I have not had my surgery yet so Im just learning all these basics. When you all talk about the horrors of food getting stuck, how do you know? Or what kind of feeling do you get? Burning? Cramping? Knife stapping pains? And how fast after eating will you notice?

When I've got stuck its a feeling like just below the breast area in the middle. It feels like I have a rock trying to pass through the band. Sometimes it has passed through and feels like a sharp pain, when it won't it comes right back up but that isn't painful, just unpleasant. But it does leave you irritated after the episode and then you just stick to liquids then soft foods till it all settles, usually a day or two if its a real bad episode. Just have to be mindful of bite sizes and chewing all the time and it is pain free to eat.

Some advice eat without distraction, small bits of food and chew well. I just needed a good couple if episodes to learn my lesson, mine happened because of distraction. Now my meal time is always distraction free, the world can wait for fifteen to twenty minutes for me to eat.

It will happen right away too.

Well said. Stuck episodes are learned rather quickly and you may stuck one day on a food and possibly be able to eat it another day. Those rules of chew small bites, chew well, eat slow, etc are rules that are more meaningful as you begin to get fills and restriction becomes more apparent. So e foods tolerated by one person may not be tolerated by you. I also describe it as a bad case of acid reflux that doesn't know whether it should sit at stomach or get out!!!! You don't necessarily feel like you are dying but you will feel like it needs to get out of you...like a bird regurgitating. There are signs I get...my mouth gets watery, a need to swallow more, sort of deer in headlights feeling but not choking. I have had to sit and contemplate and then get up quickly to go to bathroom and literally look at toilet. For me I feel like a velociraptor sliming out a bone! It's not throwing up your guts ... It's expelling what didn't go down. For me one experience was a hard skinned tomato chunk that really stuck because I didn't chew it well enough. Throwing up is a bad thing on your band, I don't care for stuck episodes because its not good for band yet it is a tool to curb behaviors such as large bites, not chewing enough, eating too fast and too much...all if these which caused me to be 274 pounds in first place:(

My small tidbit of information on this is that I find that I get stuck most often when I wait to long to eat. Causing me to want to "wolf" down those first few bites. So it's best not to wait to eat, small meals all day help avoid this.

My small tidbit of information on this is that I find that I get stuck most often when I wait to long to eat. Causing me to want to "wolf" down those first few bites. So it's best not to wait to eat, small meals all day help avoid this.

I so agree with you here....I was having my shares of stucks...and my nutritionast told me...it was because i was letting myself get to hungry...also I find if i drink drink all day long it curbs that OMG im starving....

This is a huge new feeling for me..the last 2 days I have been out where there has been a free meal....and at each day I wasnt foaming at the mouth to eat....and when did sit to eat I was wanting to go slow...and the dessert platers didnt even look that good to me....so yep it comes in time ..Good Luck everyone

Thank you all for your experiences and comments. I really appreciate all I learn here!

My small tidbit of information on this is that I find that I get stuck most often when I wait to long to eat. Causing me to want to "wolf" down those first few bites. So it's best not to wait to eat, small meals all day help avoid this.

AGREED!!

When i'm starved I eat too fast and get uncomfortable. Usually in the mornings when I am tight.

This doesn't mean you should graze all day to stave off the hunger pains, just be realistic with meals and make sure they're Protein based so that they keep you filled for longer.

Its rare... but if I get stuck its because I didnt chew well or more especially ate too fast. I usually feel it about 15 minutes after the last bite... It feels like a brick is on my chest and I want to throw up. I dont but I will usually bring up some of the food and spit it in my napkin. It usually takes 20-30 minutes for the feeling to pass. Its not pleasant but its managable because you know it will pass. But I do not advise it.

My stuck episodes are usually because I ate too big of a bite. Immediately, I get a burning pain - not severe, but very uncomfortable. Usually I feel a desire to keep swallowing - but it can take from a couple of minutes to maybe 10 minutes to get it to pass through my band. Luckily for me, it always has and I've yet to bring anything back up. WIshing you lots of luck on this journey! It's tough sometimes, but soooo well worth it!

You wont have to ask if it happens to you, you'll now!

It feels like you swallowed a big lit fire cracker/ flare and it burns all the way down but then gets stuck!

All self inflicted as you have ascertained!

If it does happen walk around doing the funky chicken and resist the temptation to drink.