Questions:

Stretching your pouch... now is that something that you can do easily? like you over-eat ONE time?

Or is it something that you do over a period of weeks? over eating repeatedly?

Can you stretch it if you drink too much Fluid to fast? or is it only with solids?

Everytime I think I might have had a bite too much i freak out.

Just wanted some clarification that will (hopefully) keep me from worrying so much.

I am far from an expert, having only been banded 4 months. But, from what I've read here and at other band sites, pouch dilation usually happens when you have a good amount of restriction, and over-eat repeatedly. If you're not all that restricted, food will usually pass on through the stoma rather than stretching the pouch. I have never heard of liquids doing it, and wouldn't be concerned about that.

I'm curious about why pouch dilation occurs instead of PBing. I've never PB'd, and it makes me wonder if my gag reflex is lower than normal, and if that might then make me more of a candidate for pouch dilation if I over-eat. So, I pretty much just stick to a cup of food or so at a meal.

Tami

Bumping for more imput. The nurse made mention of pouch stretching at one time. I said that the last fill had "loosened up" and she said that doesnt happen. Than most likely that overeating had caused my pouch to stretch out. The part that confused me is that she almost immediately said that this fill would help. I am so confused. If I had stretched my pouch wouldnt I need to do something about it other than a fill?

ladypitboss...I was told by my doctor that fill "loosen up" because as you lose weight your stomach shrinks and the tissue around it. Therefore, with every significant weight loss you will start to feel hungry again because the band will be looser. There are soo many theories I can't keep track of them all. I was also told that if you stretch your stomach you can repair it by going back to the post op full liquid diet for a week. Who knows!

I am not an expert and not a doctor - but my understanding is that pouch dilation is caused by REPEATED over eating with tight restriction. Why you don't PB is a mystery to me - maybe you just have a tough esophagus that holds the food in there - stretching out the pouch.

I have also heard that a return to a liquid diet for a few days and then eating TINY meals for a while can correct the problem.

Fills do "loosen up" over time due to loss of fatty tissue around the stomach - but not usually suddenly - while pouch dilation could be sudden.

The only way to know for sure is to have a fill under Fluro or get and endoscopy to check out your tummy.

Try to be good and eat small meals. If you mess up a time or so - it shouldn't be a crisis - just get back on track and stay there.

Remember - the complications seem numerous on the boards - cause people with no complications just don't have as much to say...

Hugs!

Good question, Beversman - I was worried about that, too, with all this eggy mush in my belly. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo full! I'm miserable. I just wish it would pass into my kettle (Mother Stomach, as StephC calls it) and digest already. uuuuuuuuuugh. I'm going to feel this way until morning, and then I'll be ravenous. I think I'm doing liquids 3 meals tomorrow.

Nathalie