Feeling discouraged!

[zenandnow 514]

I moved into the soft foods phase yesterday (sleeved 5/16/13), and today I ate too fast, or maybe too much (?) and I had the foamies from 9am to 9pm! I'm exhausted, thirsty, and feeling like I've failed. Any advice or words of encouragement? Am I ever going to get this right? I go back to work on Monday & I'm worried about having the foamies at work. I can't spend the day in the ladies room! Help!

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Try eating less and eat slower. That typically works for me. Sorry your having such a hard time.

[No game 14,437]

Sorry to here that, I was fortunate and never had the foamies or slimes but it sounds horrible.

Just make sure that you measure your food to only 1/4 cup at a time. Take tiny bites wait a minute between bites and don't be distracted while your eating.

[zenandnow 514]

Thanks Laura-Ven. I had two small bites of scrambled egg this morning, which is on my approved list of soft foods, but it happened again! It's been three hours now and I'm still throwing up foam every 15 minutes. I KNOW I didn't eat more than 1/4 cup, and I ate it really slowly. I'm not sure why this is happening.

The other thing is, when this happens I can't get in all my Protein and Fluid because I literally spend hours throwing up foam.

[cinward2001 141]

Maybe you're just not ready for soft foods? Go back to puree for a day or two. And it might also be that the 12 hours of foamies yesterday has irritated your stomach so you'll need to be EXTRA careful for a day or two. I know you're probably eager to progress in what you eat, but right now is the time to listen to what your body is telling you...

When you do eat a bite of soft food, make sure it's only about the size of a pea and STILL chew it very well. Swallow, wait a minute, pay attention to how that feels, then get another pea-size bite, chew well, etc.

[Susie in Lima 320]

It will all start to work its way out and you will get into a routine and not have to think about it as much. It is a process and even at 8 months out, I still may wait too long to eat and then I tend to forget and eat too fast and then feel uncomfortable for a while after eating. Hey, it is better than eating a WHOLE lot more and feeling yucky then. Just give yourself time. This new stomach is a tool and you just have to get used to using it correctly. You can do it!

[No game 14,437]

Several things.. I think the last two ladies have some good advice. Also some people have a lot of problems with eggs in the beginning. So try something else. If it keeps happening call the doctor. This is something I dug up from another member...

When you eat something that requires a little extra work to digest, your body produces extra secretions that, pre-sleeve, you swallowed without even knowing it--extra saliva, extra mucus to help the food slide down, extra "stuff" that your body uses to digest the food. Now, the volume of your stomach is much smaller and can't always hold both food and secretions--and sometimes that causes a very, very unpleasant situation of either feeling painfully full for half an hour or so to being ill with bubbles of mucus being the first thing to appear. The first time that happened to me I was really surprised! And it was after eating eggs, which I still cannot tolerate in any form (and I have tried, because I LOVE them and used to eat them almost daily). Your body may adjust over time with small exposures; mine hasn't, and I've just sort of given up on eating eggs--small trade-off for the rest of my life, I will say, but I do miss them.

[bmbrush413 124]

eggs can be tough for a lot of people - they weren't on my approved list until 6 weeks out. Also, keep in mind that just because it's on the list doesn't mean it will work for you. I'm having a really hard time with chicken right now...but turkey goes down okay. Foamies are the worst...feel better!

[zenandnow 514]

Thank you everyone!!

Laura-Ven, that's the first real explanation of what the foamies are that I've read yet, so thank you for that!

It sounds like eggs need to be off my personal list for now too, so I'll ignore them for awhile & try at a later stage. While I do like them, they aren't one if my absolute favorites, so I can deal with it.

I hadn't heard that about pea-sized bites. I've been taking smaller bites, but I'll try to go even smaller to see how that works.

I did decide to go back to liquids for a few days. I read in another post that your stomach is not fully healed for six weeks; I'm only 2 1/2 weeks post-op, so maybe that's why I'm having troubles. At any rate, I want to give my tummy a rest.

Thank you all for the advice & support!!