Question:
3 weeks post-op, why am I suddenly having nausea and dry heaves?

All I am able to take in is water which I sip all day, even at night while I am asleep, I wake up and take sips throughout the night. About 2-3 days ago, the nausea started and I keep gagging or having dry heaves. I have only eaten two meals in the last 2.5 days. I am on full liquids right now, but the idea of food makes me sick. I haven't been able to do the protein shakes cause the smell makes me sick. I also have a G-Tube which is supposed to stay in till next week and the smell of it makes me sick. i feel like a nutcase. Everyone says the smell from the G-Tube is normal. I can't take my meds or chew my vitamins cause I fear I will throw up. Textures, smells..you name it...make me sick. I am beginning to get depressed because this has been so discouraging recently and I keep trying to tell myself it will get better. Any advice anyone? Thanks....Shay    — Shay W. (posted on May 9, 2003)

May 9, 2003
Shay, Give it more time. Your body has just figured out what happened. My experience was this. At my 2 week appt, I was asking when I could go back to work. My Dr. said not yet and was I every glad for that. My third week was the worst! I could not keep anything down and everything tasted and smelled so bad I thought I would never like food again. Needless to say that went away and everything is going very well for me now. I would not worry about the vitamins right now. My dr did not even prescribe them until my 8 week appt. Are you trying a regular vitamin or a chewable? If you can keep water down then I suggest staying with that until you can get in some protien shake. Even just a little is better than nothing. Mix it really thin and you may have better luck with it staying down. It will get better !!!! Good Luck
   — Jennifer D.

May 9, 2003
Please check with your surgeon, just to be safe! I don't want to scare you or anyone else but here is the story: My husband is 4 weeks post op lap RNY, and started having dry heaves last week, could only get water down and very little food,and no pain to speak of. After a miserable weekend - and we called the on-call doc to get some Phenergan ordered - he called the surgeon's office on Monday, and was pretty much blown off by the nurse ("Eat slowly, make sure you have good posture when you eat, some nausea is to be expected, etc.,etc.,). Luckily I had an appointment the next day and took him with me. We told the surgeon what was going on, and he said my husband needed an EGD. So it was scheduled for May 16th! By the next day, we were sure he couldn't wait that long, so he had the scope done yesterday. The surgeon found some old blood and clots in the pouch, and when those were cleared, he found what looked like an abrasion, and since it was oozing a little blood, he wanted to admit him to the hospital. So, my DH is in the hospital right now getting some medications and having labs checked, but he feels 99% better - dry heaves are gone and he is able to eat again. If your gut feeling is that something has changed and it feels wrong, make sure someone knows and listens to what you are telling them. It may be nothing - or it could be serious. (I, personally , thought he had a stricture, but that was not the case.) The dry heaves were his body trying to get rid of the old blood. And he never, ever brought up any fresh or old blood. This is an unusual case, but I wanted to bring it up because people here on the board really can't judge if something is truly wrong - only your surgeon can say for sure. Hope you feel better soon!
   — koogy

May 9, 2003
There is a wonderful new medicine for nausea called Zofran. It is really effective and further more it comes in a liquid. You might ask your doc for it. Shelley
   — Shelley.

May 9, 2003
Hello Shay! You should DEFINITELY contact your doctor. My husband was having a similar problem at 5 weeks out, and it ended up being a distal gastric outlet stenosis. Basically, the scar tissue at the junction where his pouch and intestine met thickened and was closing the outlet so that food could not pass. He was able to sip lime water, but even that was difficult at times. Anyhoo, all it takes is a quick EGD and dialation of the outlet to start feeling better if it is a stenosis. Please call your doc to rule out anything major! Best of luck to you, and I will keep you in my prayers.
   — [Deactivated Member]

May 9, 2003
This is Shay...first I wanted to thank everyone so far for their replies and encouragement. My mom had this surgery 3 years ago and has done really well. So I know it will get better down the road. I did call my surgeon's office this afternoon and she put me on Zofran for the weekend. I still haven't eaten yet but will try tomorrow. She ruled out the idea that there is a blockage cause I feel like I am going to throw up whether I eat or not but when I do eat, the food goes down fine. I am putting the protein shakes in through my G-tube cause they are the whey protein and I cannot bare to swallow them. She is also having me flush my G-tube every 3-4 hours with 3-4 ozs water to maybe help with the smell. She thinks that some of this is psychological in the sense that I have worked myself into a fear of eating. Plus I am bored with the food. All I can eat is mashed potatoes, scrambled egg, cottage cheese, low-fat cheese, sugar free pudding and a few other similar things. However, eat that same stuff day in and day out, and suddenly you hate food :) I am supposed to be on this diet for 6 weeks (another 3 to go) but I am hoping the doctor will let me add some other stuff next week. As for smells...not really sure what to do about that. My little brother (23) is in the hospital right now also and when I went to visit him last night, the smells in his room made me sick and I had to leave. That made me feel even worse. Anyway, thank you for the tips so far and I look forward to any other suggestions people can offer.
   — Shay W.