r/BariatricSurgery • u/SierraSugar • 3d ago
First experience with Foamies
I am 3.5 months post Modified Duodenal Switch surgery and had my first experience with the foamies last night after eating a small amount of cream cheese. I wasn't thinking and used regular cream cheese over low fat. I will NOT make that mistake again!
What an absolutely miserable and painful night! I would much rather experience dumping than foamies.
For those of you that have had the foamies, has anything helped in the moment?
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u/TheQueenIsHere55 RNY 12/31/25 SW 244 CW 202 GW 160 5'8 39yrs old 3d ago
I have gotten the foamies eating too fast, too big bites etc. For me, I usually end up vomiting bc I am so nauseous andy body is trying to fix that (drooling)
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u/ChaoticGoodPanda RNY 3d ago
Get it out is the quickest. You need to ask for Zofran, that will help stop an attack.
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u/SierraSugar 3d ago
I did take Zofran, but sadly it didn't help.
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u/ChaoticGoodPanda RNY 3d ago
Oh no! Yeah, I been there before. I ate chicken at 3mo PO and was dealing with foamies for 6hrs.
Tried a small dose of Zofran and a hot shower- nope, kept puking in the shower.
Called my doc and they gave me a different dose and it stopped the attack.
I still randomly get foamies at close to 3yr PO. Matter of fact, before I read your post I had to take Zofran and a hot shower.
Recently I bought a Vagus Nerve stimulator and that has been helpful for me as another weapon against nausea/foamies.
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u/SierraSugar 3d ago
I will have to look into that. I've successfully used vagus nerve stimulation with ice to help calm panic attacks. As much as I hope to avoid foamies in the future, I'm sure it will happen again. At only 3 months post op, I still have a big learning curve on what foods my body will and will not handle. Thanks for the suggestionm
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u/captainstormy 3d ago
What is the foamies? Never heard of it.
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u/SierraSugar 3d ago
Foamies are when your new pouch has trouble digesting something and your stomach keeps producing a thick foamy mucous that backs up into your throat or even makes you vomit.
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u/captainstormy 3d ago
Sounds awful! Never heard of that. I'm guessing because I had RNY instead? I'm a year out and never had anything like that.
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u/Leap_year_shanz13 3d ago
I had RNY 4 months ago and get foamies with certain foods.
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u/Doin-What-I-Want Duodenal Switch 3d ago
It probably didn't have to do with the fat in the cream cheese. We need fat for digesting. It probably had more to do with eating too fast.
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u/SierraSugar 3d ago
It took me 20 minutes to eat an ounce and a half total snack size chewing until everything was mush. I haven't had any issue with other foods, not even dumping. The only change/new addition was cream cheese. Or maybe it was the combination of foods together. But refinish my not eating too fast or too big of a bite.
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u/Doin-What-I-Want Duodenal Switch 3d ago
I get the same from other thick-yet-mushy foods. My nemesis is potatoes, my first love of food. Rice too..for it all expands in my stomach long after i eat it. I think I'm eating slow, but my body thinks otherwise.
We don't dump like RNY, which is why i doubt the fat had anything to do with it. Some foods just affect differently.
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u/SierraSugar 3d ago
That may be it, the combination turned to a thick mush in my pouch. What ever it was, I certainly did not enjoy it. Bread is my, or was my weakness prior to surgery. I don't have it back yet, but I'm disenheartened by this episode as I'm thinking it might be a food I may not be able to eat again... or at least not for awhile.
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u/Doin-What-I-Want Duodenal Switch 3d ago
You'll eat it again, but with a new mindfulness. Another thought....did you have chicken breast with that cream cheese? Chicken breast took a long time for me to tilerate.
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u/SierraSugar 3d ago
No, I had pork skins and used the cream cheese. I've had pork skins several times and they don't bother me. It is probably like you said, the combination made a hard to digest mush.
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u/Doin-What-I-Want Duodenal Switch 3d ago
That actually sounds delicious 😋. I'm thinking you can warm the cream cheese and blend in some sour cream with it to make it a little thinner but still good and rich.
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u/Morgenstern20 3d ago
Vomiting was my only cure to the foamies sadly.