I found a solution for relieving restriction discomfort. It may not work for everyone but it is definitely working for me as of late.

Brief History:

Every time I eat something, the first few bites make me feel a terrible discomfort for the first minute or two, and it basically halts all eating or drinking until the discomfort goes away.

Well - This was unacceptible when I was going to lunch with coworkers and I had to excuse myself every time I went somewhere to eat because I had to head to the bathroom to get rid of the slime.

My Solution:

After having a bad PB episode at home, I tried something that seemed to be the last thing I would ever try. I took a deep breath and held it. Lo and behold, the pain subsided, the food slid down properly and I was able to resume eating without discomfort.

WHAT A REVELATION!!! Finally, I had something I could do to help me cope with the restriction pain.

My Theory on why it works:

I believe that the deep breath (literally filling my lungs to capacity) seems to help my esophagus compress and squeeze the food down. If I then follow the deep breath with a small sip of some liquid, the pain leaves even faster.

Just my two cents. Hope this is useful to someone.

Jesse

PS - Thanks again for the continued help and support. Had this site not existed, I would feel much more alone, and for this, I'm extremely appreciative.

Banded January 30th, 2006

I appreciate your telling us this. I will try tomorrow and give results here.

Thanks a hundred times in advance...:party:

Oh - please let this work! My band is being weird lately. Sometimes I can eat just fine, but most of the time I slime like something out of Alien until I can get past the first bit of food deal. Thanks for sharing! I'll be holding my breath tomorrow!

Actually I've stumbled on this too. I've never PB'd but sometimes things get stuck and cause discomfort and I hold my breath too. It seems the increase in chest pressure squeezes the esophagus closed and the pressure behind that must push the offending item through.

I tried jumping up and down but that just jiggled my boosies too much, lol. Cant do that in public.

Holy crap - it works! Still a little uncomfortable, but don't think I'm dying! Thanks so much for sharing this! Your indebted friend forever... :-)

Maybe that's why when I flap my arms up and down like a chicken dance. I'm takeing in deep breaths????

LOL - maybe so. I've tried the jogging around the driveway thing, but it never seemed to help. Now I do have to tell you that when I let my breath out it sounded like a baby dinosaur was living in my chest. Really funny screaming kind of noises! I think the guy in the next cube wonders what the hell I'm eating over here.

Kim, my band has been acting weird lately too, I think it's due to the change in temperature, :omg: , I think my band is heat activated!

I'll be giving this a try, I have at least 1 pb a day, often more than 1 :think .

Thanks...

(I never did figure out the meat tenderizer thing)

I happen to be eating lunch right now and was having a hard time getting it down. The deep breath part seemed to work okay but I don't recommend the sip of water. That made it worse for me.

God! What is slime? I haven't gotten banded just thinking about it...so this is not good news to me

Pam

I found out by accident that holding my breath relieves PB pain. I started doing it instinctively and it does work.

HarleyNana - 1 pb per day - yikes! That sucks a bunch! I'll be interested to hear if this works for you! I slime on a frequent basis, but have only had 1 true PB to date since banding. I tried a doughnut - I know, I know -- that was stupid :-). I did try the meat tenderizer when I was eating chicken and it happened. That worked as well... but it's not always meat. Today it was stupid old spaghettios.

Sunta & Angie - This is good news. This probably means it will work next time I try it as well! Yea!

Pam - for me slime is when I eat something and feel like I have a golfball stuck in my chest. I then start producing mass amounts of saliva and have to just stand there spitting it out until it stops. The deep breath thing made this stop in it's tracks before it even got started. This is good news for me. Yep - it's disgusting, but not everyone does it :-). Read the board some and you'll find many descriptions of this activity... do a search on pb and slime.

WOW!!! I actually contributed something useful to this place rather than just take. I couldn't be happier. To reply to a couple different posts:

Kim 8 - I'm so glad it worked for you. Its not a proven method, just something that I kinda stumbled upon. As for the sounds, I think that is the sound of the air in your stomach being forced up through the food in your esophagus so that the food can squeeze down. The sound to me means relief as I feel instantly better when I hear it.

Vera - The flapping arms was something I heard about but it didn't seem to make much of a difference to me. I'm a barrel-chested guy and the movement of my arms seemed to have little to no affect on me. I will tell you though, its a little more socially acceptable to take a deep breath and hold it rather than flapping your arms in a restaurant.

Nodumblonnd - Slime is a graphic way of describing what happens when food gets held up. Whenever you eat, your mouth produces saliva to assist the food with passing thru your esophagus. When food gets stuck, your mucus producing tissue in your mouth secrets a thicker saliva (aka Slime) that, when swallowed, should help you swallow the food easier. Its very slippery. However, because the band is actually restricting the food flow and not just a large bite of food, swallowing this saliva just makes the situation worse. To complicate matters, you feel like you should swallow but you physically can't. It doesn't have room to go anywhere.

Did I explain that correctly? I hope it makes sense.

As for me, I've been doing the deep breath thing now for the past week and guess what - my blockages seem to be happening less and for shorter durations. I think it may have something to do with the breathing making you excercise muscles down there that haven't been given much of a workout. Now that I've been doing it on a routine basis, it seems easier.

Once again - I'm so glad to have become a member of this forum and just hope that I can help as much as I've been helped. My wife thanks all of you too.

Jesse

I had this work for me on an airplane, and I'm so glad, it was an emergency!! I took a bite of a snack I'd brought, and a sip of something and got stuck. I was in the window seat, with 2 people next to me. I really didn't want to ask them to move, and wasn't sure I'd make it to the restroom if I did (it usually doesn't hit me that hard, I usually have more warning). I held my breath just to keep from swallowing and it finally passed. I honestly hadn't given too much thought into it being a solution though. I'll have to try it more often!!

I haven't been banded yet but was thinking seriously about it. I am concerned about this though because I have a fear of choking. Is that possible or is it just uncomfortable? And can it be avoided? Is it from eating too fast, taking too big of a bite or what, I don't know? I don't want to be afraid. I really want to lose weight and I really don't want to go to the extreme of a permanent gastric bypass. Can you alleviate my fears? It is worth all this, with a "port" sticking out of your body, and slime and pain?

Pam

My DD had to do a report on Lungs and the Respitory System. While in research the diaphragm can cause all sorts of side effects like hiccups which has been a stop eating sign for me since banding.

This holding a deep breath makes sence. Here's just a few things I found out.

In the anatomy of mammals, the diaphragm is a shelf of muscle extending across the bottom of the ribcage. The diaphragm separates the thoracic cavity (with lung and heart) from the abdominal cavity (with liver, stomach, intestines, etc.). In its relaxed state, the diaphragm is shaped like a dome. It is critically important in respiration: in order to draw air into the lungs, the diaphragm contracts, thus enlarging the thoracic cavity and reducing intra-thoracic pressure (the external intercostals muscles also participate in this enlargement). When the diaphragm relaxes, air is exhaled by elastic recoil of the lung and the tissues lining the thoracic cavity.

The diaphragm also helps to expel vomit, feces, and urine from the body by increasing intra-abdominal pressure. A hiccup occurs when the diaphragm contracts periodically without voluntary control.

A hiatal hernia can result from a tear or weakness in the diaphragm near the gastroesophageal junction.

I get all kinds of attension when I do my chicken Dance:eek: