pouch test

What is and how do you do a pouch test??

I'm new to this and I haven't had surgery yet, but I did have my consult last week and asked this very question.  I was told that patients used to drink a liquid the day after the surgery and then go for testing to see if it was leaking.........my surgeon says he no longer does this and that they inflate the pouch  intraop with air and irrigate with sterile water where the sutures and staples are  to see if any bubbles appear.  If bubbles appear, there's a leak, if not....you're good to go.  I hope this helps......

There are two pouch "tests" floating around that I am aware of... and neither one of them actually tests your pouch.

One is the cottage cheese "test", where you measure how much cottage cheese you can eat in a specified period of time, and which is supposed to tell you if your pouch has "stretched". Beyond the issue of it being very difficult to stretch the pouch (and easier to stretch the stoma), it is a nonsense "test" because cottage cheese is a slider food, so it is slowly sliding out of the pouch AS you are eating.

The other is the so-called "5 Day Pouch Test". There is an actual website for it that you can find via a Google search. It is, in my opinion, nothing more than a fad diet for RNYers. It reinforces the old diet and deprivation mentality when what we want to be reinforcing are new healthy eating habits. Rather than typing out a bunch of stuff again, here are links to a couple of previous threads about it:

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/4382204/5-Day-Pouch-Test/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/4218793/opinions-on-the-pouch -test/

Lora

Google 5daypouchtest.com and you will see the pouch test.  This takes you back to day 1.  You do like 2 days of liquids, there is different stages.  Its to try to get people to reset their pouch and eat correctly. 

There is also the cottage cheese test and this tells you how big your pouch is. 

You purchase a container of cottage cheese.  You eat it first thing in the morning.  You are supposed to eat fairly quickly until you feel full(less than 5 minutes.  After eating your fill of cottage cheese you will be able to tell how big your stomach is by the amount you ate.

a mature pouch is suppose to hold approximately 5.5 oz but could hold more than that. 


It is very hard for some people to do the pouch test days 1 and 2 because it is all liquids.  You have to also prepare ahead so that you will not get hungry and go off the diet.
 

The morning after surgery I had to have a leak test. I drank contrast while having x-rays taken to be sure there wasn't a leak. No big deal it was easy.

I agree with Lora.  I'm not sure I think either is worth its weight in beans but some people find the tests reassuring.  There's no harm in them.  But, if you are really concerned, a call to the doc is always the best option.  

My surgeon told me that a true pouch test is when they make you drink something (Barium, I think?) and then do an xray or other test to see if there are leaks.  Not sure if that is what you are talking about...I didn't have to have one, but a friend who had the same surgery did. 

I've done the 5 Day Pouch "Test".  I hate calling it that, because as several have pointed out, it doesn't really "test" anything, and your pouch will naturally stretch into a more normal size as you get farther and farther out anyway.

For me, it has worked great a couple of times just as a way to re-set my body/thinking when I feel I've let myself get too dependent on carbs.  It does tend to suggest a diet mentality if you go into it for the (relatively small) weight loss that will accompany it.

The only harm I personally can see with it is if you use it with the intent of losing weight or checking to see if your pouch is really "broken".  True concerns about your pouch should be addressed to your surgeon who can do a real life test to see how big your pouch has gotten if he/she deems it medically necessary.

I wish there were an effective way to disabuse folks of this notion that their pouch has stretched and that is why they are gaining weight.  If anything has stretched that  could impact your loss/maintenance it is much more likely to be your stoma.  And even THAT is fairly difficult to stretch. 

Roughly 99% of the time we have regain it is due to taking in more calories than we expend.  Period.

Oh and edited to add, if you're curious, you can go to:  www.5daypouchtest.com

You made a great point.  I now have a healthy lifestyle, but I also have to, at times, get into the diet mode again.  I do not drive due to vision problems.  That means I may not leave my house for days at a time meaning I am completely sedentary.  The pouch test, or whatever we choose to call it, can help  get us back on track.  I have not had to use it 5 days, but have had to use a modified "pouch test" to help get me back on track and drop a few pounds and help eliminate those horrible carb cravings.