As you explore your options for Bariatric surgery, you should also take the time to learn about the expectations and living with Bariatric surgery. There is a point you reach that causes you to realize you need to do something drastically different.
- Your body is being hurt by your weight.
- Also, your joints are being stressed and pulled out of shape.
- Your heart is being overworked as are your other organs as your body struggles with obesity.
You’ve attempted to diet, but even when you’ve had some success, it’s never been enough, and it’s always been too slow. Your body can’t weight wait anymore to find relief. You need to do something about your weight now, you should know more about living with Bariatric surgery.
What To Expect from Bariatric Surgery?
Weight loss surgery is not a quick fix and it is not a diet or exercise program you can abandon when you get tired of it.
Instead, Bariatric surgery will help you lose weight over time, slowly. You definitely must make a firm commitment to change your diet and lifestyle forever – not just a few months or a couple of years.Many people who have obesity surgery or restorative weight loss surgery, are prepared to show physical signs of change, but often are not prepared for other changes that will take place.
Bypass patients often experience a whole new outlook on life—as they begin to lose a large amount of weight, they look at themselves differently and they look at those around them differently as well. In most cases, these are all good changes—you will get a boost in your confidence and self esteem, but it can be bad as well. A person that has always been heavy may suddenly find that they attract more attention once they start losing weight. This may be a change that some people find uncomfortable.
People also may change how they act around you and how they interact with you, whether intentional or not. They may be careful about offering you food or stop inviting seek you out more than they did because they find your surgery a fascinating topic of discussion. These are changes that often happen that you need to think about.
You must bear in mind that the Bariatric surgery itself will not change you…
Your entire outlook on exercise, food and life in general will start to change. More often, you will find that you are changing for the better. Your quality of life will start to improve and you will find that you are capable of doing things you shied away from before.
When you realize that losing the weight may not be all you have to do after the Bariatric surgery, you should consider what else will need to be done and how to live after surgery. You know that you will have to carefully follow the post surgical instructions and carefully monitor what you eat and how much you eat. You know that your attitudes and behavior will change.
Living with Bariatric surgery
Bariatric surgery has been around longer than most people realize. It’s actually been practiced in one form or another since then ’50′s in the U.S. Bariatric surgery simply wasn’t the most common treatment for obesity until the late 90′s. The number of people getting the surgery increases every day. In 2007 over 200,000 had Bariatric surgery as a treatment for their weight problem.
There’s good reason for the popularity of Bariatric surgery since it can help patients see a dramatic weight loss and a change in their lives. Bariatric surgery works in three ways.
It restricts the amount of food your stomach can hold and preventing your digestive system from absorbing all the calories from the food you’ve eaten. The third way is a combination of the first two.
Bariatric Surgery can entail one of many techniques. Gastric banding and Gastroplasty are both very common types of surgery, which restrict what the stomach can hold at one time. In both surgeries a very small part of the stomach is partitioned off to make a pouch at the end of the esophagus capable of holding the capacity of a shot glass. This partitioned off pouch fills up quickly, then empties slowly into a narrow opening to the larger part of the stomach.
When the Bariatric surgery involves banding this sectioning off of a portion is done by placing a band around the top end of the stomach.
In Gastroplasty the method is done by “stapling” a section of the stomach and placing a band around the opening between the created pouch and stomach.
These methods have proven to be faster than most weight loss aids and very effective in most cases.
Bariatric Surgery Complications
Bariatric surgery is a procedure over 140,000 people has each year to help with weight loss. A major surgery has risks and complications.
To help reduce the risk of complications, patients are requested to stop smoking and trying to lose weight prior to surgery. The risks are often results from patients not following the instructions of the surgeon.
The risks and complications include:
- Conversion to open procedure
- Pulmonary embolism
- Gastrointestinal track leakage
- Bowel obstruction
- Bleeding
- Ulcer
- Gallstones
- Stricture
- Infections
- Complications from anesthesia
- Low blood sugar
- Depression
- Abdominal pain
- Chronic symptoms of nausea, vomiting
- Protein deficiency
- Mineral and vitamin deficiency
- Nerve problems
- Kidney stones
- Kidney failure
- Body image issues.
Risk of Death
The risk of death is about 1 out of 300 patients and usually contributed to heart or lung disease as well as pulmonary embolism or gastrointestinal track leakage. The people with high body mass index rates, male patients, and patients with severe medical conditions are the highest risks for death. Pulmonary embolism is a blood clot in the leg that travels to the lungs with most patients experiencing shorting of breath or chest pains while other patients die suddenly. The risk of this happening is 1 out of 100 patients. To help reduce the risks, a blood thinner is prescribed with compression stockings used while the patient is in the hospital. To further reduce the risks, patients are encouraged to walk soon after surgery.
Risk 0f Gastrointestinal track leakage
Gastrointestinal tract leakage occurs when the intestines and stomach are stapled or incompletely connected, allowing the contents of the intestine to empty into the stomach areas resulting in serious infections. This risk occurs in only 1% of all patients. Leaks occur during the first two weeks after surgery, with symptoms including a racing heart, abdominal pain, fever, and shortness of breath. Switching to the open procedure occurs in less than 1 in 200 patients with hyperlipidemia. Intestinal obstruction or blockage is caused by scar tissue in the stomach or twisted intestine. It occurs in less than 4% of patients. As with any major surgery, the surgeon and doctor monitor the patient for possible complications. When someone notices or suspects that something is wrong, they should immediately contact their doctor. So you should know all the risks with and more info about living with Bariatric surgery
Bariatric Surgery Diet
For living with Bariatric surgery, you should now that Bariatric surgery has a special diet for the individuals that had surgery. They need to eat pureed and liquids for the first 12 weeks to allow their stomach time to heal. They are restricted to a clear liquid diet that includes broths, sugar-free jello, and diluted fruit juices. The diet is to refrain from sugary or caffeine foods and liquids.
The next phase of the diet consists of introducing pureed foods for the following two weeks without any sugar additives. This allows the body to slowly introduce solid foods to the digestive tract. Some of the foods allowed in this phase include cream of wheat, skim milk, creamy soup, pureed fruit and none acidic vegetables, and protein drinks as mashed potatoes with a bland gravy.
Slowly adding more solid foods is allowed, but only in small quantities to reduce the risks of nausea or vomiting due to the heaviness of the foods. The stomach has been altered to the state of limited space. So, overeating can result in temporary sickness or feeling ill.
The diet is to consist of high protein and low carbohydrates with a multivitamin. The body will need the special nutrition to avoid becoming malnourished. Adding a multivitamin as a daily ritual after surgery is highly recommended for the future to aid in a healthier level of nutrition.
The post surgery Bariatric diet is similar to diets consisting of most foods that can be pureed in a blender or the consistency of baby food.
Homemade foods can be easily created in tasty manners.
Instructions for eating after surgery:
It is recommended to avoid hot or spicy foods or additives. Allowing the stomach to not only heal, but to adjust to the new introduction to foods is the most crucial aspect of the post surgery diet. Avoid over eating that may damage the surgical procedure.
The portion size of the meals is considerably reduced so eating more often is essential to the adjustment after surgery. It is important to realize the stomach size has been drastically reduced. The serving size of meals is only a few ounces, which also includes any liquids consumed. Generally, a few bites of food will become the typical meal for patients of Bariatric surgery.
What To Eat After weight loss Surgery?
One thing that keeps many people who need to lose weight from getting the weight loss surgery is fear of what happens after Bariatric surgery.
What happens after Bariatric surgery is of course up to the individual involved and the effort that is put into loosing the weight and keeping it off. But the statistics say most lose at least their goal weight and keep it off for a long time.
- Will they feel very sick and run down with no energy?
- Are they miss their favorite foods?
- Will they have excess skin folds when the weight drops?
- Will they gain the weight back?
After Bariatric surgery is initially completed a patient is restricted to a clear liquid diet. This liquid diet can include clear broth or diluted fruit juices and sugar-free gelatin.
This initial diet needs to continue until the gastrointestinal tract is recovered enough from surgery to hold food.
The next diet includes blended or pureed sugar-free diet items such as:
- Skimmed milk
- Cream of wheat
- Cream soup
- Pureed fruit and even small amounts of mashed potatoes with gravy.
It’s very important to keep small amounts of food, but this is made easier by the surgery itself.
Overeating stops because the capacity of the stomach causes nausea and even vomiting if the diet restrictions are exceeded. As more foods are introduced it’s important to not overeat and still maintain as good a nutritional intake as possible.
Is it necessary for me to take vitamin supplements?
You are free to do so. Three little meals a day may not be enough to get essential vitamins. Your surgeon will assess if you are getting enough vitamin B12, folic acid, and iron at your routine checkups. Supplements may be recommended by your surgeon.
Often doctors will recommend a daily Bariatric multivitamin after surgery to keep up energy levels. Studies have shown that after Bariatric surgery taking probiotics or the “good” bacteria in yogurts and supplements can help with weight loss. Probiotics can improve functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and help Bariatric surgery patients lose weight faster.
It’s not a bad idea to begin saving for plastic surgery even before having the Bariatric procedure. Because of the quick loss occurring after Bariatric surgery removal of excess skin is usually needed. Insurance companies will probably not be a help. But saving up and choosing a good plastic surgeon specializing in body lifts is a good way to maintain a positive body image.
It should be remembered that despite some of the side effects and life changes caused during and after Bariatric surgery this is one of the fastest, effective weight loss measures available. But, firstly you should know more about living with Bariatric surgery
