It Happened Again! I Ate then...BAM...kinda long

Most of you probably did not read my post from the day before yesterday when I had ham and got really sick and in pain for about 12 hours. I thought I had dumped from some of the symptoms, but some others thought that i might have had something stuck. I got hot, queasy, very painful pressure in my chest, hot, broke out in sweats, dry heaves, foamies, weird sounds bubbling up from my throat, and all that jazz! So, I thought well maybe I ate it too fast, because I know I cut it up small and chewed and chewed! I took it really easy yesterday and only ate greek yogurt, cottage cheese, shakes etc. Well, tonight I made sure I cut my little chicken breast in half, cut it up in thumb sized pieces, chewed very well until mush, and took alot of time. It tool me 15-20 min to eat 5-6 tiny bites and then it started happening all over again!! I was in so much pain! I mentioned this in another group I belonf to and someone mentioned that it may be a stricture just starting and it hasn't gotten bad enough to restrict soft foods and that right around now is the time they start to develop!! WTF!! Seriously?!? What do you vets think about that? Everything has been going so smoothly!! Maybe too smoothly. I ate chicken and a little pork chop last week and everything was great. That's why I'm worried that they might be right about the stricture!! What are anybody's thoughts about this???

Since protein should not cause dumping but you are having trouble eating proteins, I would recommend that you contact your surgeon.

Lora

I'm four months out, and I have bad pouch days just like you described.  I don't think I have a stricture, because I have good pouch days too.  I went for 3 weeks without feeling stuck (like you described), then I have had a bad week lately, where every other day or so, I been getting the "I feel stuck pain".  In fact, I'm up tonight trying to void the pouch so I can sleep.  Dinner went down well I thought, but then I chugged a glass of crystal light right before bedtime, and Oh Man, did it hurt.  I've been trying to throw up for about an hour now (somewhat successfully) and now I feel fine.  It used to take 6-7 hours to get to the feel fine phase and lots of effort trying to throw up.  I'm getting faster at working through the pain and voiding the pouch.

When I told my surgeon about my "episodes", he said that if I consistently couldn't keep anything down for 2 days to call him.  Otherwise, I just needed to take it easy when my pouch was upset and go to soft foods for a day or so.  This is the same guy who told me nausea was good, because I'd eat less.

Sounds like you may need to baby your pouch some more with soft foods.  

One other trick.  At first I was eating too much, too fast.  I stepped back and cut everything into the size of a pencil eraser, chewed each piece 30 times, and watched the clock and ate a piece every 2 minutes.  Super, super slow, but it worked.  I go back to this technique on my recovery day after a bad pouch day.

Good Luck.  This is a learning process.  Like a baby we need to figure out how our new anatomy works.  Some days you have colic.

Thanks so much Cheryl!! I am of the thought right now that it isn't really a stricture! I guess maybe I am having a bad pouch week. I took it really easy yesterday, to try and give it a rest, but maybe that wasn't long enough. I have the tendency to always eat "sliders" and I am intentionaly trying to incorporate more solid proteins, but I guess I'm stuck on softs for at least a while longer!! Thanks for reading that long post. BTW, I'm from NC too!!!

 This happens to me too... I had to learn the very first sign, and stop immediately - walk away from the table. My doctor said the same thing as above.

The RN told me that scar tissue is more prominant in the early months, and that sometimes thinks soften down and "relax" over time. It's only recently that I've even considered having solids in the morning rather than a protein shake.

Some people can't tolerate some meats for quite some time post op...... try ground beef or something.... it could just be that it's too soon for you to have those meats'

I urped my first chicken meal.

chew chew chew.... make it moist....recite the alphabet and if yhou haven't chewed for every letter of the alphabet, you haven't chewed enough....and if it seems to have texture after the alphabet, it's likely too tough.

Chicken still gives me trouble, pork even more so. ground beef or turkey or chicken is far more tolerable.

I really think that is the reason. Just my pouch being pissy or just not ready for those foods. The thing is that I do chew, chew, chew, to the point that it is just soft smush I can seperate all over ny mouth with my tongue. I made double sure of this last night!! So, right now I'm gonna quit freaking, stop over analyzing every single weird feeling, and stop thinking that every thing is starting to "feel funny when it goes down!! Thanks guys, for making me feel better!

I would think it is just too soon for you to have solid meat (not ground).  I was still on puree until 3 months post op and then couldn't do solid food.

I still can't do most solid meat (chicken, pot roast, pork chop, ham) unless I have salsa or some type of moisture to do with it.  I'm usually fine with ground meat.

I don't think your pouch is bad - it just is still healing and not ready for such solid food.  When I have a reaction to food (foamies, vomiting or dumping) I usually have liquid and soft food for the next day or two and give my pouch a rest - even at 2 years out.

Be patient.  Don't be in such a hurry to advance through the food stages.  All in good time.