Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric bypass is one of the most highly publicized restrictive procedures for weight loss. This daily mention of the surgery makes it seem pretty routine but when you actually understand the surgery, you will realize that it is an invasive procedure that has long-lasting medical ramifications.

What is Gastric Bypass Surgery?

During gastric bypass surgery the stomach is stapled so that the top portion forms a small pouch with no access to the bottom, larger portion. The intestines are then cut and the part of the intestine no longer connected to the stomach is attached to the small pouch that has been formed at the top of the stomach. The remaining portion of small intestine is reattached to a lower part of your intestines.

Because of this, your small stomach pouch—the only part of your stomach that can accept and hold food—sends its broken down food and nutrients into your modified intestines where they now spend less time being absorbed by your small intestines.

Benefits of Gastric Bypass Surgery

• Having gastric bypass surgery can result in improved sleep apnea.
• The weight loss after gastric bypass can result in improved symptoms from obesity related diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes.
• People who have gastric bypass experience better long term weight loss results than obtained with traditional diet and exercise.
• You can enjoy fewer symptoms of gastric reflux and less osteoarthritis pain after surgery and weight loss.

Drawbacks of Gastric Bypass Surgery

• If you do not eat properly after the surgery you may experience dumping, which can occur when simple carbohydrates like sugar are consumed. Because simple carbohydrates are so easy to digest they are dumped into the digestive system too quickly and can result in sweating, discomfort, diarrhea and cramping.
• Gastric bypass infrequently results in bleeding, infection, pulmonary embolism, scarring in the stomach, hernia and death as a result of surgery.
• You may be at risk for nutritional mal-absorption and will need to take supplements daily.
• Surgery is reversible, but not often encouraged.
• You could have frequent bouts of gas and increased bowel movements.
• There is no guarantee that you will not gain the weight back.

The next step is to compare all the benefits and drawbacks of gastric bypass surgery and gastric band surgery with those of the duodenal switch. It is important to remember that every weight loss surgery will have some drawbacks, but often the benefits of weight loss surgery far outweigh the drawbacks of the surgery.