What can you expect after gastric bypass surgery? Immediately after surgery, for at least eight weeks, you will be required to follow a special eating plan.
This will be planned and discussed with you by our obesity specialist dietitian.
With your stomach pouch reduced to the size of a walnut, you'll need to eat very small meals during the day. In the first six months after surgery, eating too much or too fast may cause vomiting or an intense pain under your breastbone. The amount you can eat gradually increases, but you won't be able to return to your old eating habits.
If you experience any problems after surgery it is important that you contact us directly as soon as possible. You will be given contact details for us on your discharge from hospital. There are a number of other things that you will also need to consider:
As in all treatments for obesity, successful results will depend on your motivation and the actions you take. Our specialists will support you along the way and you will be required to attend regular follow-up appointments for the rest of your life to ensure that your weight loss is maintained and to monitor your general health and wellbeing, as well as to pick up any potential problems early.
All treatments for obesity require a lifestyle change. Our staff will provide you with after-surgery guidance to ensure you maintain your diet and nutrition plans, this will reduce the risk of any problems occurring after surgery and will maximise your weightloss. It is important that you follow our recommendations to manage your diet and stick to the recommended food portions, so that you do not experience any unpleasant side effects. Our dietitian will advise you on how to manage your eating habits.
If you have had obesity surgery, especially bypass surgery, you will be required to follow a wellbalanced diet and take nutritional supplements and medications for the rest of your life. Some bypass surgery patients develop nutritional deficiencies such as anaemia, osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease – although these can be avoided if a balanced diet and daily vitamin and mineral supplements are taken. Our specialists will closely monitor you to ensure that any potential problems are picked up early.
Our specialists will discuss with you the impacts of surgery with you before a decision about whether to operate is made. You will also have a contact point within the hospital to ensure that any problems you have are dealt with as quickly as possible.
You may experience one or more of the following changes as your body reacts to the rapid weight loss in the first three to six months:
Patients should contact their physician if they experience any of the following:
Physicians monitor gastric bypass patients closely for several years after surgery. Continued attention to weight loss and diet is essential for a successful outcome, and the patient is likely to consult with a registered dietitian or other dietary expert in planning appropriate meals. Patients may participate in support groups or use other methods to help adjust to their new lifestyle.
As people lose weight over the next one to two years they may develop excess skin. These patients may benefit from plastic surgery aimed at correcting the condition.
Weight loss surgery is not a guaranteed cure for obesity or the disabilities that may occur as a result of obesity. Instead, the surgery helps diet and exercise to finally work, by controlling your appetite and making you feel full with smaller amounts of food. Because obesity may have affected your psychological well-being, you will be referred for counseling to help you adjust to life after surgery.
Postoperative dietary changes (including vitamin, mineral , and possibly liquid protein supplementation), exercise, and lifestyle changes should be reinforced by counseling, support groups, and the patient’s family physician.
After gastric bypass surgery, many patients spend two to three days in the hospital, or one to two days for the laparoscopic procedure. On average, most people require two to five weeks of recovery before returning to normal activities. For a number of days, the abdomen will be swollen and sore, and the patient often feels discomfort. Your doctor can prescribe medications to help you manage the discomfort.
Aftercare treatments typically include a dietary plan, regular exercise, behavioral-modification therapy, and vitamin supplements. Your weight loss surgeon might require the use of a dietician, an exercise program, and possibly a psychologist for an extended period of time to assist you in your recovery.
Be sure to arrange to have a ride home from the hospital. As much as you’re looking forward to going home. the trip can be uncomfortable experience. You’ll be dealing with seat belts, the abdominal strain of getting in and out of the car, and the inevitable bumps along the way. You also may feel dizziness and nausea from anesthesia.
If you live near by the hospital, here are some tips to make going home a bit more bearable:
You will need to adjust your diet because of the changes that were made to your stomach during surgery. It is very important to adhere to your surgeon's diet recommendations. Some common recommendations include:
You should also try to eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Insufficient intake of vitamin B-12 will cause you to become fatigued easily.
Before you leave the hospital after surgery, you will be asked to stand up and move around a bit. You will also be directed to try to walk around the house several times throughout each day, over the course of your recovery.
It is important to remember that you will require assistance leaving the hospital and at home for a period of time after surgery. Everyone recovers at a different rate: some people require assistance for a day or so, but others need help for several weeks. The type of assistance you will need includes driving you home from the hospital and driving you for a few days or weeks after that. It also includes meal preparation, medication assistance and dressing.
The type of pain management program you and your surgeon select may also impact the duration and severity of the recovery period. If you receive local anesthesia, you may require less assistance, and for a shorter duration, than if you have general anesthesia or require narcotic pain management.
Patients can usually drive within two weeks after surgery and can return to normal activities within six to eight weeks. These times may vary, depending on the type of surgery, your general health and the type of activities you performed
before surgery.
Your pain management medication might be in the form of a local anesthetic that can be administered in the surgical area, such as around the incision.
You may need narcotic medications to manage your pain. You may also cont inue your maintenance medications, such as for high blood pressure or high cholesterol, but the need for these medications will be monitored, and sometime after surgery your doctor may decide to change them.
Because nutritional deficiencies may occur after certain weight loss surgeries, you may be monitored for low levels of iron, calcium, folate and vitamin B-12, and you may need to take supplements. This pertains specifically to Roux-en-
Y gastric bypass, biliopancreatic diversion and duodenal switch.
If you are a woman of child-bearing age, you may be advised to use birth control for 18 to 24 months postsurgery.
Physicians advise against pregnancy during the period of maximum weight loss, due to intrauterine restrictions and possible nutritional deficiencies. You will be able to get pregnant sooner after surgery if you have a gastric band operation, because weight loss tends to be more gradual, without the risk of nutritional deficiencies.
Regardless of the operation you have, multivitamins with iron, folate and B-12 are imperative during pregnancy.
Your ability to resume pre-surgery levels of activity will vary according to your physical condition, the nature of the activity and the type of weight loss surgery you had. Many patients return to full presurgery levels of activity within six weeks of their morbid obesity procedure. Patients who have had a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure may be able to return to these activities within a few weeks.
It is strongly advised that women of childbearing age use the most effective forms of birth control during the first 16 to 24 months after weight loss surgery. The added demands pregnancy places on your body and the potential for fetal damage make this a most important requirement.
Although the short-term effects of weight loss surgery are well understood, there are stil questions to be answered about the long-term effects on nutrition and body systems. Nutritional deficiencies that occur over the course of many
years will need to be studied. Over time, you will need periodic checks for anemia (low red blood cell count) and Vitamin B12, folate and iron levels.
Follow-up tests will initially be conducted every three to six months or as needed, and then every one to two years.
Follow-up is recommended for life.