Why the issues swallowing?

Do some surgeons do something to tighten the esophagus, or do some other surgical procedure that makes it more difficult to swallow?  I have never had any issues with swallowing and was able to swallow very large all natural vitamins at two weeks out. Other people talk about having difficulty swallowing for months and longer.

Do some surgeons incorporate something besides the size of the sleeve to make it harder to overeat?

Just curious.

No, the surgeons do not touch the esophagus, but the shape of the sleeve is quite different depending on the surgeons skill level.  This effects swallowing, reflux and other issues.  It is not easy to make the curve the same distance from the back of the stomach all the way down.  Many surgeons make it a bit too tight in the middle and that can create many of these problems.  Fortunately, in many cases, the swallowing issues get better as the sleeve matures, heals and the inflammation goes down.

I guess I'm just lucky, then.  Although I know a lot of people are grateful for the extra help, I'm okay with being comfortable swallowing and eating whatever I want.  We all end up there, eventually, so I've had to adjust from the beginning.

If I had a lot more weight to lose I might have been happy for that extra physical restriction to help the initial weight loss go faster, but since my goal was lightweight, I'm very content with how it has gone, even with the couple of periods where I didn't stick to plan as diligently and stalled through my own actions.  I learned a lot, including, I stalled but didn't  gain, and when I was tired of being stalled I got back on the horse without problems.  This makes me feel hopeful about maintenance once I get there, though right now I'm considering adding another ten pounds to my weight loss goal. I mean, ten pounds more puts me in the century club, and I will still be in the middle of "normal" so... I think I may go for it.

Why not?  The beautiful thing about our goal weight, is that it does not have to be set in stone.  So many of us agonize of the exact "right" number, when the truth is, you can always go up or down.  That is the amazing thing about this surgery, you have the ultimate power.  Go down to where you feel comfortable, or your "secret ideal weight" and if that feels to thin, just eat a bit more and put some weight back on.  It can be done, really, it can now be done without causing you to go off the rails and putting all your weight back. 

My original goal was 155.  Before too long I decided on 145.  When I told the surgeon he seemed surprised, but was okay with it.

Now that I'm within 20 pounds of goal I don't want to add to it right now.  I don't want to jump from 19 pounds to go... to 29 pounds to go!

But I am pretty sure I'm going to drop it.  I'm not in any big hurry about any of it.  Not sure when I'll drop it. But I will.  I'll change to 135 and then see what happens.

My surgeon said I would have trouble or pain swallowing because he fixed a hiatal hernia, but no! I had no trouble and no pain swallowing at all since waking up and still don't. He must really be THAT good!! I hope I am not speaking too soon.

I had a hiatal hernia, too, and I did have pain--but not pain swallowing. Go figure!

I do think my guy is good for many reasons.  He's a general surgeon who does a lot of other surgeries and doesn't do only bariatric so might not be for everybody but the longer I am with him the more I like his approach.

I didn't have any pain to speak of really. Didn't take a pain med after about 12 hrs post op. just the incisions pulling and gravity doing its thing. Maybe its all a threshold thing. I was measuring my pain tolerance by my level of pre op fear and of course it was not at all in synch!

I kept having pain in the side and couldn't figure it out. Days later I mentioned it and my husband said, "Don't you remember? He told you that you'd be sore there because of the hernia."

Well, no dear, I was still drunk on anesthesia and didn't remember that, but thanks for telling me. LOL

But no pain swallowing.

Side where? I sometimes have a bit of shooting pain (tolerable coz its like two seconds each time) on my left side just under the rib cage. I was going to ask the doc about that. The other thing is that I am still not really able to comfortably take a really deep breath or yawn. When I hold my boobs up with my hands and they arent laying heavy on my rib cage then I can take the breath. I guess I am doing major weight lifting! LOL!!!