Could A Gastric Bypass Turn Your Life Around This Year?

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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If you are severely overweight and have reached the point at which you feel that your weight is literally ruining your life then you may well be seriously considering having a gastric bypass. But is gastric bypass surgery really the answer to your problem? To answer this you need to split this question down into 4 parts:

1. Do you know exactly what a gastric bypass is?

In simple terms gastric bypass surgery reduces the size of the stomach and bypasses part of the intestine so that you are physically restricted from eating too much and are unable to absorb as many calories as your food passes through the now shortened digestive system. We are talking here therefore about a major surgical procedure which will have a significant effect on your body for years to come.

2. Do you fall into the category of those suitable for this procedure?

Although this is becoming an increasingly popular procedure which is often talked about as if it should be a normal everyday event, this is in reality a very serious operation which is designed to meet an equally serious problem. In general you will not be considered ...
... a suitable candidate for surgery unless you are considerably overweight with a body mass index of at least 40. If however you are also suffering from serious health problems which are directly related to your weight then you may exceptionally be considered as a suitable candidate even though your body mass index in below 40.

3. Do you understand the benefits of this form of surgery?

The benefits of gastric bypass surgery can come quickly with the loss of perhaps a third of your body weight within as little as one or two years. Along with the loss of weight you will often also see the disappearance of (or a vast improvement in) a number of weight related conditions including high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. Indeed you could well find that if you are currently taking a mass of daily medication for these and other conditions that you will be able to stop taking some of these altogether.

You may well also find that your emotional state improves significantly, that a whole new social world opens up for you and that the fun literally comes back into your life.

4. Do you understand the risks involved in gastric bypass surgery?

With any form of major surgery there are inevitably risks and the gastric bypass is no exception. The risks will vary from one individual to the next and this is one area that you must explore in detail with your own doctor.

In general however the risks will include everything from bleeding to infection and, in rare cases, to death.

But the risks are not only directly associated with the surgery itself, but are also seen in the post operative weeks, months and years.

You may for example suffer from a range of nutritional deficiencies which will need ongoing treatment, often with a lifelong need to control your diet carefully and to take vitamin and mineral supplements.

In addition, you may find that it is very difficult to keep the weight off once you have lost it and it is not uncommon for weight loss patients to overeat, expand their reduced stomach and start to regain much if not all of their lost weight.

So should you have a gastric bypass?

The gastric bypass is not in itself the solution to the problem of obesity, but it can be an extremely effective starting point to turn your life around and set you on the path to a new thinner you and a lifestyle that you thought you had lost forever and would never see again.