Info on the Pyloric Valve

Apr 01, 2014

There is a gradual return to the new normal of 2-3 ounces stomach volume for me at 3 weeks, much better than the first week of surgery. I've been doing some research on the Pyloric valve and advanced to a soft diet now. No drinking fluids with meals has been hard for me and I wanted to understand why, so here we go!

Now for the anatomy and physiology lesson: the Pyloric Valve and how it pertains to my revised stomach after the VSG. Not sure, but if you did not have the sleeve surgery, what follows may need some further discussion with your surgeon.

The function of your Pyloric valve is part of understanding how and when you should eat and drink following gastric sleeve surgery: it is a valve that is located at the bottom of your stomach/sleeve. This valve is in between your sleeve and the lower intestine. When open this valve it is about the diameter of a dime, when closed it’s about the diameter of the head of a ballpoint pen. Dense proteins and harder to digest foods will cause the Pyloric valve to close to hold the food in your stomach for pre-digestion...... stomach acids breaking down food. That’s why we are told to eat dense proteins first.....In order to close the Pyloric Valve so food stays in your stomach/sleeve longer and we get a sense of hunger relief and satisfaction. It takes about 30-60 minutes for the food to clear the Pyloric Valve. After that it’s OK to drink.

That is also where the term slider food comes into play. A slider food does not close the Pyloric Valve and as the term is intended.....food slides right past an open Pyloric Valve. IF you eat apple sauce and drink water on top of the apple sauce to dilute it... the diluted apple sauce runs through faster.

Now for the top of the stomach. The esophageal sphincter (valve) is at the entry into the stomach and works like a flapper valve. The function of these two valves is to hold food, bile and stomach acids in your stomach and the esophageal sphincter keeps food from not backing up into your esophagus (source of esophageal reflux pain or burning for some people when not working) or into the air way (aspiration pneumonia). This is a very high pressure system. Burning pain at night is usually caused by esophageal reflux and can be relieved by elevating the head of the bed.

A gastric sleeve empties faster than a unaltered full size stomach so sometimes it’s beneficial for you to learn what foods stay in your sleeve longer to extend satisfaction. Dense proteins are #1 in closing the Pyloric Valve. Chicken, steak, pork, fish.... other foods that are hard to digest and help close the Pyloric Valve are foods like: Broccoli Stalk Asparagus Celery Cucumber with Skin Radish Cabbage (I’m not testing this right now).

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