Chest discomfort

Hi everyone
I have been on the board twice and have lurked for a while. I  have a quick question, I am 9 days post op and was started on solid foods today. I have been using a baby spoon and today I tried some nonfat yogurt, and fat free cottage cheese about 7 baby spoons of both not each. I had no problems getting it done but about twenty minutes later had a tight chest discomfort that has sat there for about 6 hours. I called my surgeons office and spoke with his nurse, she gave me some suggestions and called in a prescription for nexium. I really thought I was doing good taking small bites, slowly.  Any ideas on what happened and suggestions to help prevent this from happening again would be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah I'm back to the clear liquid diet again. Thanks for any comments or feed back.
Rhonda

Rhonda, 

I think you did the right thing by calling your Dr.  The only thing I can say is that my idea of eating slowly and the reality of eating slowly are two different things.  I still have to remind myself to slow down.  So I am trying to take a small bite, put down the fork/spoon and chew, chew, chew, then swallow and talk a while before the next bite.  My biggest problem is when I let myself get really hungry before I eat so I try to do as my grandfather did.  We would ask if he would like to eat with us and he would say well I'm not really hungry but I have a little bit to keep from getting that way!  LOL

I hope you are feeling better soon.

Thanks Vera  for the encouraging words.

Hi Rhonda,

I'm so glad that you called your Dr. I agree with Vera that our 'idea' of eating a very little bit and slowly is different than the bariatric reality. When you take a 'bite' try to limit it to the size of a pea or an eraser on the end of a pencil. When you take the tiny bite, chew it 30 times. I know this seems crazy with yogurt or cottage cheese, but go ahead. Then wait 3 minutes after you swallow one bite before you start the next. If you can do this, you won't be likely to have a problem. It's much easier said, than done... but, it is a skill and style of eating that you can master with time. You won't always have to eat this way, but you will for several months post op.

Wishing all the best,

Thanks so much Barbara!