Let's discuss "the foamies" and "sliming"

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

When you are banded, if something won't go through the band and is stuck, you start sliming. Saliva keeps coming into your mouth and you have to spit it out. Swallowing it does no good because then there is more of it.

Now with the sleeve, it's difficult to figure out how much to eat when you get to solids. I've made the mistake of eating until I thought I was full, but it turned out I was actually too full. Since it takes awhile for the brain to tell the stomach that it's full, I need to learn to stop before I am full.

So that's where the foamies come in. It's basically just like sliming if you have experienced that with a band. I only learned the term from trying to figure out what causes it and reading that other board.

Since we have so many new people who are newly sleeved and have no band, I thought people should know what to expect if you eat too much.

Maybe somebody who has had their sleeve longer than me can explain it better.

[Malaika 50]

I had the foaming right after surgery -- Dr. Aceves said it is very uncommon with this type of surgery (yes, I know, leave it to me) and that basically my stomach was producing too much saliva. I had to stop eating and drinking 3 hours before bedtime and eventually it passed. It has happened a few times since, but mostly when I eat something too sweet, which if it's sweet at all, is generally too sweet. At least now I can lay flat and sleep and got get awakened by all the saliva in my mouth and a hacking cough.

[susimar 0]

So is it like GERD with saliva?

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

No, Isn't GERD heartburn? This only happens to me if I think

my portion is correct, when in fact it's too much. The new tiny stomach is too full..

Have you ever had your mouth start watering right before you throw up? It's like that.

[susimar 0]

Ohhh..ok. I was imagining all those times that acid reflux woke me up during my pregnancy with babies 3 and 4..LOL. It was HORRIBLE!

Sounds like you could choke

[Jachut 487]

Sigh, nothing's easy is it? So even with a sleeve, there's margin for user error?

If you overeat by any more than what's already happened would you vomit? Would it be a like a pb, where its not acidy, nauseous vomiting, just regurgitation?

When is someone going to create a weight loss surgery that requires patients to do absolutely nothing, lol?

Forgive all the questions - my oldest son, I'm sure we'll be looking into WLS for him within a couple of years time. I'm sure the sleeve will be a lot more common here in that sort of time frame, and I suspect for a teenager, it'd be an easier surgery to manage than a band, which requires a lot of responsibility and eating modifcation. I'm also pretty sure that if you choose a band for a teenager, you're pretty much guaranteeing one or two MORE band surgeries in his lifetime.

[susimar 0]

Shoot..I was waiting for the miracle pill, but decided I'd waited long enough...

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

If you overeat with the sleeve, it's extremely painful. You feel like your stomach is going to burst open. Then the sliming starts. It's pretty much the same as when you slime with a band.

I think it would be hard for a teenager to get used to a sleeve. It's not bad with soft foods, but any kind of meat, it's like 5 bites and you are way too full. I am told it's going to stretch somewhat, but at this point, I find it very difficult to eat hard Protein.

[Malaika 50]

Ohhh..ok. I was imagining all those times that acid reflux woke me up during my pregnancy with babies 3 and 4..LOL. It was HORRIBLE!

Sounds like you could choke

No, I've never had the GERD and the ecess salvia -- in fact I've not had very many episodes of acid reflux at all ... just the excessive mucus the 2 weeks after surgery and now occassionally if I eat the wrong thing and it get "stuck" ... never knew Water or liquid could get stuck -- go figure!

[MacMadame 81]

For me, I can wait it out sometimes. Other times, I have to burp up the foam because it makes everything worse. But sometimes it's painful enough that I have to vomit up some food. The hard part is just upchucking enough to get rid of the pain and not losing everything.

But mostly it doesn't happen. You figure out your full signal after a couple of incidents and then it might happen only if you are eating without minding.

I think this is different from a band but I'm only going by what I've read. It seems like with a band sometimes a food goes down and sometimes it doesn't. With my sleeve, it's never about the food. It's always about eating too much.

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

You're right, Mac. With banding the food is stuck and that's what causes it.

With the sleeve, what seems to be my problem is I don't have a full signal. I eyeball what looks to me like the right portion and apparently is too much. I don't feel full at the table, but all of a sudden 10-15 min later, I feel really sick.

Once it starts, it lasts a couple hours. I don't know what to call it, but my mouth will not stop watering and I have to keep a cup near me to keep spitting it out. I rarely throw food up, even though I would like to.

It definitely makes me not want to eat solids.

Edited July 3, 2009 by Oregondaisy

[MacMadame 81]

I have a weak full signal too. A couple of things have helped me:

-time! :smile0: When the swelling goes down, the amount you eyeball will be more appropriate

-weighing and measuring instead of eyeballing. I measured it out and, when I couldn't eat it all, I measured what was left so I knew about how much I could eat and measured less the last time

-eating really, really slowly. Like eat a bite, wait a minute.

-stopping at any sign, no matter how small. If I even got a niggle of a feeling that I was full, I stopped. If my chest felt tight, I stopped. Then I'd wait a bit and see if I had more room. Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't

My full signal seems stronger now. It's still weak, but at least it's *there*. In the early days, it wasn't even always there.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Sigh, nothing's easy is it? So even with a sleeve, there's margin for user error?

If you overeat by any more than what's already happened would you vomit? Would it be a like a pb, where its not acidy, nauseous vomiting, just regurgitation?

That is exactly what it is like for me. It's only happened a couple of times in a year, once was pizza. pizza Hut has these tiny personal pan pizzas and I ate part of one slice and it was too much or I ate too fast, not sure which. It was just like getting stuck with a band in the way you vomit, not like how it is with a whole stomach.

I am pretty good at eye balling portion sizes but where I make a mistake is foods that expand in your stomach. You know how there are some foods that as you swallow and as you swallow saliva the food expands? That is where I mess up every now and again.

No, I've never had the GERD and the ecess salvia -- in fact I've not had very many episodes of acid reflux at all ... just the excessive mucus the 2 weeks after surgery and now occassionally if I eat the wrong thing and it get "stuck" ... never knew Water or liquid could get stuck -- go figure!

liquid can't get stuck. What might be happening is that you are still a newbie and you might be drinking a little too much or too fast. Your stomach isn't expanding yet to hold more than its size.

[susimar 0]

So our stomachs should hold only 1/8 cup, right? Should I measure that out with my Protein Drinks?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

So our stomachs should hold only 1/8 cup, right? Should I measure that out with my Protein drinks?

The only real advantage to doing this is that it will take awhile to drink your Protein shakes and if you just pour a little at a time the rest will stay cold. ;o)

liquids will leave your stomach very quickly, it's not going to stay there like a solid Protein.< /p>