Stricture question(s)

For those of you who had this unhappy thing I have a couple questions.

How far out were you when you found out?
How did you find out?
Could you get any foods or liquids down?

I have had a couple episodes of throwing up and usually attribute it to eating to fast or not chewing well enough. It does not happen everytime I eat. I have no problems with soft foods or if I really consintrate on chewing (at work I dont always think about it). Today I was eating a chicken breast. I got about 2 maybe 2 1/2 oz eaten over almost an hour (which seemed like I should of been able to eat more in that amount of time) and I felt so full it was uncomfortable. Not painful but I new I couldnt eat anything else. I set my timer for my 30 minute wait to drink. It came and went. I still had the same uncomfortable feeling. So I waited about 5 more minutes and finally I went to the bathroom and took one look at the toilet and threw some up. It wasnt a lot nor was it all I ate (I dont think) and as soon as I did I felt the uncomfortable feeling go away. Anytime I have thrown up this has been the situation. I am wondering if I should be checking into this or attribute it to my mindless maybe not chewing well enough mentalitly. I am still pretty new 1 month out tomorrow and learning a whole new way of eating.

Any advise?

Thanks

Sher

Hi Sher.It doesn't sound like a stricture to me and this is just by what my surgeon told me and about another lady that is a part of our group meeting that has told us about her stricture.Usually when you have a stricture you cannot tollerate anything not even water.Everything that you eat and drink comes back up immediately.Now even though a breast is a lot leaner but it maybe too dry.My nut suggested that this MAY happen with white meat Chicken and that to maybe start out with dark meat since it is much more juicy and tender.Just pull the skin off of it.My friend at the meeting had a stricture I beleive at about a month out of surgery and this was last year.

Edit: But to be on the safe side than please call your surgeon.

2 1/2 months out
got admitted to the hospital for the second time after wls (wls 1st, dehydration 2, stricture #3)
Yes got food down, soft foods, chewed a LOT
Liquids yes

But what happened finally was that it caused me to be so malnourished that I got sick to just hear the word "food".  I was very sick. 

Call your surgeon.  It's not a hard process in getting the stricture opened.  You'll be out for it, and the only thing you will have later is a horse throat/voice.  It felt better immediately.

Did you say that you are eating chicken at 1 month from surgery with RNY?

I would think that you should still be in puree stage, and that is why you are having these issues.

Am I wrong?

Michael.

Centennial's diet is different than Baptist.  On the manual that I have from 2006, it states that a patient can add chicken at 3 weeks, but some foods need to be softlyl blended.  If a food is already soft, it does not need to be blended, but then at week 4, all foods on the approved list (chicken breast is listed) can be added until 75% of excess weight is lost.   But they do emphasize that a patient needs to chew, chew, and chew very well with these foods and take small bites.  It is possible that some patients take too large of a bite or don't chew long enough.  After all, we've had these habits for many years now (large bites, not chewing good) and they aren't easily broken...  but to answer your question, the diets for the two centers are different.

I think that is really my problem Mel. If I really slow down and think about my eating I do fine.

I used to be a gobbler and I am working on it.

Although I am still not able to eat more then a couple oz in an hour. Not 3 oz in 45 minutes like the book says. I guess I have to work up to that?

Thanks

Sher

telisha
It will take awhile for you to retrain your brain in doing these new things...  just continue to take it slow...  take food in that is the size of a pencil eraser on top of the pencil...  and chew chew chew.  They say to chew it 25 times.  That should grind it up so small that it will go down.  And, remember that if something such as chicken breast is overcooked, it will be difficult to go down.  Make sure your food is really moist.  If you do continue to have problems, make sure you talk to your doctor about it because, it very well could be a stricture but don't worry...  its fixable...  but try doing the slower eating and chewing better....

Sher,
  I've had 2 strictures and both times they started out like yours.  I would eat tuna fish on Monday no problem, then Tuesday same food and    get the foamies.  I attributed this to eating to fast as well. 
  
 The way we determined it was a stricture was through my journal, I documented the time I ate what I ate how much protein it had and any adverse effects.  While I was told normally they start showing up around the 12th week out (exactly when mine happened) but everyone is different.  My WLS staff made the determination by reading my journal. 
 
 This allowed the repair occur before the stricture continued to tighten.  If they didn't take care of this right away the stricture would have continued to tighten to the point were I wouldn't be able to keep liquids down and would have rapidly dehydrated. 

  Now with that said I would take notes, if I got sick  (even just a little) I would go back to liquids for the rest of the day.  This will give your irritated pouch a chance to settle down.

 I know your following your WLS teams eating advise  but not everyone can tolerate solid food that early out.     If you have a stricture its a very simple process they knock you out stretch the stricture out usually with a balloon and you wake up and trot off.
 Good luck and keep a eye on it.   
C'ya Bob