Surgery to help a person eat less and loose weight: Gastric bypass
Author: admin // Category: Weight LossWhen the amount of weight that a person has to loose is beyond a certain limit then the person is advised to resort to other methods to assist in loosing weight. The best way obviously is to eat less, however, this is just not possible sometimes because of habitual over eating and the person cannot cut down on food. Overweight is a health hazard and extreme overweight is the most dangerous health problem together with the embarrassment it can cause for the person. Such people become the butt of jokes and are poked fun at.
Get surgical help to eat less
A good way to manage overeating is to undergo surgery which is a gastric bypass. This is a method where the stomach is made smaller and the food bypasses a part of the small intestine which results in lesser calories being absorbed. As the stomach has been made smaller, the food intake is also reduced as the person feels “full” much sooner. So with a smaller stomach and lesser calories being absorbed in the lower intestine, the overall caloric absorption is drastically reduced.
A popular method of bypass surgery
The most popular and common surgery for effective weight reduction is the gastric bypass Roux-en-Y surgery. The method used for this surgery is by reducing the size of the stomach. A part of the stomach is stapled together with surgical staples or the use of a band made of plastic. This part of the stomach makes a pouch at the upper end of the stomach. The remaining portion of the stomach, which is much smaller, is then connected to the jejunum. This leaves the duodenum and the remaining area of the stomach bypassed for food absorption. Normally the food would have gone through the stomach to the small intestines and then to the large intestines.
What does this surgery involve?
The whole procedure is simplified with laparoscopic surgery, where a camera guides the small instruments into a hole in the stomach to complete the surgery with a minor amount of incision in the abdomen. Sometimes a large incision is made and the procedure is called an open surgery one.
Post surgery the patient would have to remain in the hospital for at least 4 to 6 days for the open surgery and for a laparoscopic surgery for just 2 to 3 days. In 3 to 5 weeks most people can go back to their normal routine.
Some symptoms to look out for
As the food moves faster than normal from the stomach to the intestines, this could cause diarrhea, fainting sensation, nausea, sweating and weakness immediately after a meal. These symptoms are called a duping syndrome. Eating foods which are rich and have a high caloric content will make these symptoms worse. Lying down for a while until the symptoms pass off will help.
When is this surgery recommended?
This kind of surgery is recommended only if the BMI is over 40. Other factors which allow a gastric bypass with this high body mass index is if the person has tried for at least 5 years and not been successful in loosing weight; if the person does not have an alcohol problem, depression which is not being treated or any other psychiatric disorder or the person should be between the ages of 18 and 65.
Tags: Weight Loss