Question:
I NEED TO HEAR ABOUT POST OP PAIN UPON EATING... DOES ANYONE HAVE PAIN WHEN THEY FIRS
FIRST START TO EAT? THE PAIN IS STRONG ENOUGH TO VOMIT. — Deborah K. (posted on April 10, 2000)
April 10, 2000
I have had pain when I take to big of a bite, don't chew my food well
enough or try to drink liquids while eating. All of or any one will cause
pain. My advice is to stick to the soft and pureed food for the first six
weeks. Eat slow, and take small bits. Jeanie
— Jeanie W.
April 10, 2000
I have had pain when I take to big of a bite, don't chew my food well
enough or try to drink liquids while eating. All of or any one will cause
pain. My advice is to stick to the soft and pureed food for the first six
weeks. Eat slow, and take small bits. Jeanie
— Jeanie W.
April 10, 2000
You should not have pain when you eat as long as you are chewing your food
very well. Watch things like steak which will take a long time in the
begining to chew and breads which sometimes tend to get stuck if they are
not chewed very well. Try toasting bread, it makes it easier to eat.
— Julie H.
April 10, 2000
I had a lot of trouble in the first few weeks after my rny surgery. I am
now 3 months post op and don't have many problems that I started out with.
It does get better with time and you just need to ease your way into eating
solid foods and like everyone else has said you need to take smaller bites
and chew food very, very well. It does make a difference!
— Georgia W.
April 10, 2000
Hi there - I had a BPD/DS, and I had pain when I first started eating
solids at four days post-op. Food felt... rough. There was one time in
particular that was really awful - I ate some peanut butter and crackers,
and thought I was going to die! I could only eat a few bites at a time for
the first couple of weeks... then I'd wait a little while... then eat a few
more bites... LOL. Eating was a slow process in the beginning! But
somewhere around three weeks post-op, I started being able to eat more, and
the pain was gone.
— Kim H.
April 10, 2000
I had open RNY with 8 weeks of liquids with NO pain or discomfort, the
warm soup actually felt pretty good going down and I think the eight
weeks wait to go on soft foods helped to heal my new anatomy. Although
not all surgeons agree on when we should progress from liquids to puree
then from puree to soft, finally regular foods. You might discuss this
with your surgeon or dietitian if one is available to you. Either
might have a suggestion to help you.
— Victoria B.
April 10, 2000
I get terrible pain if I eat too fast or talk while eating. It causes air
pockets and the pain can last for hours! I am 10 weeks post. Pasta always
causes pain so I avoid that, but everything else is fine.
— marilyn P.
April 10, 2000
I'll be 7 weeks postop from the RNY tomorrow, and I've been slowly adding
some foods to my diet. The way my surgeon explained it, its kind of a
trial-and-error thing to begin with. I can't eat chicken, no matter how
finely chewed up. I also cannot eat pasta, even if I'd chewed it up to the
point of being liquified. If I eat either chicken or pasta I experience
terrible pain in my pouch. My rule of thumb, of late, has been the moister
the better. I can keep alot of foods down if they're in a soup-like base. I
can eat very finely ground beef and rice in a very soupy tomato sauce. Also
I can eat vegetarian refried beans, no problem at all, as long as I take
1/2 teaspoon bites. I ate a small piece of processed fat free corned beef,
and chewed it to the point that each piece was less than an eight of an
inch square, but became violently ill. I had a friend over for dinner
Friday night, and we ordered Chinese from a local restaurant, I ordered the
vegetarian mu-shu, which is mostly finely shredded cabbage (no msg) and
I've had no problem eating it (although its now Monday evening and I still
haven't eaten the container yet...I'm now a very cheap date.) Early on I
had a very tender pouch and had a hard time getting protein in, but mashed
hard boiled eggs with fat free mayo, and tuna mashed to a paste with
cottage cheese and fat free mayo were two things I could keep down.
— Elizabeth M.
April 10, 2000
I'm almost 11 months post op an some things still cause great pain.
Sometimes ist's meat or chicken, especiall if I swallow too fast. Sometimes
it's bread, or rice or pasta ao anything. I find it's eating too fast, too
soon or trying to sip a little liquid(too much). Sometimes I can eat a lot
of almost anything w/o anything gettting 'stuck'. I've been experimenting
almost a year and still have no clear guidelines. But, I would not trade
the new me for any of it.! Good luck.
— jiggers
April 10, 2000
I had terrible bouts of pain during my first month post op from a Lap
proximal RNY. With me I was chewing well and eating slowly, but still
would have trouble. Some meals I could only get in a couple of teaspoons
and then the pressure would build. What I found out (from speaking with my
clinic) is that at first the food can take an extremely long time to leave
the new pouch. It would be meal time and I would try to eat, but the
previous meal was still being worked through and so I would be trying to
add more food with nowhere for it to go. This all got better after I
reached the one month mark. Now at almost 6 months I am doing extremely
well.
— Jilda H.
April 11, 2000
I had open rny on 4/4/00. I've had no vomiting or nausea. I started on day
4 following surgery with water and sugar-free candy. Isn't that funny?!
(That's what they brought me) Next day, yogurt, creamed soup, jello.
Nothing bothered me. The first week at home, I'm still on the
"liquid" diet and the only thing that has bothered me greatly (a
stuffed, oh my tummy hurts type of pain) was when I heated up some 99%
fat-free broth and added some instant potato flakes and skim milk and
sprinkled a little cheese on top. OOOOh, I hurt for almost two hours just
to the point where I couldn't eat anything for awhile. I have a g-tube in
my old stomach which still drains out gunk and I have to empty it often
during the day. Whenever you have a tummy ache, they say to open or empty
the tube. For some reason, it was full at the time of the tummy ache.
Mylanta works great post op. If you feel indigestion pain or something
similar, ask for it. It was so soothing when I asked. I use it at home
too. Also, the post-op diet for a while is constipating because of the
lack of bulk. My surgeon recommends 1 ounce of milk of magnesia as needed.
This has been a blessing also for me because of the gas which builds up.
Suppositories work too, so be sure and ask for one in the hospital!
— Cindy H.
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