A lot of people that are morbidly obese elect to have a gastric bypass surgery. But this surgery does not come without at least a few risks that you should be aware of. I’d like to point some of these out.
One of the dangers is Dumping Syndrome which is where the food doesn’t digest anymore, but just right on through you, and can cause cramps, diarrhea, and the person to feel very unwell. This is one of the things you should be aware of before having gastric bypass surgery.
There is another danger known as Anastomotic leakage. This can be very dangerous since what happens is if the stomach and bowel are not sealed tightly enough so that there is no leakage, then a leakage will occur. What happens is that the fluid off from the intestines will leak out into the stomach. The person can then develop some serious infections and will probably need hospitalization to get rid of it. Abcesses can also come up from this problem.
There is also a type of stricture that can form known as anastomotic. This is due to the scar tissue growing back too much, and causing a hole so tiny, that the body will no longer have proper nourishment and starve. If this complication happens between the stomach and the bowel, then a procedure known as gastroendoscopy will need doing where the surgeon will place a balloon where the connecting link is between stomach and bowel to open it so food and nourishment can go through.
Since your stomach is obviously made much smaller, and can now only hold small portions of foods, you may find that you are lacking nutrients. people that have had gastric bypass surgery in the past, have found that they are lacking in vitamin B12, iron, protein, and also the very important calcium needed for bone health. The absorption of these nutrients fails after this surgery many times, and as a result, you become undernourished and other medical conditions can result from lack of these vitamins. And the other drawback is, the essential vitamin D that is so needed by the body may fail to absorb too.
If your lines of staples break after this surgery, you run the risk of stomach ulcers which can bleed if not treated promptly, and gallstones too, which often cause pains.
This is the reason why when considering having gastric bypass surgery, you should think carefully and whether the benefits will outweigh the risks. Sometimes it is better to lose weight by trying to reduce food intake, and do it slowly. In gastric bypass surgery, if you don’t follow all of the guidelines for eating properly after having this done, this is most commonly when the complications I mentioned can set in. Weight can also come back a few years if you are not careful enough with your dietary regime.
