Hello. I am about 2 months away from having gastric sleeve surgery but I'm real scared of having problems swallowing. I haven't been able to normally swallow food without taking big swigs of water after every bite for 6 years now, sometimes even protein shakes go down slow, and I can't swallow pills at all. My doctors tell me that I need to be practicing eating without drinking, but I physically can't. So far my doctor had me do a barium swallow and didn't find any problems. Next I will be doing a more in depth swallow study, and then maybe they will look with a camera. Has anybody on here already had these kind of problems before having surgery. I'm not sure I could handle the sleeve if it ends up making my swallowing even worse.

@midnightramen, when you say you "can't" is this a psychological can't or a physical can't? Because if your esophageal motility is such that you physically cannot take in solids without adding liquid to help it move, then you really need to discuss this with your doctor in more specific terms than "need to be practicing eating without drinking."

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, but I do have some medical experience in low esophageal motility. Maybe you need to suggest an esophageal motility test. Gastric sleeve is not going to remove this condition and since we're advised not to drink while eating, your condition poses a problem. I wouldn't say it would make it worse, but it certainly won't help.

PLEASE discuss this and your concerns again with your doctor.

Thank you, I will definitely ask for an esophageal motility test. And yes I did mean physically, when I eat food most of the time it will just sit in my chest until I swallow water, and sometimes if it's enough food stuck water will just come back up out of my mouth while trying to swallow.