After my one-week post-op visit, my doc told me I could go from full-liquid to puree diet. He also said I didn't have to grind up soft white fish or scrambled eggs if I chewed them well.

Last night for dinner I had an ounce of commercially-prepared breaded cod, with 95% of the breading removed. I also had a quarter cup of mashed potatoes. It was great!

For lunch today, I had a scrambled egg. To be precise, one egg and one egg white. As I was eating, I was thinking, "Everyone tells me to stop eating when I feel full. I don't know whether I've ever felt that. I wonder what it feels like to be full now." Then, about the last bite, I realized I felt full.

Thirty minutes later, I was miserable. It wasn't quite pain. It was more like pressure. It felt like somebody was inflating a basketball inside my gut. I tried to take a nap and couldn't. I sat in the recliner. No help. I tried moving to a different position. Every time, it would feel better for a second, but then the pressure resumed.

Finally I was lying on the floor moaning. I made the wise decision to crawl to the bathroom. After being there for 5 minutes, I finally vomited. (Forgive me for being graphic here, but we're friends, right?) I expected to see a bunch of scrambled eggs, but instead there was just a tablespoon or so of clear saliva. This was about two and a half hours after I ate the eggs.

The pressure didn't stop right away, though it began to diminish. Twenty minutes or so later, I felt well enough to scrape myself off the floor and take the elevator downstairs. It took another couple hours before I was back to normal, though totally whipped.

If you have any "Don't ever do this" stories, please share them. I would be thrilled get the advice that could help me avoid an episode like I just went through.

Edited June 5, 20215 yr by Dave In Houston

Yep, it takes a while to learn what "full" feels like now. I did the same thing once. Once. ☝️

It happens to me too. It also can happen if I eat too fast, even if the amount is not very much. Six months post surgery, I’m finally getting better at it ?

Oh, yeah, those first experiences of dumping, foamies, etc. are unforgettably bad.

Every plan is different but one week after surgery & on to the soft food stage seems very fast. I mean your tummy is still healing. You have a lot of internal stitches & staples there. Most of us go to purées after liquids then soft food over about six weeks. Maybe you need to go more slowly too. Some people do need to go through the stages more slowly just like some can progress through them more quickly. Depends upon how you heal & what your tummy can tolerate.

My vitamins used to make me nauseous every day & I’d experience that weird saliva vomit several times a week. It’d come on me really quickly. No pain thank goodness just oh no bathroom now.

You’ll have to learn what feeling full or feeling that you’ve had enough feels like to you now - it will be different. What feeling hungry is like will be different too (real hunger versus the head hunger that used to drive us to eat).

Eat slowly. It helps the message get through that you’ve had enough. If we eat too quickly, it’s often too late when the message gets through that we’ve had enough.

Good luck.

yes - too much or too fast. Plus, some people have a hard time with eggs the first few weeks or months after surgery, so it may have been partially that, too.

9 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Every plan is different but one week after surgery & on to the soft food stage seems very fast.

I'm really not on soft foods yet. Still at the puree stage, but the doc told me that soft fish and scrambled eggs could be eaten during the puree phase if I chewed them well.

The plan my hospital puts out calls for a week on full liquid, a week on puree, then two weeks on soft foods before getting to my long term diet. After that experience, I will surely be careful when moving to the next phase.

It's hard to for me eat a puree slowly, because it really doesn't have to be chewed. Maybe I'll try putting the spoon down between bites to draw things out.

So many times I did this, except I would vomit food and sometimes it would take hours to get it all out. I would eat too much and/or too fast. Thankfully, the tummy is much more forgiving at 11 months post-op, as I am clearly a slow learner. ? Eggs are still one of those things I have to be very careful with. I can only eat one at time (or two over an hour), and I have to take it slow or risk a belly ache. Hopefully you learn more quickly than I did! ?

Yes!! And I truly believe this is yet another reason to try to avoid alcohol (at least for me); I tend to pay no heed to the signals of fullness if I have had a cocktail or wine.

Ah, yes, the dreaded foamies! I remember them well. It happened the first time I tried a bit of solid food, which was two weeks post-op, and it kept happening after that if I ate meat, spicy food, or dry food like chicken breast. The first time I tried ground beef, I was up the entire night with the foamies. It was exhausting! So my "don't ever do this" advice is don't be in a hurry to eat hard-to-digest things like meat. Take your time, and when you do try it, eat a very small quantity and see how it settles on your tummy. I'm seven months post-op now and haven't had any problem the past few months, so the foamies are a thing of the past, thank goodness!

On 6/5/2021 at 7:51 PM, Dave In Houston said:

After my one-week post-op visit, my doc told me I could go from full-liquid to puree diet. He also said I didn't have to grind up soft white fish or scrambled eggs if I chewed them well.

Last night for dinner I had an ounce of commercially-prepared breaded cod, with 95% of the breading removed. I also had a quarter cup of mashed potatoes. It was great!

For lunch today, I had a scrambled egg. To be precise, one egg and one egg white. As I was eating, I was thinking, "Everyone tells me to stop eating when I feel full. I don't know whether I've ever felt that. I wonder what it feels like to be full now." Then, about the last bite, I realized I felt full.

Thirty minutes later, I was miserable. It wasn't quite pain. It was more like pressure. It felt like somebody was inflating a basketball inside my gut. I tried to take a nap and couldn't. I sat in the recliner. No help. I tried moving to a different position. Every time, it would feel better for a second, but then the pressure resumed.

Finally I was lying on the floor moaning. I made the wise decision to crawl to the bathroom. After being there for 5 minutes, I finally vomited. (Forgive me for being graphic here, but we're friends, right?) I expected to see a bunch of scrambled eggs, but instead there was just a tablespoon or so of clear saliva. This was about two and a half hours after I ate the eggs.

The pressure didn't stop right away, though it began to diminish. Twenty minutes or so later, I felt well enough to scrape myself off the floor and take the elevator downstairs. It took another couple hours before I was back to normal, though totally whipped.

If you have any "Don't ever do this" stories, please share them. I would be thrilled get the advice that could help me avoid an episode like I just went through.

On 4/21/2021 at 2:24 PM, Morachia said:

After a long six months, I finally received my surgery date for Wednesday June 9th. I'm absolutely thrilled! Anyone else joining me in June?

I'm sorry to hear this. I'm really shocked about your Dr telling you can eat soft after one week. I'm strict 3 weeks clear liquids only, 1 week I can start soft foods. Do, it's a good month before you can eat regular diet. I hope your doing ok- ?

On 6/15/2021 at 8:56 PM, Darcie J. said:

I'm sorry to hear this. I'm really shocked about your Dr telling you can eat soft after one week. I'm strict 3 weeks Clear Liquids only, 1 week I can start soft foods. Do, it's a good month before you can eat regular diet. I hope your doing ok- ?

He really didn't tell me I could start on soft foods. He said I could start on purees, but he also said soft white fish and scrambled eggs can be treated like purees. I haven't had an egg since that episode, though, even though now, just short of three weeks, I've been on soft foods for a week. Maybe I'll try one today.