Question:
Having problems when I drink.

I am three weeks out yesterday. I am down 32lbs so proud of myself. I am having problems with getting fulids down without it hurting. I slip my water and it still hit my stmach like a break. My mouth is always dry. I can eat and it dont hurt but when I drink it do. I eat ice all day to keep my mouth from being so dry. The ice dont hurt.    — JANIECEMOM (posted on June 2, 2010)

June 2, 2010
Call the doctor. It should not hurt when you drink
   — muffy1970

June 2, 2010
You could be ingesting some air with the water, be sure not to gulp just sip, or try to use ice chips and take a teaspoon full, let it slowly melt on your toungue, every 15 minutes. set a timer to remind you if you trow up after taking in water call your surgeons office. vomiting is a sign of a stricture. Very commom are both takeing in air when swollowing and strictures. try the advice I gave you for swollowing air. Stricture is when the stoma shrinks and won't let anything pass. The surgeon uses a scope to go in as streach the stoma back to the size he set it at. No pain just inconvience. Good luck.
   — marymazilla

June 2, 2010
That is very normal. Especially if it is ice cold water, the cold water hits your stomach which is not healed after only 3 weeks and causes the stomach muscle to tighten up (your stomach is made up of muscle). Anyway, as my surgeon put it you get a muscle "cramp" and it constricts your stomach causing pain. For the first 2 months after surgery until my stomach healed I couldn't drink anything cold, even tap water was hard to handle. I drank a lot of warm liquids! Warm orange crystal light was very soothing for me, I know a lot of people in my support group drank warm tea and quite a few drank bouillion. It will get better, just be patient. I kept a drink warmer on my desk at work and kept a warm mug of something on my desk and I sipped on it all day in order to get my liquids in. Slowly I was able to tolerate tap water and after about 5 or 6 months I was back drinking ice water. Good luck I am sure you will do wonderfully! Enjoy your new life it is the best...
   — brindledanes

June 3, 2010
I believe that is normal,I had the same problem when I was three months out.I had problems with drinking any fluids too. now almost six months out I can drink large glasses of ice tea and hot tea or hot chocolate. Please don't worry about it this will pass for you too. Just continue taking small sips for now.
   — Mary D.

June 6, 2010
I HAD PROBLEMS GETTING LIQUIDS DOWN AFTER SURGERY . AS TIME WENT ON IT GOT BETTER AND BETTER . JUST SIP SMELL AMOUNTS AT A TIME AND IF YOU CAN'T DRINK ANY MORE DON'T FORCE YOURSELF . WAIT A WHILE BEFORE YOU TRY AGAIN . KEEP EATING THE ICE IT'S JUST AS GOOD , OR MAKE YOURSELF SOME CRYSTAL LITE ICE CUBES FOR A LITTLE FLAVOR . YOU COULD EVEN TRY SOME SUGAR FREE POPSICLES . I'M 14 MONTHS OUT AND I STILL CAN'T DRINK FLUIDS LIKE I USED TO . IT DOES GET BETTER ...........ROGER
   — ROGER COTE