I over indulged last night with pot roast, I ate slow over a 3 hour period but now I'm worried that I damaged my sleeve. I ate a soup bowl full in 3 1/2 hours. What are the signs of a leak? I have no pain.

From what my surgeon says, a leak is very painful and you'll know something is wrong. The food probably moved through as you ate.

How long does it take for onset of pain? Thanks for the info Lexie!

That was just one day, so don't beat yourself up. Now, what you did is called "grazing". Unfortunately, even if you caused no damage to your sleeve, grazing can cause calories to add up, just like eating a whole giant family bag of chips when you meant to have just a handful.

My NUT told me to only eat what I can comfortably get down in 1/2 hour. After that.....walk a.w.a.y. from the pot roast. Post-op, I had to retrain my tastebuds, because thay still wanted volumes of food that my new boss Miss Tummy can't handle. Oh, man......now I want pot roast!

As they say a leak is very painful - you ask when the pain happens, the pain happens when the trouble starts with infection and fever and such. However, leaks are very uncommon and are only really a risk if you don't follow the rules in the first 6 weeks after surery. Just follow the rules. You ate pot roast over 3 and a half hours. As long as it is inline with the recommendations you received to eat the pot roast then that's OK (if it's not then don't do it again haha). It didn't hurt you said, that means you ate ate a good speed for the volume you ended up getting in which is great at 4 weeks. Early on I often found myself in pain after eating maybe half a pot of yoghurt sized portion of food (pain that I described was like an elephant siting on my chest), it was because I was eating too fast.

Don't worry about it, just follow the rules and once you are on normal food again you are home free

Edited October 5, 201411 yr by INT125922

Thanks Miss Mac. I think with the anxiety I have right now about eating too much last night will make think twice the next time. I'm so afraid I damaged my staple lining even though I don't have pain. This sucks. I never should have done that.

Edited October 5, 201411 yr by NewKaren

INT I wish it was soup. It was pot roast with veggies cooked very well eaten in a soup bowl.

Edited October 5, 201411 yr by NewKaren

max 1/2 hour eating sessions, then as mentioned above walk away.... box it up and have the leftovers of the next several days. enjoy it everyday, just not all at once. you are most likely safe from a rare leak. take care

It really is hard to get used to all this. And I also realized that if I eat very slowly and chew very well, I basically do not reach the "full" point. So yes, the key is still to be mindful about our habits and limit our meal times. I don't want to go through this grueling surgery for nothing!