After a few years does your gastric sleeve stretch bigger?

[Gail Ann 8]

I was just reading the dudium switch forum here and a man who had the DS done 2 years ago says the doctors now know the stomach stretchs up to 75% of a normal stomach. Now I'm thinking, the DS surgery is like the sleeve because the doctor sleeves your stomach, then goes on to reroute your small intestines.

Does anyone know after a few years does the sleeve (which is done in DS operations) stretch?

Just curious. If so, I'm going to eat a lot smaller portions knowing this could happen in the future.

[JamieLogical 8,727]

It can stretch, for sure, but 75% of it's original size? I find that VERY hard to believe. the part of your stomach that remains after VSG is the least stretch tissue in the stomach. The top lobe of the stomach is the stretchiest part and that is completely removed with VSG, but it's one of the reasons RNY patients can experience a lot of stretching, because that is the part of the stomach that is used for the pouch in RNY.

[*Lexie* 1,486]

This is what my doctor said (and we know that they sometimes say conflicting things). He said that the standard stomach can hold approximately 4 cups of food. After the surgery and healing, our sleeve should hold approximately 1 cup of food. That would make the sleeve 25% the size of a stomach.

I guess the question to veterans would be, can any eat 3 cups of food in one meal. If so, that would mean that the sleeve stretched to 75% of a normal stomach.

[joatsaint 2,814]

At 2 years post-op, I can still only eat 1 to 1/2 cups of protein/vegetables comfortably. It's been that way since my 1 year anniversary and has not increased.

I had 2 points at which my sleeve seemed to relax and I could hold more.

The 1st increase came at 6 months - I went from only being able to eat 1/2 cup per meal to being able to eat about 1 cup per meal.

The 2nd point was at the 1 year mark - my intake increased to 1 to 1 1/2 cups. And has not changed since then.

The density of the food makes a difference as to how much I can hold - beef, chicken, pork are the ones that fill me the quickest and stick with me the longest.

Vegetables are less dense and I can hold more and don't stick with me as long as meat.

But when you have the sleeve, they only trim away the stretchy part of the stomach, leaving the tough non-stretchy part of the stomach behind - so it's very tough to stretch out. Plus they do not reroute any of your intestines.

During the DS part of the surgery they reroute the intestines.

Edited January 17, 2015 by joatsaint

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

Well, I haven't tried it, but I sense that I could eat 3 cups worth of cheetos....

I certainly cannot eat large portions of proper food (dense Protein and veggies).

What I have expereinced is that the "feeling" of good restriction is influenced heavily by what foods I eat AND by staying in the habit of eating small portions. If I overindulge regularly, it seems like my capacity grows but as I get back on track, my restriction returns. Its weird.

The number one success factor, according to my original Sleeve NUT was keeping portion sizes small while avoiding grazing. They recommend 5 mini meals a day - I often have done 4 mini meals, but it is that idea - eat small frequent healthy meals.