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feeling tight at first bite and then after "struggle" I can eat???



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I had this too. The advice I was given was what Jachut said - drinking hot fluids to relax things (or alcohol but don't advise this on regular basis - empty calories). Also I was told to take a bite or 2 to prep yourself then come back in 20 mins for the real meal - its the esophagus spasms.

Anyway this went away.... but when I got overfilled I was sooo soooo careful w/ teeny bites and waiting that it never came back - and I've posted this before to keep myself honest until i get a grip i eat w/ a timer on. google online stopwatch. I often feel the food passing through I wait 30 seconds at least but sometimes as long as a minute or two.

In hindsight I think I was still just eating too fast between bites. Or maybe things just changed over time. But I did not notice a difference until I introduced the stopwatch. I'm new at this so its a learning process. The tighter your band is the more you need to be super careful about eating slowly and chewing well as it will be less forgiving.

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Thanks for posting hmarko. The weird thing about this is that I'm not a new bandster. I never had first bite syndrome until two months ago! And I'm really not overfilled. I'm a 1.8 and, before the baby, I was at a 3.0. It's very frustrating, however, and I feel like I can't get fills because of it.

Question for you: Do you mean you time 30 seconds to two minutes between EVERY bite? Or is this just after the first bite?

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Thanks for posting hmarko. The weird thing about this is that I'm not a new bandster. I never had first bite syndrome until two months ago! And I'm really not overfilled. I'm a 1.8 and, before the baby, I was at a 3.0. It's very frustrating, however, and I feel like I can't get fills because of it.

Question for you: Do you mean you time 30 seconds to two minutes between EVERY bite? Or is this just after the first bite?

Now the first bite thing stopped since I time. So I chew for about 30 seconds then either on the pc or my iphone I set the stopwatch the doc told me after i swallow to wait 30 seconds before I take another bite. Thats the minimum - at work i do stuff so it can take longer. This is a cool site if you work and eat at your desk... online-stopwatch.com/

This thing keeps changing as you see :biggrin: So what they were saying was first bite may have been eating too fast I'm thinking but the hot drink before does really help also. They told me that too.

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Same here! I struggle with several bites and after LOTS of burping I can then eat, very weird. I did assume everyone was experiencing it too,hench the reason for not asking. I haven't been on in sometime now so thought I'd jump start myself again! I have been at a standstill for some time however I do NOT need a fill, I am behaving badly with the no no's, I can't help it I am still grieving the loss of my son and the garbage food goes down easier than the real food. I am trying to get back on track now, I just finished the last piece(bite sized)of chocloate in the house.

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Same here! I struggle with several bites and after LOTS of burping I can then eat, very weird. I did assume everyone was experiencing it too,hench the reason for not asking. I haven't been on in sometime now so thought I'd jump start myself again! I have been at a standstill for some time however I do NOT need a fill, I am behaving badly with the no no's, I can't help it I am still grieving the loss of my son and the garbage food goes down easier than the real food. I am trying to get back on track now, I just finished the last piece(bite sized)of chocloate in the house.

I'm so sorry about your loss! I don't know the details, but it breaks my heart just to hear it. I know how it goes to just eat the junkiest thing that goes down the easiest when things aren't right. Good luck! All I can say is that the suggestions people posted here have seemed to work pretty well! In fact, first bite syndrome seems to be going away slowly :)

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I just posted about this same situation! I just got my 3rd fill on weds ...8cc total.The first two bites are a struggle and then its all good. My question is how can you all tell that you,ve had enough? Before, I could tell that I was full when the food suddenly feel like it was coming out of my throat. Now, it seems to be the reverse! Any suggestions?

-P

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Go with the portion size if you are not getting any indicators...

some indicators could be any of the following:

-runny nose

-hiccup one or a few

-a sigh like ur done (I never had this one) but have had the first two.

I think there is one more but it is escaping me right now!

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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