Stoma

Morning Yall, I was directed here by alot of people to ask some questions about what my doc said.. He has told me that I have a dialated stoma. I am 4 yrs out.  Do yall know what this means? What can I do to fix it? Does insurance generally cover it? I have great insurance.  WIll this help the fact that I can eat as much food as I did before hte surgery and any kind of food I can get my hands on.. Has any of yall had it done?? Thanks for any infornation you can give me. I was told the grad board would know. 

Hi Kathy, I am sorry but I don't know anything about this.  I hope that you get it fixed soon and keep your weight down.  Best of luck..

It means the stoma (the little hole that takes food from the pouch to the intestine) has stretched - could happen for a variety of reasons, with carbonated drinks and eating too much being listed as the main causes... which would mean food is leaving the pouch faster... if you don'****ch yourself, you could start regaining if you start eating more... fixing it requires surgery... not sure why the doctor didn't give you more info... but anyway, as far as insurance coverage, you'd have to check with them because I've no clue what their policy is on that! :-)  GOOD LUCK!  Angie

Kathy

I think we are in the same boat!  (I think I am on quite a few boats these days....LOL)

I think my stoma is stretched but I don't know for sure.  I am going to have an endoscopic procedure soon which will be able to tell me the size of my pouch and my stoma. 

I will have to go from there.  How does your doc know that the stoma is dilated?  Did you do anything to test it?  Just curious.  Let me know what you end up doing and I will do the same.

Lorri

I am scheduled for a upper GI. On the 4th of March.

I am 4 yrs out. I have gained back 36lbs.. That part is really really bad .. I hope he can help me out.. I think he did not give me too much information because he is going to see what the test shows.. He is a great doctor.. I hope he can help me out..  Thanks for the help and support .

Yep, I gained back 55 pounds, but managed to lose about 15, but that is still a 40 pound weight gain.....not goodd. Well, let me know what u find out and I will do the same. Lorri

There is another poster here who is having surgery  to repair her dialated stoma next week or two!  Betsy C is her name. You should talk to her Send Message  This is from her profile! I hope that works! Maybe she can tell you a litte about her procedure or share stories and info.  Good luck, Anita

Yep - Betsy here.  I'm not having surgery, but more like an endoscopic (non-surgical) procedure to place stitches into the stoma that can then be pulled up, kind of like a purse string, to reduce the size of the opening.  It is a clinical trial [RESTORe], but it is no longer enrolling patients.  There is another similar clinical trial called ROSE that is enrolling.  Go to: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00411489?term=nct00411489+AND+TP0165+AND+Endoscopic+Stomach+and+Pouch+Reduction+in+Patients+With+Weight+Regain+Following+Roux-En-Y+Bypass+Surgery&rank=1 Send an email to or call the contact person, Mary Lou Mooney and tell her where you are, and she will give you information about the location closest to you.  Good luck Betsy

Thanks for the info Betsy.. I appreciate all the answers that you can give me.. I hope your procedure goes well... Keep us posted..

Hi Kathy,

Have you heard of Stomaphyx? I don't know a lot about it b/c I have a band, but from what I do know, it's a procedure that's supposed to help correct a situation similar to what you're talking about. It's rather new, so I'm not sure about insurance coverage. But I think it's probably worth looking into

Shawna