Question:
Help! Has Anyone Experienced Vomiting for 6-12 hours?

I'm desperate here folks. I'm 6 months post op. I had a Distal Open Roux-en-Y. I have gone from 384 down to 244 so far. That's the great news. The trouble is that every 4-5 days, I end up going through a vomiting episode that lasts anywhere from 4-12 hours. Now, I don't eat anywhere near what I should be at this stage. My daily diet consists mostly of a Protein Shake in Skim milk for breakfast, maybe some SF or Light yogurt or some form of pureed soup for lunch ... or a protein bar like a Detour, and then maybe soup like Bean w/Bacon bits, or Brocolli with Cheese, or something soft or pureed and some sugar-free popsicles during the evening. Everything goes fine for 3-4 days. Then I eat something for lunch or dinner (like a baked potato ... no skin, with a bit of cheese sauce) and all of a sudden I get that stuck feeling in my throat. After that, it's 4-12 hours of puking every 30 minutes. I normally have to lay down to get it all up as gravity tends to hold it in. My biggest question is why does it take so long to get it all out? I usually puke up about 95% thick saliva, and food bits with every episode. My Surgeon has no ideas after doing an Upper GI and everything looking fine. My family doc put me on Regulan a week ago and Miralax because I was only having BM's about once every 4-5 days. It seemed like I was backing things up in the GI Tract. The meds have helped the frequency of the BM's. But I continue to puke every few days. If it was a one or two time puke after an hour or so ... and knowing it was something I ate that I shouldn have, like meat or chicken, or fish, I could deal with that. But there appears to be no rhyjme or reason for this. At this point, mt family doc thinks I may have to go back under the knife and get it all reversed. Obviously, I don't want to do that. And it's no guarantee that things will improve. Lastly, I had no problems before the surgery with the exception of IBS which never caused much of an issue except for occassional diarehea or constipation. Aging, the meds I'm on now are suppose to help that. I want any ideas out there. I'm hoping someone else has gone through this and can give me an avenue to explore for my doctors. I can't keep puking like this. It's affecting my life and job. Not to mention I can't eat 1/3 of the foods I should be able to by now.    — Robert Neff (posted on October 5, 2003)

October 6, 2003
I did this weeks 3 & 4 and then again about week 7. I am going into week 11 and so far so good! is it the portions that you're eating? are you eating too fast? My cousin who had the surgery with me is having the same problem as you and they are doing this dye test on her today, but it looks as if they are going to take her gallbladder now. Have they checked your gallbladder?
   — Beverly S.

October 7, 2003
I'm surprised I've only gotten one answer to this, but thank you. No, the portions have been very small .. around 1-2 ounces. Nothing has been foods that are forbidden. And my gall bladder was taken out during the surgery.
   — Robert Neff

October 7, 2003
Robert: Sorry you've only gotten one answer so far. I think maybe it's because what you're going through isn't a common thing? I have a thought. It seems you have a lot of dairy in your diet. Maybe you're having trouble with dairy? I know I did early post op. It has kind of gone away now. The other thought is maybe you're eating too big of bites or maybe a bit too fast? Only you know the answer to that. I am also wondering how you're doing on your water intake. When I was dehydrated I was throwing up. Not sure if being dehydrated made me sick or if throwing up made me dehydrated. But that's another thought. I wouldn't go for a revision at this point. I understand this is a huge drag for you, but going through a second major surgery won't be fun either. And who knows if it will solve the problem. That is a question you'd have to ask the WL surgeon. If you haven't done so yet, keep a journey of everything you eat every single day and then mark the days you have these throwing up episodes. Maybe you can figure out a common link if it's all on paper? I hope you can get an answer as to why this is happening to you.
   — sherry hedgecock