Questions for longtime sleevers

[Autumn-KP 2]

Heya, I recently discovered this forum and was searching for an answer to my questions, but I couldn't exactly find what I was looking for. I had my sleeve done on September 12th, and I'm doing pretty well, but some things have really confused me and I've been struggling to deal with it. My nutritionist has been on vacation these past two months so I haven't really had any opportunities to talk to her about them so I was hoping I could gain some insight with some other sleevers.

I'm having a really hard time pacing myself when I eat, and making meals last 30 minutes. I'm in college so I'm always in a rush to eat and get out ASAP so I can make it to class, or to make it to the library to get some research and homework done or to get to my job. How do you guys do it with the stress of life and active schedules bearing on your shoulders? My nutritionist admonished me for eating quick before she went on vacation, and not taking my time but besides on days with no class/work I'm always rushing about, and have a really hard time finding time to eat and focus on my food as my nutritionist wants me to.

When I do have time to relax and focus on my food, I put down my fork/knife/spoon when I have food in my mouth. Should I be chewing a certain amount of times or waiting a bit before I put the next bite into my mouth? I feel like I'm doing something wrong since the feeling of fullness suddenly creeps up on me out of the blue and I feel like I'm about to throw up for the next couple of hours. I don't feel like my portion sizes are big compared to my portions before surgery, an example would be two slices of cold cut deli turkey and two cut thin slices of cucumber. I've recognized my warning signs of when I'm getting full, but I feel like they come super late since by the time I feel them I'm already stuffed and starting to feel sick from overeating. I've tried cutting my portions into half so I'm eating half of what I'd be eating (one slice of cold cut turkey/one thin cut slice of cucumber) it hasn't really changed anything.

Is it normal to have some foods you used to eat all the time suddenly make you super nauseous after surgery? In my case it's chicken. Early into my postop days I couldn't eat anything that had chicken, white or dark meat because it would make me throw up. Two months out now I can handle white meat chicken perfectly fine, yet I still cannot stomach dark meat chicken. I can take three bites and it'll make me super happy and I'll be thinking how much more delicious dark meat chicken is compared to white meat chicken, and then suddenly the urge to vomit will come out of nowhere. It's so strange since I can eat other poultry such as duck, and turkey fine, but my favorite poultry I can't handle after surgery for some reason.

This is going to sound really odd, but ever since my surgery I cannot tolerate the smell of eggs cooking. I have to use a face mask to cover my nose/mouth when cooking eggs because the smell makes me so nauseous. I haven't had any other problems with food cooking besides eggs.

The last thing that's been killing me is heartburn. I get really bad heartburn when I drink Water, and occasionally after eating food. Before surgery I'd only ever get heart burn from eating really Tomato heavy dishes, but it wasn't anything as bad as what I'm currently going through. Early on in my healing process I got hospitalized quite a bit because of dehydration because drinking Water would give me such bad heartburn that I'd just stop drinking water till it passed. These days I'm sick of IV's so I just grin and bear it, but it's really overwhelming. I pace myself drinking water throughout the day by waiting 20 seconds or a minute between sips of water but it doesn't seem to work. At the moment what's working (to an extent) for me is drinking one cup of water and then switching it with coconut water. Constanalty alternating the two back and forth but I still get really bad heart burn when it's time to drink water. I am taking my pepsid prescribed to me by my doctor, and he said as I lose more weight I'd get less heart burn, but at this point I've already lost 78 pounds and I still have this heart burn. Ironic thing is before surgery I could easily guzzle 80 ouces of water per day, but because of this problem I struggle to get my 64 ounces in.

Anyways! I'm sorry for rambling, but I really would love to hear from other sleevers who had similar problems or have gone through similar experiences. Or any advice in general would be appreciated. I don't really know anyone else who has gone through this so I feel a little isolated.

[suzzzzz 1,005]

If you are eating too fast then you end up eating too much before you get a signal to stop a d then you feel bad. This is hard to do but so very important. I probably average 20 minutes at a meal but when I do force myself to spend 30 minutes, I feel so satisfied. Busy lives get in the way when we let them. Do what you can to slow down when eating. Then you will not ha e downtime from feeling too full or getting sick. I do t have any issues with reflux so can't help you there.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

There's an app you can use called Eat Slower that may be very helpful. However, you are the one who has to commit to using it and putting your health as a priority. I used it for about the first six months post op. I set the time between bites as 45 seconds. You don't have to chew the entire time between bites, just chew well, swallow, and wait until it is time for your next bite.

As far as the stomach acid goes -- are you taking a PPI? If not, why not? Untreated stomach acid can turn into a very serious health problem.

[livvsmum 2,368]

The eating quickly might also be contributing to some of the heartburn. Heartburn is a pretty common side effect. Talk to your doctor about getting on some heartburn meds if you haven't already. I just had to have them for a very short time and haven't needed them since, but some need them forever after. It just depends. Heartburn can also make you feel like you're hungry when you're not, so it's helpful to take care of it to avoid that.

Yes, your tastes and your appetite will change. Things you liked before you won't like at all, and you will like new things. It's all part of the process as you get the carbs and sugar out of your system. I was the same; eggs made me nauseous. I still can't really eat them, though I try to choke them down from time to time.

[Autumn-KP 2]

So I took the advice you guys gave me and put it to work these past few weeks, and it really helped me! So here's an update to my issues.

I talked to my doctor about the heartburn and he increased my dosage of PPI and I'm doing good now!

All of you were on point about pacing my meals, and making more time for myself to eat. I've gotten in the habit of finishing projects/homework, ASAP instead of spreading it out throughout the week and I've gotten a lot of extra time for myself as a reasult. My meals take around 30 - 40 minutes and sometimes I make multiple trips to the microwave to heat my food back up but I've been feeling a lot better these past few weeks.

Bufflehead that app idea was amazing, thank you for that.

Livvsmum, thanks for the peace of mind. It was really weird to suddenly go from loving chicken thighs, to getting really sick over them. I thought there was something maybe seriously wrong with me, and it got me really anxious. I'm relived to hear it's not just me and others have gone through similar things following the surgery.

Anyways, thanks for all the tips, and advice. I truly appreciate it.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Autumn-KP

[Corrie2016 29]

May I ask exactly which app you used? There a few out there and was wondering which worked for you. I too am working on slowly eating. It's tricky when you are use to eating quickly.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

[Autumn-KP 2]

The one Bufflehead suggested I think is this one https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eatslowly/id659029209?mt=8

I have an android cell phone though, and the one I found closest to what Bufflehead suggested on the play store was Slow Mow Eating Timer which I bought for 1$.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Autumn-KP