Weight Loss Surgery - The Types and The Myths
Not just for the rich and
famous, such as Al Roker and Carnie Wilson, the American Society for Bariatric
Surgery-(ASBS) projects that a record 171,200 weight-loss surgeries were
performed in the U.S. in 2005.
Doctors won't run out of patients anytime soon. At least 10 million
Americans are heavy enough to be eligible for weight-loss surgery, meaning
they're usually 100 pounds or more overweight. There are benefits to this
surgery for those who are very
obese. But
gastric bypass and banding surgeries drastically--and permanently--change the
digestive system.
The
Types of Surgery
Gastric bypass
surgery - This procedure accounts for about 80 percent of
weight-loss surgeries in the U.S.
What's involved
- The digestive system is permanently rerouted; patients are left with a 1-
to 2-tablespoon stomach pouch, created with staples, and food is detoured around
the upper 20 to 60 inches of small intestine. Once performed only as open
surgery, with 8- to 10-inch incisions that are risky for the very obese, gastric
bypass is increasingly performed with a laparoscope, an instrument operated
remotely through four or five small incisions.
The end result - Bypass patients feel
full after eating tiny portions of food, and their shortened intestinal tract
doesn't completely absorb vitamins and minerals. For at least a year after
surgery, patients have "dumping syndrome"--with symptoms that can
include nausea, diarrhea, and dizziness--within minutes of eating cookies or
high-carbohydrate foods.
Adjustable
gastric banding - This surgery is newer on the scene (it has been
approved in the U.S. since 2001), but is the most often performed weight-loss
surgery in the rest of the world.
What's involved - Using a laparoscope,
the surgeon straps an inflatable silicon cuff around the stomach, creating a
small pouch at the top with a restricted opening to the rest.
The end result - The pouch fills
quickly and empties slowly, creating a feeling of fullness. Overfilling of the
stomach causes undigested food to back up into the esophagus, an unpleasant
sensation that patients learn to avoid by eating little at a sitting and chewing
thoroughly. If a patient is losing weight too quickly or too slowly, the doctor
loosens or tightens the cuff by using a syringe to adjust the amount of saline
solution in a port implanted under the skin.
The Myths
WLS (Weight Loss
Surgery) is the easy way out - It is a tool that requires a lot of
work each and everyday for the rest of your life after your surgery. For
success you must adopt a new and healthier lifestyle with better food choices
and becoming more active.
Exercise is a critical part of your post surgery success.
WLS
is a miracle cure for obesity - obesity is a chronic lifelong disease
that there is no cure for. WLS is good solution/tool to help people mange
their weight and get down to a healthy weight. WLS helps people
maintain that weight over the long haul.
WLS
will change your life and make you happy – WLS will change the way
you look, it may change relationships and the way the world looks at you.
All that will not make you happy; how you view the changes in your life and use
the opportunities - that will dictate whether or not you have happiness.