Metal Mouth Message Board

On Wednesday I was allowed to take the elastic bands of my braces, only requiring to wear them at night from now on. This is great as it allowes me to speak and also stretch my jaws a bit.

I've been trying to eat some very soft foods which require little or no chewing (mashed potatos, beans, potato farls, mushy weetibix, noodles), but I've now began to get stomach cramps which are pretty sore and annoying. I've been getting them at night which usually keep me awake, and also before and during when I eat.

Has anyone else had this? I guess my stomach has shrank yeah, but I'm worried in case its something else and would like to know if this is what most people have went through.

Happy new year to you all by the way

Neil

I can't comment from experience, but I imagine it just being a combination of this newfound odd diet, and the medications you are on. Once you get back a more stable- bascially your normal and healthy diet- you should be ok

Just keep a check on it and if you're worried let your surgeon know

yes yes yes
i had this for about a week i think it is your stomache getting used to solids and the not really chewing is bound to cause indejestion as chewing is part of the process. i tried not to eat too close to bed time and after about 5 days it did stop happening

Thanks for your replies

I'm just over 1 week from taking the bands off and eating (relatively) normally. Stomach pains have been little over last few days, so nearly there!

Were you on any antibiotics in the past month or two? If so, it's possible that too many of the "good" bacteria were killed and that will be causing your stomach cramps. If you think this is the case, you must tell your doctor, because you may be suffering from something that could get much worse if you don't take care of it.

yes i had those too and they were really annoying. do you mean like in feeling nauseated or overfilled? What I think it is? Its the anesthesia and your medications! Although its been a while since your surgery, those anesthetic drugs take longer then you think to leave your system, and the acetaminophen is known to cause stomach cramps. Also, like you said about your stomach shrinking that may be a contributing factor!

I was on antibiotics for a while, but I'm feeling pretty much back to normal in terms of how my stomach behaves. Every once in a while I'll feel a slight pain very briefly, but no more than I would get if I were particularly hungry. I think it may have been the lack of good bacteria in my stomach, but thankfully it seems to have sorted itself out!

Once again, thanks for all the feedback

Do yourself a favor and eat one yogurt with live cultures every day for about a week. That should help to some extent. I always eat yogurt during and after I'm on antibiotics. I had an episode some years ago (misdiagnosed by a quack) that was a lack of good bacteria after finishing antibiotics. The quack kept sending me home and telling me to take Pepto Bismol. Finally I found a specialist who would see me on short notice. The gastroenterologist I saw said that one or two more days and I would have been hospitalized. I had to take a special drug that restored the good bacteria and within a day or two I felt normal again. He suggested that I eat yogurt in the future to help avoid the problem.

I'm glad everything worked out in the end for you. I do take a 'good bacteria' yogurt every morning and have been doing so for quite a while, so I dare say it will have helped me as well.