How Could You Tell If Your Staple Line Broke

I just had surgery Tuesday and I"m terrified that I'm going to drink too much or do something wrong and "break" my staple line. I couldn't find anything that listed symptoms. Does anyone know?

Evidence of respiratory distress and tachycardia exceeding 120 beats per min may be the most useful clinical indicators of leak after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. I promise you are ot going to bust anything. Do not deprive your body of what it needs to heal fearing you are going to bust a staple. They are in the pretty darn tight. You would get VERY  sick, Very Fast if you were to bust one. or one was to come lose. It's all so new now, but everything falls right into place. Just calm down & enjoy the ride. It can get bumpy at times, but it all evens out. Hugs, Terri

Sweetie it's darn near impossible to drink too much and break your staple line.  Think of your tummy as a funnel.  Liquids are going to pass through pretty quickly.  As long as you measure your foods the first few weeks, you should be fine.  If it starts to be VERY painful and or you're running a fever, call your surgeon.  I think we all worry that we'll break our staple line.  I know I did.  My surgeon explained that they do a double row and just to follow his dietary instructions and I would be ok.  I was.  Holler if you have other questions and good luck.

I'm just in here to say Calm down.... Chill out... All will be okay... Sending you my love and well wishes, Codediva!

I have not had the surgery but I was a surgical technologist for 15 years.  If your staple line breaks you will be very very sick.  Stomach contents and possibly intestinal contents will spill into your abdomen and you will become very ill fairly quickly.  You will definitely know if that happens your body will let you know with the pain, nausea, and fever. Yes it does happen but I don't think drinking water will cause it.  The staple lines are checked and you should have had a leak test before you left the hospital. Best of luck and quit worrying.  You are not going to break your staple line.

Don't panic. I just had surgery on oct. 8 and i went thru the same thing.  Just drink  about 4-6 oz an hour.  i drank 16 oz of broth and 6 oz of a protein shake at one time because i thought i was supposed to feel full but your not.  its liquids.  and your nerves and body are still healing from the surgery.  still i am 2 weeks post op and i still don't feel full yet but thanks to this web site i understand my surgery after feelings a lot better.  any questions or concerns you have no matter how silly you think they are ask and post here and to your doctor.  this is your new life and its ok not to understand everything feeling.  keep up the good work and remember in the beginning it is mainly in your head.  the hungry feeling, did i stretch out my pouch or bust it open.  i did the same thing.  i even questioned if i did the right thing.  then i went to my 1 week post op appt. and lost 20lbs.  i walked up all the stairs at the movie theater and i wasn't out of breath.  It is an amazing feeling.

As someone that actually HAD a leak, I feel fairly comfortable speaking on this.

I was fine for 8 days... PERFECTLY FINE. Sipping and moving on to puree'd food. I was turning out to be the model patient. Very little pain medication was needed until......

On the 9th day, I woke up in PAIN
HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PAIN
Nausea... which I had not experienced at all.
No fever until I had been admitted and in the hospital for 24 hrs.

I had a pinhole leak at the juncture of my pouch and small intestine. The staples did not fail, per say. The tissue lost blood supply, the tissue around the staples died, THEN the staples came undone. A VERY odd complication.. but it happened.
So you see, there isn't much YOU will do to cause a staple line failure.
Follow the directions your doctor gave you. Follow them to a "T."
You'll be fine.
BUT---if you develop a fever, have pain that is unmanageable with the medicaiton you were prescribed or you are vomiting and nothing is staying down... THEN call your doc.. and head for the ER.