Hi all,

I am one week post surgery. I truly cannot believe it myself. After all the years of trying and all the planning and all the emotion. And, I am down a hole 11 pounds which to me is just amazing because I could never lose anything without absolute starvation.

Anyway this is my question.

In the early days after surgery, how did you feel if you eat too quickly or too much? I am questioning because this morning I was drinking kefir and I started getting shaky and feeling hot and cold and almost feverish although I do not have a fever. I wonder if I was drinking too quickly? I did not feel pain but I do feel really strange. So wondering if it has to do with me possibly drinking too quickly. I only drank about 3 ounces so I don't think it was too much but maybe too quickly.

This depends on the person really. Now at 3 months out if I eat too quickly or too much or don't chew enough I feel sick. I get nauseated and the food sort of sits in my esophagus instead of my stomach.

It helps to walk but I usually have to wait 30 minutes to an hour for the feeling to go away.

Since you are still on liquids I would look to see if what you are drinking has a high sugar content that could make you feel that way. Or you could just be getting used to the sleeve. Mine was not happy for about 9 days.

In the early days, I threw up quite often if I ate too quickly. It was good feedback about how to slow down. Now, 4 months out, I almost never get sick, because I learned that lesson well.

At the beginning I would get horrible pain in my stomach and throat, sharp and throbbing. Now I'm finding myself at 8 months out, eating fast just results in feeling fuller faster and it causes a lot of awful bloating.

Feeling shaky and hot and cold sounds like possible dumping syndrome. Dumping often happens when too much sugar enters your digestive tract too quickly (and contrary to what lots of people think, it can happen to sleevers and even to people who have never had bariatric surgery, though it is more common for people with RnY). Anyway, kefir does tend to have a lot of sugars, so particularly with things like that you may want to slow down.

Dumping symptoms also include feeling nauseated, rapid heartrate, cramps, dizziness, lightheadedness, etc.

Alternatively, maybe you put too much pressure on your vagus nerve with so much food entering your system so quickly. Irritating your vagus nerve can lead to all sorts of weird reactions in your body.

Whatever it was, being "full" or "eating too much" do not feel the same post-surgery as they did pre-op. You'll need to take some time and learn your body's new signals and reactions.

With liquids, a common result is that air bubbles will form, and if you have GERD (I do), those symptoms get exacerbated. With food, the analogous complication is stacking, which will be the same reflux symptoms plus a horrible choking sensation. While not inherently dangerous, these should be indications that you are consuming an amount that is not beneficial to your sensitive and still-healing sleeve. I am three months out, and these have largely disappeared, and the only symptom of eating too much is fullness...what we are going for anyway!

At the beginning, it is very hard to learn but you will get it once you get sick. Hard lesson but we all go through it. My technique was small pieces (size of penny or smaller) and I was using a baby spoon. Then I would take a bite, but the spoon down and wait until mouth is completely empty before taking the next bite. Over time this gets easier and now I still put the spoon down between bites but I can use a normal fork or spoon and my pieces are now bigger.

Early on I learned another indicator. My left shoulder would get pain if I ate too fast or my bites were too big. Turns out this is from my hernia repair. Even now at 8 months, I still get the shoulder pain. This continues to be my gauge.

Finally - I know I am full when I start burping. They are small burps but this is how I know I am full. Be on the look out for your indicators. And TRUST ME - YOU WILL have them... just need to learn how body is behaving now.

Good luck.