it's not as bad as it was, but it's still not great

following up ...

I'm still struggling with these major life changes and am constantly lurking the OH forums trying to figure out how everyone else is surviving this without so much pain, confusion and self pity. I have to keep reminding myself that not everyone got up and walked away skipping from RNY. It takes a lot of work, suffering and drama. I hate so much that people have told me i "took the easy way out" to lose weight... are they insane??? jesus!

I was doing so well on the throwing up front until a few weeks ago...(as in i hadn't even once until then.) I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what's different... i started taking flax seed oil, but I've always done that? I'm not eating anything crazy... but every other thing i eat send me running to the bathroom and there i go... *but* 99% of the time what comes out is a foam/mucus mixture. I even was sent to the ER this weekend from my surgeon's office because i couldn't keep anything down for over 24 hours. last night the same thing started happening, but today it's fine...? While in the ER they were ready to test me for strictures but the radiologist wouldn't come in until Monday to do the test (because it wasn't an emergency) so they stuck an IV in me and loaded me with fluids and let me lay there for a day until i checked myself out. I called back to my surgeons office and spoke to my nurse and she said "sounds like the foamies, like you're trying to swallow your burps and it churns it all up and fills your pouch"... so now that i know I'm doing this, its a relief to know I'm not crazy or have some sort of gross overgrowth in my guts, but now i can't stop doing it! I'm about to OD on gas-x strips. I'm just about ok with cheese sticks and yogurt, anything with more substance than that is turning me into a gas monster. (speaking of gas monster, the smells coming out of me recently are horrifying... Epic... I'm mortified.... )

I realize I'm rambling here, but I'm just wondering about this foam/mucus loop I'm stuck in. what can i do here? here is my strange theory... a year or two ago i had surgery to remove my tonsils and uvula... i think it's because of this huge gaping hole at the back of my throat that i am swallowing so much air. tell me I'm crazy, please.

however, I don't want to sound like i am completely miserable and have nothing but complaints... I've had a few great moments... I got my IVC filter out last weekend and my energy level shot through the roof! The pain in my left side is non-existent. (this part is for girls only....) and i noticed yesterday i can "see things i couldn't before" if you know what i mean. It's been a long time since we saw each other last. also this morning when i stepped on the scale, I'm in the 260's. halleluia. I cant even remember the last time that happened. I'm not able to do much exercising just yet as it is mucho frio recently, but i was thinking about starting up Tai Chi in the next month... how soon after surgery did you join a gym or start working out?? I've never worked out in my life, save for gym class a million years ago and the occasional walks...


no pictures in this post yet, I'm going to wait until exactly 2 months, (dec 1), but i can't wait to show off how much this drama has been sorta kinda worth it so far.


HW/SW/CW/GW
333/306/268/165?

Just want you to know your not alone in the struggles because I'm right there with you expect I throw up the food I eat and I did have a stricture and they stretched it about 4 weeks ago and was told last week it was still tight and that's why I'm having trouble but they were not going to stretch it again so I guess I just have to suffer until my body heals. If you go read my depression/mad post from over the weekend you will see how its all getting to me as well. Congrats on the weight loss and we just need to have faith that it's all going to get better.
God Bless!

Dear Karla,

I's sorry that you are struggling. I recall that the first 2 months were very hard for me, but that as the third month dawned, it seemed as though my journey eased considerably. I hope the same for you.

It does sound to me as though you are suffering from the oft dreaded 'foamies.' and there can be a number of reasons that they occur. As your pouch heals this too should improve and pass. Keep doing what your medical team advises, it will get better. I also recall that it seemed that I often seemed to take two steps forward and one step back ... sometimes, it felt like I took two or three steps back... but like you, I often found other things going well, signs of improvement.

I'm delighted that you are looking for and finding the good things. It's important to do that while this part of the journey is so difficult. Please know that it won't always be like this and there is light on the horizon.

Hang in there!

I am sorry you are having trouble. You probably already know this but.....chew your food up real fine...swallow and make sure you don't over fill the pouch. My bouts with the foamies are generally when I eat to fast ....to much or don't chew enough. You and your pouch will get together on things. I hope things get better for you soon.
Myrtis

I'm finding that it's a little delightful combination of eating too fast and foods that are too high in carbs... time to slow down, i guess :)

Unfortunately, I had to delete this post due to privacy concerns.