Can't "stomach" meat or fish! But junk food does just fine.

I am 9 weeks post op, and I don't have dumping, even with ice cream! However, when I try to eat chicken or fish (salmon, tilapia...) it feels like the very first bite and any bite after settles down right in my esophagus, right about an inch above my breasts, and with every breath I can feel the meat sitting there. Usually, if I try to eat more than a bite or two or meat, it becomes so uncomfortable that I have to throw up, just once, and then I feel better. The funny thing is, I can eat tuna that is in a can, and turkey bacon, and all manner of junk food without feeling this stuck food syndrome. It's just with meat! Is this forever? How am I supposed to get my protein in if I have to go almost vegetarian?! I was really looking forward to not having to drink those awful shakes everyday!

I had surgery March 3 and I was just like you up till this week I can now eat like I should and don't get that sick feeling..best of luck..

It sounds like what I had which was diagnosed by my surgeon and pcp as esophagus spasms. This is when your esophagus tightens up and won't let the food go down. With me I also would spit up foamy stuff. It was like saliva but foamy. Anyway, my surgeon told me to drink warm herbal tea to relax the esophagus. That did not work for me. I did some research and read that both hot and cold items might trigger the spasm. What did work was to begin taking prilosec. It's an over the counter med so you can take it if you like. Many docs recommend taking one a day after WLS. It is for gerd, I think, but it really worked for the esophagus spasm. My pcp gave me a script for it so it is a little cheaper that way. I've taken it for about 8 months now and it has really helped. I had one really bad scare with the spasm. I had eaten some beef jerky and it felt like it got stuck. I could still breathe but I couldn't drink anything and it really hurt bad. My stepmom who's a nurse came over and immediately called 911. I had three large firemen in my bedroom in a mtter of minutes. They put oxygen on me and were talking about taking me to the hospital when all of a sudden I threw up and it was fine. I knew I didn't want that scene again! It was strange what would trigger it. I felt like if I had too much, too fast or if I didn't cut things up small or chew things well it would happen. That you can eat ice cream says to me that it's the soft stuff you can tolerate and you probably just need to chew better, cut things up smaller and eat slower. But try the prilosec. I guess you should check with your doc, before you do. But like I said it is available over the counter. Also, I find that I can tolerate a little sugar, but if I have a lot of sugar, that's when I get sick and dump. Dumping for me usually means a nauseated feeling, extremely tired extremely fast, sometimes sharp pains in my side and diarrhea. I usually have to lay down for about an hour to have it pass. My pcp also gave me nitro tabs which I did use once or twice when I had the spasm really bad. Somehow it works to rid you of the spasm but I always had a headache after taking one. I would recommend that as a last resort only. If you go to the web and google esophagus spasm you'll probably find some good info. Good luck. Teresa

Wow, thank you both for the info! I will ask my doc about that at my 3 month check up. I don't think it's a matter of hard or soft food, because I can eat taco chips, pickles, hard pretzels, etc with no problem, it's just meat and fi**** seems maybe processed meat is ok, as the turkey bacon was no problem, but real moist turkey deli slices were. I'm just hoping that when I can have red meat, I'm over this, because I have been craving a medium rare STEAK!!!