Question:
Food Stuck it hurts

Hi I am almost two years out .I had a piece of tomatoe hung as well it scared me to death it hurt my throat was on fire where I gagged so much my eyes felt like they were bugging out I am sore today as well .the thing that scared me was I gagged so hard at one point I seem a little blood mixed with the upchuck . If I wasn't in nursing The ER would be my next stop after the panic set in instead I did have a panic attack drank small amts of water will be on soft food the next couple of days and rest thank GOD i'm off today .Any just my 2 cents Love Karen    — kc46 (posted on January 2, 2009)

January 2, 2009
This very thing happened to me at year 2 or maybe 3...I ate an antipasta salad as my last meal before traveling back from Florida to VA by car...After i ate the salad, I had that "stuck" feeling. at first...then this awful radiating pain and nausea...It was so bad but my family was getting ready to leave...Long story short, I sat in the car all day thinking I was going to have to go to some random ER on the 16 hour trip home. I could not eat of drink all day...Everytime I even took a sip...I threw up...and the pain was overwhelming. It lasted some 8-10 hours...I was at some rest stop and FINALLY threw up the tomatoe skin that must have covered over my stoma like a piece of duct tape! INSTANT relief! I too took it easy for the next few days, eating only soft foods...It was quite sore for a few days from all the pressure...I was all better by day 3...As if nothing happened...So you've got the right idea! Hope you feel better soon! It can happen! Even years post op! We are both lucky we didn't have to go in and have surgery to get the food out! That happens too! Moral: CHEW CHEW CHEW! Even after years post op! Right? Right!
   — .Anita R.

January 3, 2009
My nutritionist tells us to use pineapple, or use meat tenderizer with water and drink it.
   — Danita S.

January 3, 2009
Oh boy, I've had a gutbomb or two in my day. After I had LapBand and had a few fills with some good restriction, I just had to have something crunchy one day. Much to my dismay, I ate a Triscuit which went down ok and I should have left it at that. I nibbled on another one and all of a sudden, my chest hurt and I just wanted them to move down, sooo I made the mistake of taking a drink of water to try to do that and BAM! Instand fiber and water induced gutbomb!!! OMG it was awful. I had such pain and pressure and couldn't get it up or down. Wretching and sweating and crying- yikes. It must have made it's way down as it never did come up and I was sore for days. One of those hard lessons to learn that are so important after WLS. As to your tomato incident, I have heard that we should remove the skins of things like tomatoes, apples, etc as they do tend to get "hung up". My surgeon has had me pretty much swear off asparagus as it always seems to get hung up which is too bad as I love it so. You are doing the right thing by doing fluids and taking it easy... advance slowly and allow your traumatized stoma to heal. Hope all is better for you in a couple of days. Dawn Vickers, RN, BLC, CLC
   — DawnVic

January 3, 2009
It's funny that you said your throat was on fire. I woke up one night from my sleep coughing like crazy and my throat was on fire.. It was so bad I wanted to go to the ER but, I didn't. Drank alot of water though. I have NEVER experienced that but, I didn't have anything come up. I have no clue on what happened that night. I had lap band done in August 2005. Any ideas? Donna
   — DonaJ