Anyone else with a stretched pouch?

I've stretched my pouch, I am 6 yrs post op. I really don't think I want to look into a revision but I don't know how to eat and not be hungry and miserable all the time. Anyone else out there? Ideas?

I'm having a revision to the get my pouch banded(lap band), becaues I had the same problem and the weight kept coming on big time!!!! I will let you know how it goes Lana

How do you know it is stretched out? Can the doctor do a test to check? I think mine is too- I am 3 years out and sometimes I can eat a bunch of food. In the past year i have gained 15 pounds. I could stand to lose another 100 pounds, and i long for the days when the weight just fell off like in the first 6 months post surgery. I am not physically hungry, yet I think about food all the time now, even when i am busy with other things. I can be out with friends and be thyinking about my next meal. I am having trouble retraining my head.

Hello - I am 8 1/2 years out from UCLA Dr. Livingston. I also have a stretched pouch. Guess what I looked into a revision and EVERY decent surgeon would not touch me. Only the money grubbers. I looked for about 6 months then I did a very smart thing ----- I bought a book that I highly recommend. Dare to Lose by Dr. Shari Lieberman. She explains how to eat 3 meals a day and one snack and still lose weight. I have lost over 60 pounds since Feb 26th. I am almost at goal and I never had to have the revision. I can eat this way all my life. I now teach others how to do what I did and I am so happy. I challenge you to do the right thing. You will still have to watch what you eat after a revision. I was not willing to risk my life with another surgery. I wish you well I am having Dr. Katzen on September 1st do my boobs, hernia and after that my arms. I am DONE!! I wear a size 8 and I am happy

Oh, darn! So glad I don't have a pouch! I don't even have hunger anymore. Though I have heard for those that do, if you go back to following your special set of 'pouch rules' apparently it makes a difference. Good luck!!!! Changing our eating habits is a lot of emotional work!! Tonya

Hi Yvonne, I am 2 years out and have gained 10 pounds. Everybody tells me it is "normal" to gain some weight but even a little makes me nervous. In my case it is my fault. I have stopped exercising and have started to eat chips, candies, and all the junk I can find at the near by store. I know how hard it is, I am just so tire of watching portions of waiting after I have eaten to drink water to eat protein first, this second and that third. It is just overwhelming. I am seeing a therapist but I need an specialist in eating disorders. I want to stop the cicle of emotional eating because there is not surgery that can get rid of emotional problems. Overeating is just a symtom, it is not the problem. Find professional help and keep on going. I wish you the best. Hugs. Celi

I had a VBG in 1998. I had a staple-line failure and stretched pouch within a year. So... I will have a revision 2-20-06. The plan is a lap RNY, but it may turn into an open surgery. My insurance won't cover it, so I'm going to Mexico. I have zero concerns about this. Revisions aren't any riskier than first-time surgeries. They are, however, not as simple as the second surgeon is revising what someone else had done. The good news is that procedures are standard (to cover surgeons' butts for insurance purposes) and surgeons know what to look for and how to deal with what they find once they get inside. Liz

Hi Elizabeth... I had VBG about 16 yrs. ago and it just never worked. Now I'm looking into an RNY but the surgeon I spoke with didn't give me any percentages of survival due to adhesions and not knowing what he'd be getting into when he opened me up. Scarry huh? I just told him if he opens me up and it looks bad ...staple me back together. I've seen lots of specialist online that don't seem to think it's such a major surgery but my surgeon surely seemed to think so. So to say that I'm apprehensive is an understatement. I'm totally freaked out! What you said in your post makes much greater sense than anything I've been told so far. Suuz