I am having a lot of anxiety about making my pouch bigger. Besides carbonated drinks, what else can expand our pouches?

I was told by my nutritionist that overeating during your liquid and mush stage can do that. You arent to eat of course but some do and thats why its so important to do exactly as your doctor tells you.

I think you may need to watch bread products, think pasta, because they expand in your stomach. Overheating, definitely.

My doctor said that drinking anything while eating is the way most pouches become stretched other than massive eating

I was told that the pouch can be stretched by either liquids or solids. And there's no timeline - in other words it is possible to stretch the pouch relatively soon after surgery or years later. The key to avoiding the problem - follow your plan. At every stage of your journey. And for the rest of your life. Doctors are all over the place when it comes to the plan they want you to follow, but here are some of the key points that seem to be quite common.

• Measure and/or weigh everything you eat or drink. Especially important during the weeks following surgery when the nerves in your pouch that serve as "stretch sensors" are healing and temporarily ineffective.
• Never eat less than two or more than four hours apart. Less than two is almost certainly head hunger. More than four and you risk getting overly hungry increasing the temptation to overeat. Fluids are a terrific "bridge" between meals when you're feeling hungry and it's too soon to eat.
• Eat slowly and chew to the consistency of applesauce. Failing to do so can stretch the pouch or even more serious, stretch the stoma.
• Stop eating at the first sign of fullness. Remember that it takes 20 minutes or more for "full" signals to get to the brain.
• Stretching the pouch is not something that happens over night. One stumble is highly unlikely to cause any long term problem. Repeatedly eating or drinking portions larger than prescribed by your doctor and failing to chew well is a formula for disaster.

Trust the process. Listen to your body and trust what it's telling you. Follow your plan.

You're gonna love the new you!!

Edited April 30, 201412 yr by DLCoggin

My doctor gives us a 30/60 rule. No drinking 30 minutes before eating and no drinking 60 minutes after eating. I'm still pre-op and have been trying to do that. It's not easy.

Ours is 30/30 no drinking 30 before or 30 after and carbonated drinks can cause more damage then just stretching