Hi everyone,

I'm about 7 weeks post-sleeve. Dietician told me to avoid drinking any liquids within 30 mins of eating solids (on soft diet). I thought that was temporary while the stomach is healing (currently, I can't keep anything down if I have a single sip of liquid around time of soft food).

But she recently clarified that this applies for life, as in I will never be able to have a sip of water or anything in the middle of or before/ after a meal, no matter how thirsty I am and no matter how far from my surgery. She said it's because "there is not enough space in the stomach for both".

BUT I don't understand the reason why the stomach won't tolerate this if one eats a bit less during that meal. If the total volume of liquids+solids combined is kept at a low amount consistently, then why would having a sip of liquid suddenly overfill the stomach?

Is this rule common? Do others (further along in their recovery) still find it impossible to take in any liquids close to solids?

Thanks!

Can you explain why you believe this? Please help me to understand the physics involved. Because when I puzzle this one out...I think of packing solids into a balloon with a valve at one end. That valve is a lot more likely to release and let stuff slide through with some liquid lubing things up. Continuing to pack solids in with no lubrication, to me, sounds like a more realistic stretching situation.

Not saying this is true or untrue...just saying I really want an explanation that makes sense other than "I heard this and you'll get fat if you don't."

I don't follow the rule. I have not regained. My restriction is very much intact.

And again...I'm not advising anyone to do what I do. Just reporting my experience.....3+ years out, so far so good.

Edited March 7, 20215 yr by Creekimp13

On 3/4/2021 at 2:59 PM, The Greater Fool said:

I'll be honest, that I don't fully grasp this rule with the sleeve.

I had the RNY and as such we have the small pouch and no pyloric valve. Whatever we eat or drink is going to go straight through. By not drinking, food will take a little longer to make this trip and we'll feel full a bit longer and/or won't be able to easily over eat.

But the Sleeve still has a pyloric valve at the bottom of the pouch. The pyloric valve opens and closes to allow food through to the intestines just like it did pre-op. So, unlike with the RNY, drinking isn't going to push anything anywhere.

I've thought this for awhile. The rule seems to make sense for RNY, but not so much for the sleeve. I wonder if clinics just adopted many of the same RNY rules for sleevers without really thinking this through (the standalone sleeve is a much newer surgery). My clinic also has the sleevers on the same vitamin regimen as the RNYers, which I'm not sure is necessary, either. But I'm not a doctor, so....