Drinking water causes regurgitation / foamy vomit

PuffyHon
PuffyHon Member Posts: 7
in Esophageal Cancer #1
My husband had 20% of his esophagus 20% of his stomach removed on Aug 4, 2011 (about 3 weeks ago). He seems to be eating ok...except for drinking water or any form of liquid. So, we're now worried that he'll get dehydrated soon! He is suppose to eat 5 to 6 small meals a day with liquid intake between meals...but because he can't seem to hold down liquid, he's stretched his meals out allowing more hours between meals to drink so that he wont vomit food back out.

So, he eats (a toddler size meal), wait about an hour then starts sipping water. Usually by the 2nd or 3rd sip (not even a 1/4 cup of water) he starts to feel gasy and starts to gag and throw the water back up (some times some bits and pieces from meal an hour or so ago will accompany the liquid coming back out.

We spoke with the stomach surgeon, and he deferred it to the thoracic surgeon...but the thoracic surgeon seems to be stumped! As he can drink clam chowder down ok, bot an hour later when he drink good ole water, then the water comes back up... Any ideas, any suggestion, have you experienced such issues?

He's now scheduled for a swallow test on Aug 31, 2011...to see where the liquid reach to trigger the gag reflex causing the throw-up... Oh and the output is mostly just foamy liquid!!! Help!!! Thank you in advance for any suggestions or ideas or experiences that you can share!

Comments

  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #2
    Just a thought...
    Having NOT had the surgery, I offer this up as a thought not an experience,
    except it IS something I have experienced...

    You didn't say what TEMPERATURE the water or drink is;
    If I try to drink any COLD liquid, and not even fridge cold, just cool like room temp., it will cause my throat to sort of 'close up' a bit. Hot coffee, soups, warm soda-no problems, can drink them down fine, but anything cold, and especially water for some reason, and with water (happens when brushing my teeth especially) I get a foamy saliva back with the water.

    So since the soup is probably not cold or room temp, try some warm water, set a soda in the window and try those if you haven't already experimented with temp.

    Again, just a thought but I never know what will help!

    Best wishes for a speedy recovery and hope things smooth out soon enough.
    May you have a calm and peace filled Sunday night.
    -Eric
  • LeeinLondon
    LeeinLondon Member Posts: 103
    #3
    Hi
    Hello, I have similar issues; I'm extremely sensitive to temperature, and I get the "foamies" too. I think this is caused by the saliva pooling on top of the esophagous like a clogged sink and mixing with the stomach acid coming up into the throat.

    Just like Chemosmoker, wrote, try lots of different things - room temperature rather than chilled, straw/no straw, sitting vs. lying vs. standing, all make a difference in food perception.

    I would suggest he brush his teeth 15 min before attempting to eat. This will simply make things seem more palatable as he'lll have a fresh clean mouth. Secondly, allow him to eat at his pace and anything he wants. If he's in the mood (however little) for an oreo cookie, a pickle and a glass of rasperry juice, rejoice in that. At this point he needs to eat anything, no matter how odd the choices may seem.

    Time is irrelevant. He may have a bit of a craving for scrambled eggs at midnight or chili first thing in the morning.

    While eating, he should read/watch TV and don't stare at the food; thinking about the act of eating makes it worst.

    Tiny bites, each one followed by little sips!

    I have no opinion on depression, etc., but I think we're click to label a situation that would make anyone sad. My wife keeps a little log of my daily intake/incidents/moods etc and this would help you look back and make decisions; after a few months it's hard to remember the good days, they all seem bad.

    Hope this helps, and best to your husband.

    - Lee
  • PuffyHon
    PuffyHon Member Posts: 7
    #4
    LeeinLondon said:

    Hi
    Hello, I have similar issues; I'm extremely sensitive to temperature, and I get the "foamies" too. I think this is caused by the saliva pooling on top of the esophagous like a clogged sink and mixing with the stomach acid coming up into the throat.

    Just like Chemosmoker, wrote, try lots of different things - room temperature rather than chilled, straw/no straw, sitting vs. lying vs. standing, all make a difference in food perception.

    I would suggest he brush his teeth 15 min before attempting to eat. This will simply make things seem more palatable as he'lll have a fresh clean mouth. Secondly, allow him to eat at his pace and anything he wants. If he's in the mood (however little) for an oreo cookie, a pickle and a glass of rasperry juice, rejoice in that. At this point he needs to eat anything, no matter how odd the choices may seem.

    Time is irrelevant. He may have a bit of a craving for scrambled eggs at midnight or chili first thing in the morning.

    While eating, he should read/watch TV and don't stare at the food; thinking about the act of eating makes it worst.

    Tiny bites, each one followed by little sips!

    I have no opinion on depression, etc., but I think we're click to label a situation that would make anyone sad. My wife keeps a little log of my daily intake/incidents/moods etc and this would help you look back and make decisions; after a few months it's hard to remember the good days, they all seem bad.

    Hope this helps, and best to your husband.

    - Lee

    Thank you
    Thanks for responding...

    Seems like nothing is working...

    Tried different tatics today...drink before eating, still barfing.
    Barf and then drink more, still barf...

    So, I think maybe dilating is required!
  • Daisylin
    Daisylin Member Posts: 365
    #5
    PuffyHon said:

    Thank you
    Thanks for responding...

    Seems like nothing is working...

    Tried different tatics today...drink before eating, still barfing.
    Barf and then drink more, still barf...

    So, I think maybe dilating is required!

    My husband was having the
    My husband was having the same problems, but not after surgery, just seemed to be yet another complication of EC. We ended up having daily iv hydration. The nurse would come in and hook him up for about 4 hours, then we unhooked it when it was done. It did seem to help perk him up a bit.
    He had a feeding tube put in last week, and now seems to be able to drink a bit more. (as well as hydrating through the feeding tube) He still just takes small sips and occasionally it will come back up.
    Chantal

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