I am seeking advice/knowledge about the use of gum. I have never been a gum chewer because my mother said it wasn't ladlylike. That may be true. In the past if I put gum in my mouth I automatically swallowed it as to me, food goes in and then gets swallowed. But since my surgery I have found I desire some flavour that gum could provide and suddenly I seem very able to chew, chew, chew and in huge wads. However I wonder if this is bad for my stomach as I swear that as I chew (and indeed it is not ladylike with my big wads), I feel as if my stomach and bowels are being blown up like a balloon. It feels like air is being pumped directly into them. Is this possible. I had no notes from my surgeon or gp about dangers of gum chewing. Any ideas?

Also, I was instructed not to use a straw. I have a habit of drinking from a cup with a lid and straw and forgot about this cautioning until about two weeks post op and have stopped using a straw since then. However yesterday when I saw my gp at 6 weeks post op she said I wasn't getting enough liquids which is very true and that I should carry around a cup and keep drinking from a straw as often as possible. So what's the story on the straw, yes or no? I was never explained why I shouldn't use one and now not sure why I can use one. I don't want to do anything which might cause my stomach to stretch.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Let's not call it "eating" lol because I have only now seemed to learn how to chew without eating. I know people used to be shocked that I swallowed gum but I was always shocked that anyone would put something in their mouth, chew and then not swallow. Seemed crazy to me! But those days are over. I remember those big balls of gum and mm. they were also sweet, just like those huge balls one sucked on. I would have contests with my kids to see who could get those huge sucking balls done first. What a bad role model! lol. Now I seem to keep adding pieces, not sure why. Guess I am behaving like a child in doing so. I just haven't gotten the hang of chewing on such a little piece over and over again. I have tried an entire pkg of the big sized gum, not sure what it is called but of course it is sugarfree. I do find that it is nice to have a bit of flavour in my mouth if I am not eating. I seem to only do it after I have eaten too much and that is why I wondered if it was enlarging my stomach as it did seem to ease the pain of having that one spoonful too many. Do you have that struggle? I find it difficult to tell when I am full and it seems only to hit me when I have had that extra spoonful that puts me over the top and make me uncomfortable. I have never been sick though and I guess I should have been as I tried pureed spicy pork the week after I got out of hospital and also found that I put whipped cream in my bariatric brand of hot chocolate. I didn't seem to have read that dairy products were bad. Recently I saw someone mention something about that. I do find that my postop info and for that matter (pre=op info) was not very complete. It is difficult when seeing a local gp and then going off to another country to be able to have the surgery and then being followed again by the local gp. They do not perform bariatric surgery where I live in the Cayman Islands although I suspect they will one day. For now I was grateful to go to Florida and have a competent surgeon take care of me. I just wish the pre and post care had more information. I seem to have a lot of unanswered questions which is not good for someone like myself who likes sensible answers,. Thanks for your support.

It just occurred to me that maybe why I like to chew on such a big wad is to be sure that I will not swallow it. I can't swallow a big wad but I could easily and out of habit swallow a single piece of gum or even 2-3!! I think this makes a reasonable explanation and perhaps in my case with my history of swallowing gum it is best to do it this way. I know it seems crazy. Perhaps if I can't learn to chew gum normally I should just give it up. However, I did challenge my md and said if it were true that gum stays in the stomach undigested for so long as the rumour had it, then when they removed my stomach they should have found it full, full, full of gum as I swallowed so many packages over the years and never had any problem that I was aware of. I figured the gum swallowing stories were old wives tales.

Thanks for all the info!

Let's not call it "eating" lol because I have only now seemed to learn how to chew without eating. I know people used to be shocked that I swallowed gum but I was always shocked that anyone would put something in their mouth, chew and then not swallow. Seemed crazy to me! But those days are over. I remember those big balls of gum and mm. they were also sweet, just like those huge balls one sucked on. I would have contests with my kids to see who could get those huge sucking balls done first. What a bad role model! lol. Now I seem to keep adding pieces, not sure why. Guess I am behaving like a child in doing so. I just haven't gotten the hang of chewing on such a little piece over and over again. I have tried an entire pkg of the big sized gum, not sure what it is called but of course it is sugarfree. I do find that it is nice to have a bit of flavour in my mouth if I am not eating. I seem to only do it after I have eaten too much and that is why I wondered if it was enlarging my stomach as it did seem to ease the pain of having that one spoonful too many. Do you have that struggle? I find it difficult to tell when I am full and it seems only to hit me when I have had that extra spoonful that puts me over the top and make me uncomfortable. I have never been sick though and I guess I should have been as I tried pureed spicy pork the week after I got out of hospital and also found that I put whipped cream in my bariatric brand of hot chocolate. I didn't seem to have read that dairy products were bad. Recently I saw someone mention something about that. I do find that my postop info and for that matter (pre=op info) was not very complete. It is difficult when seeing a local gp and then going off to another country to be able to have the surgery and then being followed again by the local gp. They do not perform bariatric surgery where I live in the Cayman Islands although I suspect they will one day. For now I was grateful to go to Florida and have a competent surgeon take care of me. I just wish the pre and post care had more information. I seem to have a lot of unanswered questions which is not good for someone like myself who likes sensible answers,. Thanks for your support.

For the most part I have always known how my stomach felt when it was content, full, and uncomfy. Before the real question is did my head listen to my stomach. Since December when I told myself I would do this surgery I have been listening to my stomach almost 100 percent of the time. I have only gotten uncomfortable a few times. Now I am more aware of my limits. I can chew one piece forever! One pack of trident could last me for days. For me it is almost impossible for me to swallow gum because I always new it wasn't good for me to do that.

I started drinking from a straw pretty quickly, my surgeon said it was ok as long as I didn't get in any extra air at the end of the drink...I started chewing gum at about 10 months out, thankfully I haven't swallowed any by mistake.

My nutritionist & Dr. said no straws and no gum. It is a small price to pay. There are other ways to freshen your breath and I have a water bottle with a small opening that I use for my water. For after surgery I bought some sippy cups, yes, the baby kind to help me take small sips. I think the big thing is to not use them like a straw so I'll take out the little plug. Until I am fully healed I am not going to experiment with straws but I'm sure after a few months I could use a straw as long as I was careful to not get in too much air.