drmarinakurian

This is an article I wrote for the NYU weight management program newsletter a couple of years ago: I updated it a little.

We have only one esophagus so we have to be really good to it. The esophagus has one job- to squeeze whatever we swallow down to our stomach. The esophagus is a muscular tube which is important to remember. A muscle when used repetitively or when stress is placed on it, can fatigue. So what does that mean? Let’s look at a muscle that we can control like our bicep. We lift a 5 lb weight and after 20-30 repetitions, our bicep gets tired or worn out (I know for some of you superfit people, it may be 50 repsJ). This is important to remember for life with the gastric sleeve and gastric band especially after the band is adjusted.

Another fun fact about our esophagus? The esophagus is more constricted in the morning which means it feels tighter! It also means that the esophagus is “generating a higher pressure” or squeezing more first thing in the morning. Do you feel tighter in the mornings? Can’t get that coffee down first thing? Well that’s normal it turns out! When the esophagus squeezes so hard, it gives you the feeling of something being stuck or of chest pain in the middle of your chest. This has a lot of correlation for patients with gastric banding and also immediately after gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy.

The effect of that tightness is magnified when there is a band in place or right after vertical sleeve or gastric bypass. Imagine that your esophagus has to squeeze harder to get food or liquids that you swallow across the band or through the sleeve. The esophagus squeezes and generates a high pressure to get the swallow across the band and into the stomach because the band causes a high-pressure zone where we put it.

Specifically for the band:  When you get a band fill, the esophagus has to squeeze a lot harder to get what you swallow across the band. Many of you notice that you are tighter right after a fill, and then we often hear that the band “loosened”. Well what really happens is right after the fill, your esophagus feels tighter because it’s squeezing to some high pressures. And after a period of time, the esophagus figures out that it doesn’t have to squeeze as hard to get swallows across the band (Fig. 1). The pressure that the esophagus generates doesn’t go down to the same level as before the fill, it stays a little higher. A fill can be too tight because the esophagus CANNOT generate a high enough pressure to get your swallow down (this can be liquids, solid or even your own saliva). Right after a fill, we ask you to be on liquids for two days and puree for two days so that you don’t have a crisis, SUFFER and need an emergency “unfill”. Following liquids and puree format also gives your esophagus a chance to ease into the fill and doesn’t force your esophagus to generate super high pressures. The goal of fills is to try and find a balance between you not being hungry and being able to eat a variety of foods including protein and your esophagus not having to squeeze too hard.

Now, with the sleeve, bypass and band: If you take a big bite and swallow it, the esophagus has to squeeze harder. If you don’t chew your food well, the esophagus has to squeeze harder. If you take a bite and then take another one right away (we call it stacking the swallows), your esophagus has to squeeze harder. If you drink big gulps or chug a glass or bottle of water, your esophagus has to squeeze harder to get that bolus of liquids across the band into your stomach. So what you ask? Well remember that with repetitive use, any muscle can fatigue. When your esophagus gets tired- of all the gulping, and eating fast and not chewing well and trying to wash the food thru the band with liquids- ,it will stop squeezing so hard and be tired. When the esophagus doesn’t squeeze and give its’ all, the esophagus dilates. It can’t generate enough force to get food and liquids across the band, and this can cause esophagitis, reflux, heartburn, fluid coming out of your nose at night and night cough. Then what do we , the docs and clinicians, do? We loosen your band so that the esophagus doesn’t have to squeeze so hard, and it gets a chance to heal. For sleeve and bypass patients, eating behaviors have to change in order to get rid of that feeling of reflux.

Well, that sounds so simple right? Loosen the band, and let you heal! But some of you know that when we loosen the band, you get more hungry or you find that you can eat more. Perhaps the best way of avoiding loosening and dilating your esophagus IS…don’t take too big a bite, don’t stack your swallows (wait 30 seconds between bites ), don’t wash down your food with liquids. Your esophagus doesn’t get irritated because you swallowed too big a bite once, or that you gulped down a ½ liter of water once. It dilates because of repetitive behavior. We have all heard those touchy feely expressions: Be kind to one another or Be kind to the world, it’s the only one we have. Well I have a new one for you: Be kind to your esophagus, it’s the only one you got!

I do a weekly radio show and have some really great guests that have some great information. I am going to try to update my blog with shows that relate to weight loss surgery.  I know many of you listen to my show (more of you should!) but for those who do not or cannot, I hope these updates help you learn about some of the great things I do from my show.

Disordered EatingI had a great radio show a few months ago where I had Mindy Gorman-Plutzer, who recently wrote a book called Freedom Promise.  Her book was motivated by her personal struggle to deal with “disordered eating.”  She said she had a choice, “to stay buried in the dark hole of addictive behaviors, or embrace the light.”  She chose the light.

Mindy explained that disordered eating is when a dieter becomes obsessed with dieting and the need for perfection takes over.  It differs from eating disorders of anorexia, bulimia or non specific eating disorder.  Mindy explains that we are constantly getting conflicting viewpoints from different groups in the dieting industry, a $60 billion industry, based on science as to what the best diet is and that we really need to be told what to eat by them to be succesful

Mindy, as an eating psychology coach, looks to see what, how, when and why we are eating. Things that happen in life effect our relationship with food.  She further discussed how people are creatures of habit and that the habits need to be broken and new healthy eating habits need to be formed.  The best way is to learn about triggers you suffer from in your distorted eating and have strategies to deal with these triggers.  Recovery, according to Mindy is possible when we change the mind and the fear of food.  For recovery you need forgiveness, acceptance and compassion.

One issue that we discussed that is important to me is what message are we giving our kids.  I have teenagers and a daughter, and we need to give the right message to our kids.  We discussed on the show the need to teach our kids, and ourselves, to eat for fuel and not out of emotion.   We also need to talk to our children about inner beauty, paying it forward and focus on how we live and how we have relationships with others.  When my kids eat junk food (my daughter loves her Doritios) I try to be careful in my message to them and have them think of ways to counterbalance the junk food, because after all, the old cliche is still true, we are indeed what we eat.

I often have patients that either tell me that they are never hungry or that they are hungry all the time.  Patients hope that their surgeries will stop them from being hungry and stop their urge to eat.  But, Mindy says you need to ask yourself what are you hungry for? Are you hungry for food or something else that you are yearning for in your life?  Patients often tell me that during the day they are able to stay on track and as soon as it is nighttime they go on binges. (Most likely because during the day we are with others and busy with the day and don’t think about food as much as at night.)  Mindy explains that these binges are caused by triggers and to stop them you have to look within.We talked about my favorite, and America’s favorite cookie, Oreos.  A few months back, I tweeted about the study that came out which compared them to cocaine addiction. (I am quite aware that three cookies has 150 calories and has many things in the ingredients that I can’t pronounce.) . Food companies study how additives affect the brain and these additives in Oreos have been found to have the same affect on the brain as cocaine.  (Not to mention the ingredient list that you need to be a chemist to understand,) Created food  affects neurotransmitters in the brain, but natural food does not.   And we all know real food is the way to go!!!

We had a great discussion about binge eating and how it comes from stress.  When we are stressed we want to check out from the stressful event and sedate ourselves to take away the stress and the pain.  To counteract the stress which can lead to binging, one thing we can do is conscious breathing, which tricks the body into thinking it is relaxed. I do this often to relax myself!!!  And it works!

Another way to stop a binge, according to Mindy, is mindful eating.  Never stand at the pantry and eat out of bags or in front of the freezer eating ice cream from the containers.  If you stop and put the food on a pretty plate or bowl and eat it at the table you will be able to focus on the food, what you are eating and how it feels to eat it.  This makes it a controlled and positive experience and then put it aside.   Mindy also suggests that you need to look at relationships, spirituality, careers and physical activity for pleasure, not only food.  Also don’t practice obsessive punishing exercise, but look to create movement of the body.With weight loss surgery patients, many times there are transfer addictions to drugs, alcohol, or my personal favorite (and yes I do engage in this) retail therapy.  These actions make us feel good and takes away the stress or pain.  It is the same high that you get from food.

Mindy’s book, The Freedom Promise, will be coming out this fall. I know I will be reading it and have some in the office to have my patients read!   She has a website if you want further informationwww.thefreedompromise.com.