Question:
3 hrs after dinner - dry heaves & vomiting. Anyone else? What helps? (GRAPHIC)

HI! Last night for the 2nd time since surgery about 3 hours after dinner was done I started having dry heaves, just spitting up saliva. After an hour of this I ended up vomiting part of my dinner (I don't think the amount was my entire dinner, just seemed like a small "glob"). It was so incredibly painful to experience, so uncomfortable. Dinner went down fine, stopped at feeling full. Dinner was some chicken with asian spices and a bit of rice (I've done small itty-bitty amounts of carbs with no problem). No sign at dinner or right thereafter of trouble. What can I do? My dinner wasn't a huge amount, a few ounces. When this happened before, I was 1 wk and it was 3 hrs after breakfast - had eaten an egg. (My feeling there was that perhaps I had some left in my stomache after digestion and my tummy wanted to get rid of it.) I am almost 2 wks post-op. Thanks for all replies, I appreciate your help.    — Sarah C. (posted on March 9, 2002)

March 9, 2002
This is not so unusual that you need to worry about it. I found that early post op the "wetter" my food was the easier it was for me to keep it down. Early post op rice would have killed me , it can swell in the pouch and cause a lot of discomfort. I am almost 2 yrs post op and still have to watch rice and undercooked (aldente) pasta. Try adding some sauce or a light gravy or broth to your meats it may help , it may not. Early post op is a real adventure in eating. What was good yesterday may make you sick today and be fine tomorrow. Just keep going slow.
   — Rose A.

March 9, 2002
Whoa only 2 weeks post & eating real food thats your problem you should only be on full liquids. & a major no no is rice because it expands in your stomach & can cause your pouch to stretch. So try full liquids cause your not reall supposed to eat real foods until 3 to 5 months post-op
   — Jennifer F.

March 9, 2002
Hi, this is Sarah, the original poster. I am following my dr's instructions to the T. With his office, you start on regular foods as soon as you are ready. Pureed/soft for 1 wk post then go to regular foods as you can handle them. As he says, it's an adventure to find what works for you. Perhaps it wasthe rice - if it expanded in my stomache then that would make me uncomfortable and thus the vomiting. (I just don't like it when people post "you must do it my way" - each surgeon has different procedures. If I had to do liquids only for 3-5 months I'd kill someone.)
   — Sarah C.

March 9, 2002
hi sarah. happy new birthday! upon my hosp discharge my doc told me to 'eat anything i want as long as its pureed to a consistency that it can be sucked thru a straw'. and i did. i dumped alot the first few weeks, ate too fast, ate too much etc. but over time i learned how to 'eat' to my new tummy's satisfaction. i have had one episode of being sick enuf to have to vomit & that was just last week, my 11th week out. i ate a quarter of a sweet potato (no skin :-( ) & it didnt take 5 minutes & i was sick as a dog. in a restaurant no less! everything becomes 'trial & error' after surgery. what works for me may not work for u & vice versa. at 2 weeks post op ur pouch is still swollen & feeling very rebellious at what u 'did' to it. i promise u it will heal within the 6 week post op period & start to settle down. good luck hun! happy losing.
   — sheryl titone

March 9, 2002
Hi Sarah, From day 3 in the hospital I was eating SOLID foods. My experience with this surgery is that all doctors have a different protocol. I have experienced on occassion, the dry heaves/vomiting hours after I ate, and rice has been one of the triggers of it. I think it is hard to digest, and depending upon the consistency can ball up. Good luck, and don't worry about it. It is all trial and error.
   — Kim M.

March 9, 2002
In our live groups, chicken, rice & eggs are the 3 least tolerated foods. I can surmise why, but I tend to avoid them even years later. Rice swells, later. Too late to change your mind! Can you stick with softer things for another week or so? Baked potato, white fish, think of what you'd give a baby with only 4 teeth. And maybe halve your amount until everything settled in nicely again?
   — vitalady