Question:
Could this be a stricture

i had a open rny on the 5th dec and have been having diffuculity with faomy ucous after i have eaten anthing harder than a water consitency. i tried to eat a soft strawberry in little bites and chewed it to a mush within a few minutes i was pacing the room and foamy stuff coming up this has been happening on a daily basis everytime i try to eat anything ie a egg a cracker mashed potatoe. the food sometimes comes up bit bybit never in a lump and can take up to 20 minutes to clear. this morning i tried to eat a grape peeled and it again caused this foamy stuff and the pain is crushing i brought up over a cup full of biley stuff and it is quite heavy. i have phoned the hospital but the surgeon is on leave till the 3rd january i have a appt this afternnon with my gp to check it out but he is flying blind with this. i have tried to take samll nibbles and wait and do what i was supposed to by the book but it has gotten that bad i had to come home from our family hoilday as we were isolated and my hubby was scared i miht get ill without being able to get me help.. please can you give me some advice as i have been on just water and clear soups for 2 weeks now and feeling tired and run down...i tried to take the multi vitamins prescribed they came up also.. thanks..    — [Anonymous] (posted on December 26, 2001)

December 26, 2001
hi. i am 9 days post op open rny/silastic band. my only problem seems to be sugar so i dont do sugars. i dont know if what u have is a stricture or not but, PLEASE call the hospital back...or better yet GO to the er & make them FIND a surgeon who is familiar with bariatrics to see u immediately!!!! good luck.
   — sheryl titone

December 26, 2001
Take it from a nurse who is post op RNY....GO TO A DOCTOR TRAINED IN BARIATRICS. You are not getting adequately nourished if you are bringing stuff up and bile is NOT NORMAL. You can dehydrate fast and right now you probably need IV fluids to hydrate yourself. Don\'t play with your life. This surgery is serious business and you need to see someone now. Go to an emergency room and make sure you tell them how post op you are and specifically what surgery you had done. Keep me posted as I am concerned about you. [email protected]
   — bamonkeefan

December 26, 2001
I'm no expert, but those are like the symptoms I had when my stoma narrowed and I needed an endoscopic dilation. Everything I ate came back up in a foamy mucuous about a half hour after eaten. Until then, crushing pain in my chest. My doctor said the "mucuous" was because the food would get in the stomach and be digested, but it couldn't get down into the intestines. Therefore, it came up already digested. Talk to your doctor and see if you can get referred for an endo. Best of luck.
   — Tracy L.

December 26, 2001
I had the same problem 3 weeks ago and went to the ER. They admitted me and scoped me the following morning. I was dehydrated and was throwing up brown liquid which turned out to be blood from a tear from throwing up so much. I had a stricture the size of a pin hole, was dilated and then felt sooo much better. I don't mean to scare you, well maybe I do, but you really really need to go to the ER. They will get someone from your surgeons practice to see you. You will get taken care of. Whatever you have coming up does not sound normal.
   — Cheri M.

December 26, 2001
I am no expert on strictures either; but as someone who's had two strictures dialated, I think I know a little bit about it. It does sound like you have a stricture. You're at prime time for a stricture. I got my first stricture at 3 weeks and I was able to tolerate NOTHING! No water, food, not even my own spit. When I came down with my second stricture, it was a month later and I wasn't quite sure if it was a stricture because I could tolerate liquids. In both cases, I had the foaming and in both cases, it caused pain...Pain when the food was churning, pain as it was coming up, relief when it came up, but constand nausea until the next time i threw up. I understand that many PCP's aren't quite sure what to do. What you should do is contact gastroenteroligists in your area and call their offices. Tell them you are a gastric bypass patient with a probable stoma closure. Ask them if the Dr. has/ or is capable of balloon dialation. You'll probably find one--at least. So, now what you should do is go on clear liquids and hold out till you can see a Dr.
   — Kristin R.

December 27, 2001
I agree with the other posters... you need to get to an emergency room NOW and MAKE SURE you are given an consult with someone familiar with bariatric surgery. With the threat of dehydration being MY biggest worry for you.. you need to find out QUICK what's causing this. Please let us know here whether or not you've sought help and how it all worked out..
   — Diane E.