I lack the words

As Mary and any other nurses on here will attest , we often urge patients to describe their pain or discomfort. If they cannot find the right words we will try to help them with descriptive words like is it stabbing,  burning, dull, sharp, ect..  Sometimes the words fail us too.

I say this because I was recently talking to my nut (not Renee) but my other nut and she was asking me to describe the feeling when I can't eat foods. I was at a loss for words. The best thing I could come up with was " when I put a piece of chicken into my mouth my stomach and throat feelsa like it is tightning up and closing off". This happen long before I even start to chew. If I were to force the issue and continue to chew and swollow it, it would go down but would be very painful to do so. It may very well come right back up again. My pouch would be uncomfortable and continue to hurt for 3 or 4 hours after this forcing so I would never force the food down.

This does not really describe the sensation that trying to eat these food brings but like I said it is hard to accurately describe. I lack the right words.

I had wondered if it were like being "stuck" after lap banding but it seems different. On me the tight discomfort comes from just putting the offending food into my mouth. For me this happens with chicken, pork, ham, bacon,beef, sausage, fish (fresh or canned)  rice, potato, bread, sweet potato, weiners, bologna, vienna sausages, and many other foods I can't  think of  right  now.
 
This is different from dumping. Dumping comes from sweet stuff or high in carbs stuff.

Just thought I'd share. :)

Not for me. I may feel tight & know that I need to drink something hot to loosen the band, but at those times anything but liquids is a problem until I drink the hot liquid. If I am stressed the band can be too tight as well.  I usually only get stuck when I don't chew enough,  take too big a bite, eat particular foods like rice, or  eat too fast. I don't know I am going to be stuc****il I swallow. It is usually a few minutes before I know I am stuck. Then I start to salivate like crazy. It literally pours out of my mouth. If I swallow it, it only makes matters worse. It may go down or it may come up and occasionally I will force the food to come up if it takes too long going through (thought that is not recommended), because I have learned that if it takes too long to come up, I will vomit very forcefully, including dry heaves. If I make it come up after 10 minutes or so, it is more like a big burp.

Wow. LOL  Yup! Aren't our weight los surgeries the easiest ways in the world to lose weight? LOL .

The great and terrible thing about the band is that you may have breaks in the form of unfills. I have been able to eat anything and for the last week to ten days I have!!. My much loved cousin (& partner in crime as a teenager) is in palliative care on Oromocto. Unfortunately, I have been self-medicating with sugary foods. I have gained 3 pounds. I am doing my level best to not have sugar today (&so far so good). Because I have been spending a lot of time with him at the hospital, I have not been walking, compounding the problem. I am trying to beat the sugar monster minute by minute! Too bad we can kill that monster, instead of just knocking him out for a while!!

Oh Charline I am so sorry to hear of your  friend. Is there any chance he will be returning home? 

You are right though. When we experience stress we reach for the thing that has always been there to soothe us un the past. For most of us it is food. Higher in carbs and sugar the better. I guess that is something we all have to relearn. How to manage stress without our crutches. For some of us bypassers (including me) it is no longer an option. Carbs and sugar is out.  

No. He is my cousin and friend. He has end stage brain cancer. He is semi-comatose, drug induced to deal with the pain. His kidneys are shutting down and he eyes are jaundiced. As much as it pains me, I have to prayer for his suffering to end soon. For me the world will never be quite the same. I go out to the Oromocto Hospital twice a day to sit with him. It's all I can do for him.

I have managed to not touch sugar today at all. One day at a time when dealing with addictions....

Prayers to you for being such an angel for your cousin and friend Charline. Not just everybody can do what you are doing on a daily basis.

Marymother - I think I know exactly the feeling you get - your description was excellent. Dare I say - it sound more like a pschological based reaction to food - resulting in the physical symptoms of course. Does that make sense? To this day - if I am not relaxed and fairly stress free and un-hurried - eating is difficult for me - in that I get a similar reaction to food that you desribed. Lots of times I need to eat - but know darn well - it's better to wait a bit - because it's not going to go well. Good desription of how it feels.

And yes - getting patients to describe exactly how they are feeling is like pulling hens teeth sometimes. A real challenge. Have a great day!

Mary, I too considered it being a pschological issue too but I don't find the stress factor comes into play with me. If I am upset or stressed I don't have an appetite so I would not consider eating. For the most part there are just some foods I cannot get down. It may be a  memory when it comes to putting something in my mouth that I have had problems with and it won't let me eat it.
 
Today I ate 2 english muffins when usually I cannot tolerate bread at all. I toasted it really dark and crunched them down. Now tomorrow I may not be able to do it at all.
 
I can not eat pork in any form. Strange because pre by-pass pork in all forms was my absolute favorite foods. At least once evry couple of weeks I will try something that I cannot eat to see if I can eat it now. Not carbs or sweets but one of the many meats I have lost.  (And once in awhile bread products. I miss them most) LOL