Question:
9 Wks and still gagging, vomiting and foaming. How long will it last?
Surgery was June 4, RNY, during my 3rd week, started throwing up all day long regardless of what I ate or how much or how slowly I ate/drank it. Went to the ER, was found to have a narrowing of my esophagus. Saw my surgeon at 7 wks and was told that he could perform a widening after 10 wks. I had to wait that long to ensure that there would be no perforations. Both Dr.'s told me that the sickness should go away between 6 & 8 weeks. While I'm not as sick as I was, I am still feeling nauseaus, throwing up etc. daily and don't know if the procedure will "cure" my problem. I started at 360lbs and now am at 310lbs. — [Deactivated Member] (posted on August 7, 2008)
August 7, 2008
I have posted this to others from time to time. When you feel nauseated,
smell alcohol swabs. It helps a lot. Lyn
— SkinnyLynni2B
August 7, 2008
I think you need to call the surgeon. It's your body, and if you can't eat
or drink well, throwing up daily, etc.--that's not normal. Ulcer may be an
issue or you may have a narrowing issue. Call them. You or your insurance
paid this DR. for the surgery, and you should get proper aftercare. DAVE
— Dave Chambers
August 7, 2008
Is the narrowing in youu esophagus or in the outlet from your pouch. Im a
pre-op but one of the potential complications I was told about was a
narrowing in the outlet. My surgeon told me its about size of a dime. So
you can imagine how that could be a problem. He said it can be fixed in a
endoscopy. You probable had one before surgery where the look into your
stomach with a camera.
Good luck
Paula
— urbrat2
August 7, 2008
This is not normal...It happens to many of us when we don't eat right or
eat too much...but yours is chronic while doing everything right...and
that's not normal...Call your surgeonand get an appointment! I hope you
feel better soon...Hugs
— .Anita R.
August 7, 2008
I'm glad you posted this because I'm 3 weeks out and started gagging when
drinking water and taking pills. Now I'm having severe pain, foam and
throwing up when eating anything. I think I will have to call my surgeon.
I've been putting it off thinking maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I'm
not. Hope you feel better soon and thanks again!
— k4rizz421
August 7, 2008
HI Paula, my narrowing was discovered in my esophagus before it joins my
pouch. I don't know if there is a narrowing where my pouch joins my
intestine. My surgeon's office said if he couldn't do the procedure to
widen it in a timely fashion to go back to the ER of the hospital where I
had the procedure done and hope that there is a bariatric surgeon on-call
who would be able to do it instead of waiting for another month to six
weeks. I honestly don't think I can wait that long.
— [Deactivated Member]
August 8, 2008
At 4 weeks post -op from Open RNY I attempted taking
"swallowable" vitamins and calcium because I was gagging on the
chewables because of the taste. The first day I took the new vitamins
which are pretty large capsules I could not keep them down. I tried
everything that day after I puked up the pills. Not even water would stay
down. Prior to this event I had a few incidences of food rumbling and
tumbling until I had to make myself vomit because I know it was not gonna
go down. Anyway, after 3 or 4 days of not keeping any soids or liduids
down I was scheduled for a scope. My surgeon went in (I was on happy
drugs so don't remember anything) and took a look and sure enough, my stoma
(outlet from the pouch to the small intestines) had closed up to about
3mm!!! It was supposed to be about 10-11mm. The doc inserted a balloon and
dialated the opening and I have been fine ever since. This situation does
happen and it is an easy fix. Some people experience this a few times
within the first 6-12 months but usually a one time fix is all that is
needed. This condition is called a stenosis. In addition to the narrowing
of my stoma I also had a small piece of "buttressing material"
extending in to the outlet--- I guess is some type of reinforcement
material they use when they connect the outlet to the intestine along with
the staples or sutures. Anyway, I hope this helps because what you are
describing just is not normal and I am not sure why the surgeon is saying
he cannot perform the widening before 10 weeks. Are you sure they said the
narrowing was before the pouch in the esophogus or at the outlet? Just
curious. Just be forceful and persistant and don't be afraid to advocate
for yourself with the doc and hospital staff. Things will get better, I
promise. I will pray that you get some explanations and a fix very soon.
— ChelleBelle
August 8, 2008
If the gagging, vomiting, and foaming is caused by a narrowing of your
esophagus, having it dilated or treated should help.
Sorry you are having such a hard time.
Hang in there!
— mrsidknee
August 8, 2008
I started doing the same, my dr said i was eating too much, so I assumed he
was right. I ended up having to drink water slowly, I would chew watermelon
& spit out the pulp when the juice was gone, I also used finagrin
(nausea liquid). It was the opening to my intestine had healed closed. I am
with the others you should make the Dr. help you it is not healthy to not
intake some nutrients. My dr laughed & said the watermelon was like a
homemade iv, sugar water basically. So insist on something being done. Also
when vomitting drink warm liquid to settle the spasms in the pouch cold
liquid makes it spasm more per my dr. Hope you feel better. Sorry you have
to go thru this part.
— Faerydust1313
August 9, 2008
I just got out of the hospital this morning with the same type of problem!
I could not eat or drink anything -- everything came back up. I called my
surgeon on Monday - they told me to come to the office Thursday (8/7). On
Wednesday I had an appt with my PCP and told him what was going on. He
kept telling me that it was "normal" and my husband agreed with
him! I was so frustrated - neither of them really know what I'm going
through! Went to see my surgeon on Thursday and was admitted to the
hospital directly from the office suffering from acute dehydration. After
lots of IV fluids they did an endoscopy and found that the opening between
the pouch and intestine had narrowed. It was dilated during the scope and
they want me to come back in 2 weeks to do a second endoscopy to check it
again and to dilate it a bit more. (Said they could only do it a little at
a time to avoid perforation.) As of this moring I am temporarily on a
liquid diet again for a few days, but everything is going down and staying
down with no problems, Thank God! Talk to your surgeon! And don't let
anyone tell you something is "normal" when you know it's not!
It's your body and you know it best! Good luck!
— dnoreenh
August 10, 2008
I just got out of the hospital today... I am 3.5 weeks post op and was
having the same symptoms. After a week in the hospital and numerous tests,
an endoscopy found that I have a half-dollar size ulcer where the pouch
connects to the small intestine. (Raised enzyme levels also showed mild
pancreatitis.) I am SO much better after treatment with a med similar to
Prilosec and Maalox. 10 weeks is too long to suffer like that and you will
end up in the hospital with dehydration- there's no reason they can't do a
diagnostic endoscopy to see what's going on. Good luck!
— Melissa B.
August 10, 2008
I too am 9wks post op, RNY surgery was 06/02/08. I also am still vomiting
and feeling nauseaus. I was told by a nurse at my surgeon's office that
sometimes patients with this surgery get something similar to morning
sickness, and could last up to 3 months after surgery. In order make this
feeling a little more dealable, I am taking Zofran, an anti -
nauseaus/vomit medication. I too had a narrowing, and had to have four
widenings. I had my last one on Friday August 8,2008. I hope this helps.
Andrea Brown.
— andibabyz06
August 15, 2008
I can't add anything more than what has already been said except, I have
never heard of anyone having to suffer at least 10 weeks for relief.
Good luck,
Dawn
— DawnVic
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