Question:
Can't keep anything down

I know this question has been asked before, but is it normal to not be able to keep anything down? I'm three weeks post-op, and I'm allowed to do soft foods, but i'm still on the liquid phase. My body just isn't adjusting for some reason. I have an appointment next Friday with my surgeon, but is there anything I can do now? In the beginning everything was fine, now I can't even take my pills. Everything either comes back up or gets stuck. I just want to know if i'm going to get over this. Any help would be appreciated.    — Laydie K. (posted on June 6, 2003)

June 6, 2003
Hi, I am 4 mths. post-op and had the same problem at 3 weeks post-op and this is a normal process for some people to go thru unfortunately! But, you might want to talk to your surgeon anyway to see if he or she can do an endoscope to make sure that you don not have a stricture, cuz I had one done at around that stage and I didn't have a stricture, but I had some acid bulid in my throat where everything I ate got stuck there and I threw up constantly, so he had to put me on a stronger medicine for that, so call it is worth it!!! I feel alot better now I still have some occassions where I throw up, but that part is normal, and it definitely has gotten better! Good luck to you!!!
   — Melodee S.

June 6, 2003
Hi Laydie... I know how that feels... not good. I was about 3-4 weeks out and doing better, then I reverted! Which is sooo frustrating! Calling the doctor is a very good idea. Mine put the scope down into my stomach to take a look. It turned out that my "stoma" (the opening from the pouch to the small intestine) was a bit restricted. So he stretched it out a little - which doesn't hurt - and that evening I was finally able to eat! I ate better than I had since surgery. It was a great relief! The stoma is made the correct size during surgery, but then our bodies heal and develop scare tissue, and the doctor has no way of knowing how much scaring our bodies will do... This extra scare tissue can cause the stoma to be too small.. causing us a lot of grief. Good news, it's easy to fix! Good luck to you!
   — Sharon W.