swallowing

[rasor]

hi i am 17 weeks post ivor lewis op. bread and wraps hard to swallow is this normal ,any suggestion on foods easy to digest .thanks

[Blossomstix]

I still find bread very difficult 18 months later (but I lost my whole oesophagus including all my peristaltic movement) and only toasted as you can then chew to a small bolus and swallow. I have mine with water. It is much better to eat protein (like salmon, sea bass etc), vegetables/fruits and carbohydrates (like potato, sweet potato) etc. Bread is very starchy (ie lots of sugar) and will always be hard to swallow as starch is sticky (like sticky rice). Try yoghurts (I put fruit and seeds and nuts and oats or granola in mine) and eat cheese with crackers with fruit etc

Hope this helps

[Hidden]

The texture of food can make swallowing difficult. Bread can tend to stick around, much as it does around the kitchen sink plughole! Rice can congeal.

Those with achalasia can have similar problems, and they tend to avoid food with strongly texture, or with skins (eg tomato) that might not go down smoothly. In 'A Patient's Guide to Achalasia' that you can download from the OPA website, most of the content will not be relevant but there are some foods that patients have reported problems with. Nobody had problems with soup, and very few with yoghurt.

There are some recipes that might be helpful from a download from the website:

opa.org.uk/downloads.html

[Npride]

Hi Rasor, I hope you are otherwise doing well? My husband had to have his Oesophagus stretched after surgery (there is a recent post on here about this) as he had a large raised scar tissue area on the join, so the feeling was the same as having the tumour there. Otherwise, he changed to seeded bread instead of standard. This also helped with the immense dumping syndrome he suffered from. It was a huge change for him as he hated anything other than white, but once he made the switch, he never went back. Also, changing qty made a difference, smaller bites, smaller lots, so the seeded bread was switched to the tiny loaves, where he once would have easily eaten 4 full sized slices of bread with fillings for lunch, he could barely manage 2 of the small sized pieces, with half the filling. Hope some of that helps. Take care, and best wishes.

Carrie

[Jeannie1]

Hi, 5 years on and I still don’t eat a lot of bread, which is really a bonus. I can eat brioche though. I don’t eat cake either because it’s the same texture. But I eat everything else, in fact I try different foods when abroad. Instead of bread I eat different types of crackers, they are not so good with jams etc., but then it’s toast. If it sticks together in a fist then I don’t eat it. Enjoy what you eat, and small bites and small portions, and chew until it’s apple sauce texture. 🤪

[kiddy]

Hi let me say well done. It is very early days and it is better to have toast than bread. Chew everything more times than you would have normally. Things like shepherds pie, fish in sauce, veg opts. Sauce or gravy help. I snacked more in early days cheese biscuits, crisps fruit smoothies, bananas. Don’t worry about being unhealthy it takes a lot to build your body up after op and if you can tolerate high fat as cheese, milk, yoguart than these are good for you.

Nearly 2 yrs post op and meat and bread can still stick if not chewed or eaten too quickly.

Best Wishes

Debbie

[haward]

Have you got a copy of the OPA recipe book? Just call us and we'll despatch a copy. I ate lots of cottage pie and the like, lots of pasta, lasagne, and soup made with proper stock. Al loaded with butter, cheese, Cream and anything that'll put weight on. It worked!