Losing Weight With Gastric Bypass Surgery
Gastric bypass surgery involves stapling the stomach to make it smaller and reattaching the small intestine to go around a portion responsible for the majority of calorie and nutrient absorption. This procedure uses 'malabsorption' for weight loss.
The procedure is merely available to the morbidly obese (more than 100 pounds overweight) who have been obese for more than 5 years and shown a concentrated effort to lose their excess weight through non surgical methods such as diet and exercise.
Surgery in any form is dangerous and gastric bypass surgery can have some huge complications that you should know the risks of. Complications of gastric bypass surgery include infection, leaking of the stomach consequent from a failed staple, respiratory problems, and hernias. The most life-threatening of these is a gastrointestinal leak that prevails in 1 out of 20 cases. The resulting infection, if not caught promptly and treated accurately, can be fateful. A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington found that 1 in 50 people die within one month of having gastric bypass surgery, and that figure jumps nearly five-fold if the surgeon is inexperienced.
When considering this, remember that gastric bypass surgery patients are already in a very insalubrious state and their bodies are not in a condition to fight off serious infections that do sometimes occur even in routine surgery.
The risk of complications of this surgery must be weighed against the risks of living morbidly obese, which is a deadly state of health that will eventually result in severe disabilities and early death. When you get to the point of considering this surgery, the feeling of desperately needing help is understood. Do your due diligence and find the very best Doctor for you. Never, settle or become shy in seeking out an experienced and reputable physician for one of the most important and serious decisions of your life.
