Re: Stretched Pouch???

[Guest guest]

I can't say for sure if my pouch was stretched, although it has grown from

it's original 2 ounces. But I do know that after I went on 3 days of mostly

liquids, and never more than 1/2 cup of food at a time, my capacity went

back to that amount. I was eating whole Big Macs, and now can't eat more

than 3/4 cup of food at a time.

> Just wanted to know if anyone out there knows that if a person would

> decide to go back to liquids for awhile can our pouch shrink and go

> back before I started to eat too much.

[Guest guest]

I can't say for sure if my pouch was stretched, although it has grown from

it's original 2 ounces. But I do know that after I went on 3 days of mostly

liquids, and never more than 1/2 cup of food at a time, my capacity went

back to that amount. I was eating whole Big Macs, and now can't eat more

than 3/4 cup of food at a time.

> Just wanted to know if anyone out there knows that if a person would

> decide to go back to liquids for awhile can our pouch shrink and go

> back before I started to eat too much.

[Guest guest]

I can't say for sure if my pouch was stretched, although it has grown from

it's original 2 ounces. But I do know that after I went on 3 days of mostly

liquids, and never more than 1/2 cup of food at a time, my capacity went

back to that amount. I was eating whole Big Macs, and now can't eat more

than 3/4 cup of food at a time.

> Just wanted to know if anyone out there knows that if a person would

> decide to go back to liquids for awhile can our pouch shrink and go

> back before I started to eat too much.

[Guest guest]

I would not worry about the size of my pouch. Dr. Flanagan followed

patients for 10 years measuring their pouch growth and weight loss

success or lack there of. He found the the pouch stretches from 3-8

ounces. He found that there was no correlation between the size of the

pouch and the success of the surgery. Patients with an 8 ounce pouch

were just as likely to lose weight and keep it off and a 3 oz patient.

It seems that it is not the size of the pouch, but how it is used that

makes the difference.

Ray Hooks

For WLS nutrition info, visit

http://www.bariatricsupplementsystem.com

bdgofish wrote:

>

> Just wanted to know if anyone out there knows that if a person would

> decide to go back to liquids for awhile can our pouch shrink and go

> back before I started to eat too much.

>

> Thanks Becky

>

> Homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Graduate-OSSG

>

> Unsubscribe: mailto:Graduate-OSSG-unsubscribe

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Stretched Pouch???

Just wanted to know if anyone out there knows that if a person would

decide to go back to liquids for awhile can our pouch shrink and go

back before I started to eat too much.

Thanks Becky

********************************************************************

Hi Becky,

I am 2.5 years post op with a 75cm proximal that was supposedly originally

constructed at 20cc. I have since learned that the pouch was constructed

using the greater curvature, or the upper right side of the stomach which

can be described as a horizontal pouch with a small outlet.

I lost the majority of my weight in the first ten months then bang! I came

a dead stop. In fact I have never had the first instance of vomiting, never

dumped beyond initial diarrhea and flushing and have always thought my pouch

was not like I have heard others describe theirs quantity wise. My stoma

was estimated to be 30mm (3cm) and outlets beyond 17cm or so have been

described

as nonfunctional in that restriction, not malabsorption, is the feature of

my particular version of this surgery. If the stoma is wide open then there

is essentially no restriction.

I suffered a regain which, at it's worst, was 26lbs or so and that added to

the

amount I was still away from goal when I started backwards left me in excess

of

40lbs I needed to lose. I really felt despair that is hard to describe. I

had

in fact planned to have a revision to distal to increase malabsorption. I

had been

diagnosed with coronary artery disease about 16 months after surgery and

have

to have two stents placed in the left side of my heart to relieve the

blockages.

Those stents reblocked almost immediately and that made weight gain an

ominous

hazard. Dealing with the CAD became more of a priority than the revision to

distal.

I just had open heart surgery three weeks ago to bypass those blockages.

While

I was hospitalized and after with the anesthesia, etc, I really did not want

to eat. I

had to force myself to do it for healing. BUT, the other side of the coin

is that

I also did not have access to trash food or carbonation in beverages! By

the third

day I tried a SF desert, pudding I think, and my heart rate attracted the

attention

of the staff monitoring my heart because it was racing right along and my

face was

glowing red from flushing. No one could tie it to anything related to the

surgery

or my heart. It happened once or twice before it finally hit me - I was

doing my

version of DUMPING again! I also noticed that I was back to almost

immediate post WLS

capacity. Three bites of food and I was satisfied! The trick was for me to

realize

that and try and reconnect with the signals my body has been sending all

along!

So my pouch had shrunk, I was dumping again - AND I was very pleased with

all that.

Now that I think back about the WLS and post op history, I have to confess.

I was the

author of my own misfortune. I got away from good habits about diet and

trash food.

Trash food for me is refined carbs and white flour foods. I am diabetic and

they

throw me into an eating frenzy when I put those things in my body.

Resumption of

carbonated beverages, for me, was the biggest culprit in that whole exercise

of insanity

as I see it now.

I have now, this very morning, dipped below 200 lbs to 199 again after

getting to an all

time low of 184 or so for about two minutes 20 months ago. I try to listen

to my body

signals now and realize that it was sending me those messages all along, I

just

could not hear them. When I feel the least resistance in my pouch I stop

eating. I

look at the food remaining on my plate and tell myself that if I get really

hungry

later I can eat some again. That seems to satisfy the fearful part of my

brain that

wants me to eat all the time to ward off those feelings (and others.) I eat

protein, then

vegs and then some wheat bread if I have room and I never have room. I do

protein

shakes tween meals and most importantly I do water/crystal lite. Of

interest here is

that I have learned something else. (forgive me, I am slow on the learning

curve apparently)

My body sends a signal to drink water and my brain interprets it as EAT!

Point is that

between eating a small portion at a sitting, concentrating on supplements

four times a day

with Iron taken seperately, getting in the shakes I want and then getting in

the liquid,

I am never hungry and really never want to eat!

I do get the impulse to eat trash food. I want those cookies and I want to

dig into the

plethora of Halloween Candy already here. My house is a merry go round of

holiday eating.

There is Halloween, (tons of candy), then Thanksgiving which starts the day

after Halloween, then Christmas which starts on Thanksgiving and goes

through Valentine's day, etc. That is not

my style but the style of my wife and her family. It is not easy for me and

I fight for

my three year old's health all the time nutrition wise.

Summary for all this is that I have a new perspective on my pouch. I wish I

had a pouch constructed in a more modern fashion using the left side of the

stomach. I have an Edsel

apparently, but a very good Edsel. I cannot have the pouch revised due to

the way it was

constructed and revision of the stoma just does not seem to be advisable. I

have to learn

to use what I have. I see myself as very fortunate in having what I have

because it allows

me to eat like a normie in food choices, it has never caused me difficulty

and after 2.5 years of ownership I a re-reading the owner's manual. I am

losing the weight and regaining health.

I am confident of reaching a healthy weight for me and now with my heart

fixed, I am

really in better condition than I was at 25. This is a 57 (soon to be 58)

year old body saying all this.

So in my case, yes, the pouch did shrink BUT I know I can stretch it right

out again if I ignore my body messages. I am happy with my state of affairs

at the moment :-)

Dan Slone

Surgery 5/2/2000