PB vs Throw Up

cashley · 04-19-2006, 09:40 PM

I've read the description of PB several times though luckily I haven't had one. I have on the other hand threw up a few times and I'm wondering if some people are just different... do some people throw up just fine and not PB or does both happen random.

I was under the impression that if you threw up it was from the lower stomach and if you PB'ed it was from the soma pouch. I threw up today and it was instant like.. swallow then uckkkkkk threw up. No golf ball or slime just regular.

Also it was just soup that I threw up since I'm still on liquids from my fill. I didn't eat too fast or anything. I'm thankful that it wasn't a PB (since that sounds worse) but I'm concerned my fill is too tight. I don't really want an unfill until I know for sure it's too tight. I was going to give it at least a week since I know I'm a bit swollen from the fill.

How long do you all wait before getting an unfill? Also, would you be as concerned over a throw up as a PB?

cashley · 04-19-2006, 10:07 PM

Also, if you all throw up do you do liquids for a few days to heal? Or is that just for PB?

StrawartS · 04-19-2006, 11:27 PM

First of all, I am pretty sure that with the band, regular vomiting is NOT possible. Anything you regurgitate is from the pouch. If you think about your new anatomy, your body would have to work awfully hard to propel food up from your lower stomach, through the tiny stoma, and back into the pouch.

If you are ill, like from a virus, it will probably come out the other end. If you are violently throwing up from a stomach bug, I would assume that the unfill patrol on LBT would be after you because all that heaving might cause a slip.

Your situation was a PB, since you describe the food coming right back up after you swallowed it. I'm not sure why you think it was a "vomit," because if the food came up immediately, it wouldn't have time to go to your lower stomach and move up again. And, like I said, the physics of vomiting from your lower stomach doesn't really work.

As far as getting an unfill, I am very opposed to getting unfilled. It sounds like you may have just found restriction and aren't really sure how to deal with it yet. What kind of soup were you eating? Chunky? I personally would wait it out before messing around with fills and unfills.

Maybe if you tell us how long you've been filled, what else you have eaten, what usually caused you to throw up, etc., we could give better advice.

StrawartS · 04-19-2006, 11:29 PM

Oh, and I'm also adamantly opposed to liquid diets. When I PB, I drink hot tea until I feel that my stoma has loosened back up. Then I usually just slow way down while eating, but I don't go on a liquid diet. If I'm so tight that I can't eat real food, I just don't eat. Protein shakes are no way to live, even for a day.

**Jack** · 04-20-2006, 12:23 AM

you have raised some good questions.....and this response is from my own experience only, and 'opinion only'....

1) I haven't had any episodes of 'vomiting' as such....in the sense of 'puke your guts out' or in the sense of 'college drinking party vomiting'...nor in the 'stomach flu' notion. Yet.

2) I believe the PB proceeds in a predictable process stepwise, which I currently identify for my own purpose as these: gulp/swallow/too fast too big....SOMETHING clogs up the os....this in itself irritates the constricted tissue....so a 'temporary plug' creates irritation by itself of a change in the normal peristaltic movement present even in the upper GI tract....

we produce mucus (slime) as a normal matter of course....which slips down our into the lower chamber....until there is a plug...

Thickening of the mucus occurs as stimulation/irritation promotes a dumping of ever increasing slime due to constriction of the muscular walls of the esophagus...

The more we dump on top of the plug the fuller the pouch becomes the more irritation and a type of anti-dromal spasmodic regurgitation reflex can take over in the typical #1 style 'vomit'....but again this hasn't happened to me....

what happens is the blockage and active voluntary attempts to induce a vomit-like manuver....which decreases the pouch volume contents, relieves some of the irritation and sometimes dislodges the plug...

You have a relatively large fill amount and a much smaller os than when it was 2.0 or 2.2....and it will take less to create that plug. Possibly the soup was a bit hot, or in some other fashion initiated a reflexive contraction of the pouch due to an increased stretch of the pouch.

The time frame being so close to the swallow would make me not think there was a plug, but decreased diameter of the os would slow the flow thru to the lower chamber...and may have been just enough to trigger what you experienced....

This is all speculation. I have at times swallowed water just a bit too fast producing a sort of reverse flush back into the upper esophagus...this is NOT GERD......it has only happend a few times and was in the first week or two after a fill...it intensified when I was at 1.8 rather than 1.5cc...and I would think the higher fills would be more dramatic, as you describe..

3) It sounds to me like you simply had a sudden spasm perhaps related to involuntary response to a sudden contraction of the tissue...perhaps the unconscious gauging of the volume you were planning on swallowing was out of sync with what you actually did swallow...

Hope this helps,NOTE-->fine print>>>> the management takes no responsibility for the content or conduct of the above post.... They should not be construed as legal advice, and should not be used as such. Contact your lawyer, and consult with them before taking any advice given on this board......Objects in this mirror, are stranger than they seem...void where prohibited by law... batteries not included... some assembly required....your mileage may vary...HAR!!!

cashley · 04-20-2006, 10:07 AM

Thanks for the answers... I guess the main reason I thought this was a throw up and not a PB is due to it being exactly the same feeling I've had in the past. It wasn't different at all. I mean why even rename the incident to PB (which implies it's a burb with food) if it's the same as a throw up was pre-banding. I didn't get the golf ball feeling in my chest or have any slime. It was more like nauseas like I drank sour milk type nauseas and then I threw up and felt better. The soup wasn't very hot and it was potato but I smooshed the chunks up.

Jack - It's interesting you mentioned the spasmodic regurgitation since that feels like exactly what it was.... also my esophagus has been very spastic, I've had hiccups a lot even when not eating, they are very loud and somewhat embarrassing since I teach software classes and they happen randomly.

It happened again last night on a slim fast shake... I wasn't drinking fast or anything. I don't know why my doctor went so high on the fill... I just wanted like 2cc not 2.7.

StrawartS – The new picture is awesome - you are beautiful.