Mixed Feelings

Hi all

Today I come at you weighing 218lbs. I haven’t weighed that since for about 20yrs. It’s a bitter sweet result I think? I feel like I am losing weight too fast. See I I’m entering in my 7^th week out and I’m still cannot tolerate soft meats only tuna. I have also been experiencing nausea with vomiting so I almost shied away from food fearful of throwing up the last week or so. I have spoken with my nurse practitioner and the nutritionist and they have concluded I don’t have a stricture because of the other types of food I can get down; it doesn’t fit the stricture criteria. So I’m happy and relieved about that. Also that stuck feeling in my throat has decreased allot and so has the vomiting .Thank God! I stopped my Pantoloc because even though it’s for acid in the stomach; I looked up the side effects and It actually said unable to swallow feeling even though its rare (1%) but it happened to me....go figure (I was suppose to stop it already anyway).  I rarely feel hungry and when I do I can eat about 3 table spoons of food before I get that way too full feeling. It’s been hard to get in all my water I get about 4 (250ml) cups in maximum a day. I feel like my stomach is progressing soooo slowly. That’s why I’m worried about if I’m losing weight too fast. I don’t want to get gallstones either. 

Hi Peppermint sorry to hear you are struggling but happy that you don't have a stricture, that is great news!  I was having the same troubles as you and so now I took a bit of a step back and I am having really soft, overcooked meats, usually in a low fat soup or broth and I have really slowed back down again while eating, chewing at least 40 times per bite and pausing for a few minutes before taking the next bite.  Stuff I was doing in the beginning of course, but as I healed I started going back to my old ways. 

You don't say how far out you are, and how much weight you have lost.  I started Opti January 16th and I had my surgery February 4th and 6th (had a complication) and I am down 57 pounds altogether.  I thought that was a lot but not really, since 17 of the pounds lost were from my time being on Optifast.

Could you call the nurse practitioner back and ask to have an endoscopy just to doubly check and make sure that everything is okay?

My best wishes to you for a speedy recovery and hope you are feeling better very soon!

Ya I am going to call my nurse tomorrow. I had a few more vomiting episodes this weekend. all I am really keeping down is liquids. I had my surgery march 16 and I want to know if I have a stricture or not. Even though I am 44lbs down I really  think its too fast. I feel like its because I’m throwing up so much. The things I use to be about to eat ie tuna; I now bring it up. And it takes me 1 hr to eat 2 Tbsp now. It’s so frustrating.