Would like to hear from those who have sucessfully overcome a stretched pouch

I'm freaking out!  I was one of my surgeon's star band patients.  Lost 100 pounds and kept it off for 5 years.  Then one day I realized I wasn't getting stuck at all, no sliming, no spitting it back.  That was not normal for me for more than a few days.  So I saw my doc and she said my pouch was stretched.  After reading lots of posts here and doing some other research, I found out that this is pretty common.  5-10 years seems to be about the life of a band.  I hope that's not always true!  I have loved my band and I'm not ready to give up on it.  And I really don't want to have another procedure.  I think that ALL procedures can be compromised.  I didn't do this intentionally, matter of fact, I don't remember ever hearing about pouch stretching when I got my band.  So anyway, I got it emptied and during that process, my insurance company and doctor's office are having some kind of disagreement over payments and I can't get a fill until they resolve it.  I hope it's soon cause I've gained 30 pounds and I'm really depressed about it.  I don't really want to hear a bunch of band-bashsing or how many people are converting to the sleeve.  I've read plenty of those stories.  I want to hear from people who have made the band work after a problem.  And I would also like to know how my pouch went from "wow, this bite is too big, i better spit it up" to "wow, this bit is too big, so I'll just stretch to accommodate it". 

Thanks!

Carla.

Hi Carla. I met your Dr. Very nice lady! She and Dr.  Steinburg were speakers at the Atl. OH conference last year and they both stated that they are hardly even doing the bands anymore b/c of all the complications associated with them. Once you have a band complication.........another band complications is generally right around the corner. :-( Good luck with whatever you de**** to do with your band.

First you are correct ANY surgery can be compromised, look at all the people who are getting Sleeves now have STRETCHED IT OUT..they are popping up everywhere on the boards now with stretched Sleeves looking for a revision to the bypass or DS.

All weight loss surgeries have issues, it's just we pick the ones we are willing to deal with.

Regarding Pouch dilation yes, it's pretty common with long term bandsters, the causes of pouch dilation is eating too much on a very tight band, and vomiting frequently, also pouch dilation can be caused by filling the band too tight, and the surgeon can calibrate the pouch size too large during surgery.

Anyway regardless of how it happens, going forward you have to be careful with refilling your band and keep the vomiting and sliming to a minimum.

I had a concentric pouch dilation my first year of banding, this happened after getting filled too tightly and then traveling, my treatment was to totally unfill the band and after 6 weeks start filling from scratch, I had a 4cc band, so I had to start over with a 1cc fill, and then slightly larger fill, but you must go slow, ( I know it's a pain) but that is the only way you will get your band to work properly again without further complications, IF YOU WANT RESTRICTION AGAIN.

Looking back, I honesty would not waste time with a dilated pouch, I lived with a dilated pouch for 6 years, it was not too bad, because I had lost most of my weight and I really did not care about real tight restriction after it happened, however it was very hard to get that sweet spot restriction again, it's possible, but highly unlikely, again you must get your fills slowly each month to be successful with pouch dilation.

If you find that unfiling the band does not work and you can no longer find your sweet spot once you start refilling your band, if you have the new AP band, you can actually get your pouch fixed without removing your lap band, but it will require surgery to fix it, but if you have the old 4cc band like I had, it will have to be replaced since they don't unbuckle properly without destroying the lap band system.

I was able to get good restriction again after having pouch dilation, but I was not able to get that sweet spot restriction, but that was because I had a hiatal hernia that was not repaired and if I filled my band to optimal levels I would get reflux, if this happens to you, you may want to surgically fix your pouch.

Remember pouch dilation is just a precursor to a full prolaspe band, where the pouch hangs over the band, but with most pouch dilations, it can be managed with unfilling the band if caught in time before full slippage happens where the pouch gets too big and if the pouch gets too big it will require band removal or replacement.

So, yes it's possible to get good restriction again with Pouch Dilation without having surgery, but going forward you have to be more careful with being too tight and PBing.

Good luck

I was successful overcoming a stretched/inflamed pouch. TWICE!

Mine dilated at one year out and had to have a total unfill for six weeks, it had been filled to 8.75cc.  At two years out, with the band never refilled past 6.25cc and never found restriction, it had to be unfilled once again for the same reason for 8 weeks.  The band was either wide open or couldn't swallow spit.  

Nope!  Once the pouch/esophagus dilates, it is like a balloon.  It stretches easier and easier each time.  I started having nighttime reflux and had the band removed 9/22/12 at 3.5 years out.