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Did I Stretch My Pouch?


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Hi there,

I was wondering how I would know if I stretched my pouch and if I did what can I do to make it go back to normal? I am having a little bit of pain and I am concerned that I did.

Thanks for your help :)

Cindy

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A stretched pouch won't cause any pain, the esophagus is designed to be able to stretch and retract to some degree, only if you stuff food down your esophagus that rests above the band or pressure from liquids not being able to pass through the food will cause continual stretching of the pouch...

The only way to possibly repair this is for all the saline to be taken out of the band along with a liquid diet to see if the pouch will retract back to a normal size, if it does not the only option for repair is surgery...

Again none of this is known to feel painful to a bandster so maybe you can explain more about the pain you are having so we can help to figure out what's going on, as always if it is really severe I would contact your doctor ASAP!

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A stretched pouch won't cause any pain, the esophagus is designed to be able to stretch and retract to some degree, only if you stuff food down your esophagus that rests above the band or pressure from liquids not being able to pass through the food will cause continual stretching of the pouch...

The only way to possibly repair this is for all the saline to be taken out of the band along with a liquid diet to see if the pouch will retract back to a normal size, if it does not the only option for repair is surgery...

Again none of this is known to feel painful to a bandster so maybe you can explain more about the pain you are having so we can help to figure out what's going on, as always if it is really severe I would contact your doctor ASAP!

Hi there,

Thank you for the reply. The pain is in the middle of my chest and it started around 430pm today. It feels like there is some pressure where the sternum is. Kind of like someone is sitting on my chest and it hurts when I breathe in and out. Not a sharp pain, but a dull, naging pain.

How do you know if you have stretched your pouch?

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It sounds like you might have something "stuck" in your pouch, maybe a bite that didn't get chewed well enough? IT should work itself through the band in a few hours, if you are still in pain in the morning you might want to contact your doctor.

The only way to verify a pouch stretch is under fluro (x-ray) though being able to eat a large amount of food while having a pretty good fill in your band is a clue for many people that something might be wrong...

Here's a link to the 5 day pouch test, a way to try to reset some bad bandster habits and allow your pouch to (possibly) shrink back down some if it is stretched: http://www.5daypouchtest.com/

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What a great link Michelle. I keep aking myself where do you find all this great stuff. It doesn't matter but I just want to thank you personally for adding so many great links and information to this forum. You really make a difference here and I always look forwards to your posts.

:kiss3:

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