Gastric Bypass Operation

Is the Gastric Bypass Operation for You!

By

Charles Baines

Professor

English 240

April 2007

For the morbidly obese there is a level of desperation that is both psychological and physical. There is often a feeling of having reached a dead end, of being out of hope. The ongoing weariness of bearing the weight becomes depression with a debilitating lack of personal confidence and ongoing accumulation of related illnesses further impact the quality of life. There is a desire to feel healthy, young and vibrant again that cannot happen without intervention. The most extreme medical intervention for those who have failed to loose weight involves gastrointestinal surgeries, which despite complications produce more positives than negative results.

Obesity is the result of a variety of causes. Critics often assume that the overweight populations are all gluttons who lack self-discipline and are extremely lazy. They have every right to believe this and it is true for a large portion of the severely overweight. On just about every city street corner is the burden of a fast food drive through restaurant, tempting both the hungry and emotional eaters where the lines always seems to be full, morning noon or night. However, some people can eat anything any time of the day, as much as they want, without gaining a pound that is reflective of a different metabolism. Researchers agree there are millions of cases in which genetics are the cause of obesity. So, no matter the amount of discipline when exercising or dieting the body mechanics cause it to store the fat. So that regardless of the causes, the epidemic of those who are obese and morbidly obese requires radical interventions.

The most recent of these radical interventions are gastrointestinal surgeries which are increasing in popularity throughout the first-world countries and most especially in the United States where incidents of weight related diseases and other medical complications are at endemic proportions. Even though there are several types of procedures, all have a common goal to assist the patient with weight reduction, which induces a healthier life with a longer expectancy.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease asserts there are three distinct gastrointestinal surgical procedures delineated as restrictive, malabsorptive and combined restrictive/malabsorptive (paragraph 2). A restrictive procedure limits the amount of food to be consumed by reducing the size of the abdomen while a malabsorptive procedure manipulates the gastrointestinal organs to deny the body an ability to absorb certain nutrients from foods. The restrictive/malabsorptive combination, or bariatric, procedure uses both techniques in a variety of combinations.

The most commonly used procedure is the restrictive, or gastric bypass, where the physician targets the abdomen, reducing the size if the stomach to around the size of an egg. This limits the patient's caloric intake and forces the body to begin to burn off excess energy stored as fat while allowing fewer intakes.

The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research in "Gastric Bypass: Is This Weight-loss Surgery For You?" (2006) Supports the use of restrictive procedures, stating

Gastric bypass, which changes the anatomy of your digestive system to limit the amount of food you can eat and digest, is the favored bariatric surgery in the United States. Most surgeons prefer this procedure because it's safer and has fewer complications than other available weight-loss surgeries. It can provide long term consistent weight-loss if accompanied with ongoing behavior changes (paragraph 4).

As medical technology improves and physicians receive more extensive training, researchers generally express that more promising results, speedy recoveries and less evasive measures will continue to provide some significant positive results in both the physical and mental health of patients.

Individual stories have a powerful message to deliver. One of the postings on Homan M.D.s web site (2004) tells that August 1st, 2002 was a new day and a fresh start in life for Denise Kimberg. Her struggle with weight dated back to adolescence. As each year came and passed, she continued to gain more and more excess body weight. The burden of additional stress upon her body, deriving from disproportionate body mass, produced unhealthy conditions including pain and premature illnesses common for most obese patients. She, like the majority of obese patients, complained of aches and pains specifically in the areas of the body's weight bearing, such as the elbows, feet, back, and neck and knee joints. She described her position as "dying a slow death," (paragraph 6). These emotionally charged words express her life before the surgery and emphasize the debilitation of obesity. She describes a life full of depression. She was tortured mentally and also physically by her inability to perform normal daily activities with her family.

She finally decided 'enough was enough' and a drastic change needed to be made. The bariatric surgery was a success so that only six months later an extremely slender and vibrant woman could tell her story and the fact she had already lost one hundred eighty pounds. Denise's achievement is one of many testimonials that illustrate possible successes.

It is essential that candidates understand complications that may occur during or after surgery, which can catapult the level of risk of a patient from moderate to severe. Tracy Shuman, a practicing physician lists in "Weight Loss: Gastric Bypass Operations" (2005) possible symptoms a patient may experience. These include:

Pouch stretching (stomach gets bigger overtime, stretching back to its normal size before surgery).

Band erosion (the band closing off part of the stomach disintegrates).

Breakdown of staple lines (band and staples fall apart, reversing procedure).

Leakage of stomach contents into the abdomen (this is

dangerous because the acid can