometime I might feel a little sore around my port area. I hope you feel better soon!

The port area is unaffected by food. Soreness there could be from early healing, pulling of the muscle during exercise or (as the fat goes) bruising as the port under the skin is hard and if you knock it it can bruise. Pain accompanied by redness, swellng, heat can be the sign of erosion and is serious. If the band erodes into the stomach tissue, it can set up infection and this can travel along the outside of the tubing and manifest itself by the port. But if that were the case, you would not be talking of "tenderness"!

Pills - a different issue. Many can swallow pills. But the issue is that we don't always know if they are dissolving above the band or going down to the stomach below the band. I found out mine were dissolving above by the waves of nasty taste I got. JeanM found out the hard way when an anti-bio dissolved above the band and caused such severe irritation she ended up in ER - it was designed to dissolve in the acid of lower stomach!

Many continue to take pills and never have an issue. Others play safe and always reduce pills to the smallest possible form by crushing or cutting.

Kate

Thanks for the very informative response. I appreciate it.  I didn't really think the tenderness was in relation to those areas but wanted to get an idea with some of you - I see the surgeon today and am going to discuss the tenderness with him - it could be healing but I'm just not sure...exercise is NOT an option right now as I am trying to walk but doing noting vigorous at this time.  Many thanks again for your quick response.  Have a great day (not sure if you are starting a day over your way or ending it!)

Hijack-great new avatar Kate!!

Hi Kate - saw the surgeon today - no additional fill as I am full a good bit of the time and he said my weight loss has been good.  He wants me to have an ultrasound to check for gall stones as I have also have gastric bypass (in 04) - if that shows nothing (on the tenderness) he will order a CT scan to see if it could be related to scar tissue/hernia from the bypass...I checked out the "symptoms" of gall stones and I do have about three (although if you look up these things you can have just about anything you look up) - abdominal pain, feeling of bloatedness and pain after eating...so I will schedule the ultrasound for next week as I am off on vacation then.  Thanks again for your words of wisdom!

Best wishes! Gall stones are outside my experience but i hear they are nasty!!

Sapphire,

If I do alot of ab work the area around my port is tender . Not a pain that I need to meds for but its noticeable.

When I first started Zumba with all the waist / hip movement I was sore for a good week and when I do something new ( a new move in Zumba ) I will get sore.

If you dont do any exercise that requires the use of them muscles alot then i would probably talk to your doc about it :o)

 I know immediately if I have not chewed enough because the clump of food seriously starts to hurt going down immediately. I hate that pain. I start getting a little nauseous, shake , start sweating like my body knows somethings up....

I take my meds too every morning. I have no issues with those or a larger bariatric vitamin. They seem fine going down!

For me I can just tell. As for the tenderness around the port I hear that's normal.