Being sick all evening - help!

[phatgirl]

Hun, it is good that you are seeking medical advice as none of us are doctors and can't be sure what is causing you to feel ill. I sincerely hope that you are able to get to the bottom of it and feel better quickly.

That said I want to give you my non-medical opinion which you are completely free to ignore or reject, no problem! So here it goes:

I think you have experienced what I call the vomit cycle which is a term I invented from speaking to new post-ops that have experienced very similar to what you have described. It all starts with a solid food, any food really but often a dense food like chicken. You probably did one of the following DEADLY 2's while eating:

1. Ate 2 fast, most of the obese people I know (me included) have always eaten way too quickly, it is a very hard habit to break.
2. Ate 2 much, with a pouch the size of a egg, the inside of you mouth is LITERALLY bigger than your pouch so it is very easy to take that one bite too many.
3. Chewed 2 little, if you chewed anything less than 20-30 times you chewed too little.
4. Ate 2 big a bite, it is hard to get your mind around how very small your opening at the bottom of your stomach (stoma) really is but early days it is about the size of half a pea! Therefore it is very easy and common to take too big a bite.

The result was vomiting and frothy siliva. The repeated vomitting irritated the lining of you tender pouch and left you feeling fizzy and sore. The instinct to eat the discomfort away hours later with bread (very stodgy) was a valid choice pre-op but as a post-op it was a choice that was always going to end in vomitting. With the bypass, once you have vomitted you must go back to liquids or purees for at least a few meals in order to give you pouch a chance to heal. You officially entered the vomit cycle at this point, meaning that because you got sick, you continued to get sick. Unfortunately the delicate condition of your pouch is only made worse by every solid meal after you have vomitted so much. And the people in A&E don't have a clue about this problem, so they didn't even know how best to advise you! Next, you attempted to eat eggs which for many post-ops is a struggle when the pouch is fine, if you had all the post-ops on here raise a hand that had been sick or felt pain from scrambled eggs early days, you would see an ocean of hands. It is because the texture is rubbery & pebble-like and we tend not to chew it because it feels soft.

So, to recap, my advice would be to go to liquids/very smooth purees for a minimum of 2 days and then avoid the 2's when eating.

Again, this is only an opinion and should NEVER be taken over the advice of medical professionals cause they have degrees and stuff!

Nic

 

[swizzlestick]

Hi Peachy Sorry your having a rough time I have experienced exactly the same as you with chicken, fish, stewing steak and scrambled egg (still cant do the scrambled egg) and something else I forget now. I had to sit with a bucket to keep spitting the throth into. and the pain in my chest was very unpleasant. it is still early days, it still happens to me occasionally and Im a month further on from op than you. I would agree with what Nic is saying. Its good youve sought medical advice but to be honest I would try not to worry too much about it just listen to what your pouch is trying to tell you.

One thing you did say about having toast to relieve acid or heartburn, I dont think its a good idea to use this as a remedy as a bypasser, if you are having acid reflux you may need to have your lanzoprazole dosage increased. The lanzoprazole doesnt neutralise the acid it stops production of it so it is important that you take it all the time.

Instead of scrambled egg I make egg mayo with very lite mayo this goes down easier. If I eat chicken I blitz it with lots of gravy to make it sloppier.

I still find that most of my protein intake is coming from lo fat cheese triangles, ss milk, protein shake, lean sandwich ham or bernard mathews chicken slices, grated cheese. Proper meat and fish just seems to sit there no matter how slowly i eat it and chew 30 times.

I really hope you are feeling a lot better

 

[Cuppacocoa]

Nic, you should write a book.

Cuppa xx

 

[shazbrad]

Hi hun glad you got some help and went to the hospital, St Georges A&E is awful isn't it? ( you did go there ?) I went there a couple of weeks after i had my op because i wasn't feeling too good and was worried and GP referred me there, god those seats are uncomfortble especially when you gotta sit on them for 5 hrs while waiting to be seen. I'm suprised they sent you home without having a barium swallow first, even tho i wasn't being sick just very nauseaus they kept me in for few days and did swallow test, they were so good. Turned out i was dehydrated and not eating or drinking enough
I really hope things sort themselves out and you feel better soon hun :flowers::grouphugg:

 

[luscious_peach]

Well, back home from hospital, spent 2 days in and had a gastrograph - enough to make you puke on its own.

Good news - there are no blockages, strictures or adhesions, so here I am to eat (not literally) humble pie and apologise to the forum for being too proud to admit that I could be wrong.

I feel very chastened and embarrassed for coming across as snippy and a jerk. I never meant to, I was really worried and thought something major was going on. Now I just feel like a fool.

I spoke to the bariatric nurse who told me I should just be eating 5/6 tsps of food at a time and only 3 meals a day. I was going by the dieticians recommendations that I was given in my discharge pack. For example for breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with 1/2 cup fruit juice (125ml), half a slice toast and a glass of milk (125ml). I thought I was doing good by eating less than that. All the info I had is conflicting which doesn't help. I asked her what sort of calorie level I should be aiming for and she said that calories shouldn't come into it if I stuck to 3 small meals a day.

Anyway, I'm feeling very down today and wondering if there is any point eating anything at all, it hardly seems worth it. I think I am just grieving for what I had before. I really thought I was in a great frame of mind for this surgery and that it would be something that I would handle well, but it doesn't seem to be the case (could just be PMT though).

Oh well, I just wanted to publicly apologise to Caroline and admit my mistakes. Thanks for all the advise and help, you were all very supportive. Oh and I agree with Cuppa - Nic you should write a book! You described exactly what was going on with me.

I never knew (realised) that you should give your tum a rest after being sick - it just never occurred to me. I never had a problem with my tum before, it was cast iron, so it never occurred to me that it would be different. Too thick for my own good, and I feel very stupid.

 

[fatbutnot4eva]

aww chick xxxxx
when you are the person that it all seems to be going wrong with its easy to get upset easy it happens to everyone of us.
Hope that you start to feel better very soon xxxx
Helen
xx

 

[swizzlestick]

Heya Peachy glad you are back and all is well.

Sounds like your discharge pack has a lot to answer for eh. It's not a ood idea to have any liquids with you meals, I cant remember the exact times but i dont have a drink for at least half hour before a meal and not for about three quarters of an hour afterwards to try and give my pouch time to absorb some nutrients, if you have liquids too soon after it can either wash the food through and you havent had time to get any goodness ot eventually stretch your pouch.

Some of the main rules I try to remember are

1. foods and liquids seperate

2. double the amount of protein to carbs (working upto 80gms protein a day)

3. chew at least 30 times (meats particularly)

4. eat very little bread, potato, pasta ( i use lighter options melba toasts or ww granary 1 slice)

I'm craving carbs at the moment so its a bit of a battle.

I had a slice of cheese on toast the other day i used lite tomato sauce instead of butter or spread then grated the cheese on top and then melted it under the grill, the ww granary bread toasts quite crispy and doesnt block you up like ordinary bread. It went down quite well, maybe you could try that.

 

[dreamofbeingslim]

Sam don't beat yourself up about it. You weren't well and were worried it is so easy to be snappy then. You concentrate on getting better that is what is important at the moment.

 

[Sambucca]

Well, back home from hospital, spent 2 days in and had a gastrograph - enough to make you puke on its own.

Good news - there are no blockages, strictures or adhesions, so here I am to eat (not literally) humble pie and apologise to the forum for being too proud to admit that I could be wrong.

I feel very chastened and embarrassed for coming across as snippy and a jerk. I never meant to, I was really worried and thought something major was going on. Now I just feel like a fool.

I spoke to the bariatric nurse who told me I should just be eating 5/6 tsps of food at a time and only 3 meals a day. I was going by the dieticians recommendations that I was given in my discharge pack. For example for breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with 1/2 cup fruit juice (125ml), half a slice toast and a glass of milk (125ml). I thought I was doing good by eating less than that. All the info I had is conflicting which doesn't help. I asked her what sort of calorie level I should be aiming for and she said that calories shouldn't come into it if I stuck to 3 small meals a day.

Anyway, I'm feeling very down today and wondering if there is any point eating anything at all, it hardly seems worth it. I think I am just grieving for what I had before. I really thought I was in a great frame of mind for this surgery and that it would be something that I would handle well, but it doesn't seem to be the case (could just be PMT though).

Oh well, I just wanted to publicly apologise to Caroline and admit my mistakes. Thanks for all the advise and help, you were all very supportive. Oh and I agree with Cuppa - Nic you should write a book! You described exactly what was going on with me.

I never knew (realised) that you should give your tum a rest after being sick - it just never occurred to me. I never had a problem with my tum before, it was cast iron, so it never occurred to me that it would be different. Too thick for my own good, and I feel very stupid.

Hi Sam,

Glad you are home and that there is nothing seriously wrong.

For what its worth hun, I dont think you have anything to apologise for. You are certainly not thick as you say, and you were bound to be worried as you were not keeping food down. Its a stressful time when newly bypassed, even without the problems you were having.

Anyway, its in the past now. Hope you have a smooth ride with the bypass from now on.

 

[rybens]

Dont you feel stupid at all , we all think we know ourselfs better than anyone could ever know us. But having given a brand new tummy we have to learn all about it from scratch just like having a new baby really, its like when mother-in laws say when i had my baby i did it this way and because its our baby we instantly think we know best and feel a bit put out that someone thinks they may know exactly why things arnt how they should be, these feelings are totally normal and i supose until we look back and think yeah maybe they were right we cant take on the advice X we are all learning at every differnt stage and to be in your position where you must have been worried sick im sure anyone would understand you being a little out of sorts, once you have given your tummy a little rest you can start them baby steps again and you will be back loving your tummy before you know it x its a blip you will back to your fab self before you know it , dont beat yourself up x

 

[phatgirl]

Oh my gosh hunny, don't be embarrassed, I could only describe what was happening because I have seen it many many times before - so take to heart that the vomit cycle is so very common and also very stressful. We all have to learn in our own time. Sorry you are down but you have been through alot and deserve a little rest, relaxation and to give yourself a break!

Hugs and hope you feel better soon!

Nic