How To Tell If You Qualify For Weight Loss Surgery

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

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Are you considering obesity surgery? This is not uncommon for overweight people to consider, among other equally important health questions. Weight loss surgery is possibly the best choice to make if you have been battling an obesity problem for years, especially if previous non-surgical solutions have failed to bring your weight down. In fact, it could also be the best choice for those whose problem is obesity as a result of another medical condition. However, surgery like this should never be taken lightly. There are quite a number of long-term changes that will have to take place in your life after surgery, as well as the risks involved during the surgery itself.

Answer these questions, as they may help you decide if obesity surgery is an appropriate option for you.

* Have you gone through a lot of non-surgical methods to shed off excess pounds but failed?

* Have you performed research to learn what weight loss surgery involves and to become fully aware of the risks and effects?

* Are you fully committed to bettering your health through weigh-loss and follow-up care?

* Are you aware of the lifestyle changes you will go through after your obesity surgery? (Such are the side effects, the need to chew food well prior to swallowing and avoiding large meals.)

* Do you know that there are potential (but rare) complications that might result from the surgery?

* Do you know that you will have to make a lifetime commitment to continue with the suggested vitamin and mineral supplementation, including medical care?

Keep in mind that nothing comes with a guarantee for maintaining weight loss, including weight loss surgery. However, success is highly attainable with cooperation and a commitment to follow-up care and behavioral change, and it must be adhered to for as long as you live.

How would I know if I am a eligible?

Not everyone can have obesity surgery. There are too many variables that will have to be assessed. This includes your motivation, intent to work hard, and lifestyle, especially after the procedure. While this type of surgery has a high success rate, it isn’t a magic formula. The surgery will just be the starting point for long-term results that include lowering your food intake.

Furthermore, those people who are under a serious medical condition or have very limited mobility are more likely to be susceptible during the weight loss surgery. Each patient is given extensive evaluation before they can be considered to undergo the procedure. This is the fact that most people do not know. They think that they can just go to the doctor and schedule for a weight loss surgery, but it doesn’t work that way. There are standard guidelines that a patient must meet before they can be qualified for an obesity surgery.

* Must be 18 years of age or older

* Individuals age 64 and up must have a specific recommendation from their physician. The potential for risks associated with the surgery are higher for those who are in this age, even if there was a pre-surgery examination.

* You should be extremely overweight, 100 pounds for men and 80 pounds for women, in order to become qualified for the surgery.

* Your BMI needs to be 35+, and have a health problem that is directly related to obesity. This could be degenerative joint disease, sleep apnea, heart disease, elevated blood pressure or diabetes.

* If you do not have a weight-related medical problem, your BMI must be over 40.

Will My Appetite Increase After Gastric Bypass Since My Intake Is Lower?

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

Right after obesity surgery, the pouch that is left should hold only about 2 tablespoons or less of food. It’s possible that you don’t have that usual feeling of being full, even if your stomach cannot take anymore. This is why you have to refrain from eating more. However, over time, you will get hungrier and you will be allowed to eat more. Your doctor will advise you that when you get to this point, you still have to measure your food and keep from eating too much.

Avoid Overeating

You can ask yourself the following questions for you to avoid eating too much food after your obesity surgery:

* Do you take tiny bites as you eat?

* Did you chew enough to properly break down your food?

* Does it take you long enough to eat? (It must take you about 25 minutes or longer.)

* Do you stop eating as soon as you feel full?

Being able to answer these questions satisfactorily and according to your doctor’s instructions will help keep your diet in check. It will also be good because you avoid causing any complications to your gastric bypass surgery.

Diet

The following are the foods you must eat after undergoing an obesity surgery.

* Diluted juice and sugar-free Jello

* Water and clear soup

* Full liquids: soy or whey protein powder added to milk, corn soup (low-fat)

* After obesity surgery, you must include pureed foods in your diet

* Fish, chili, ground meat, tofu, peanut butter, refried beans, eggs and other soft foods

* Canned or cooked vegetables and fruits

An individual should introduce pureed foods first after gastric bypass surgery, then a week later add soft solid foods to their diet. Add one new food at a time and make sure the foods you add are high in protein.

Tips for Eating and Drinking

* Never rush when eating. Your stomach opening for food to enter is much smaller after the obesity surgery. Eating slowly will allow the food to gently pass through without blocking the opening. One meal should take at least 30 minutes to consume. However, stop if any of the following happen: you begin to feel full or you cover the recommended quantity. If you overeat by even a teaspoon, you will feel dizzy and nauseated. You will start to also get sleepy but uncomfortable. One trick doctors recommend is to put down your utensils after every bite. It helps you pace yourself and assess your full stomach sensation. Keep in mind that the gastric bypass surgery is just step one to a weight loss program. You will have to assume responsibility for what happens after.

* Chew your food properly: You must chew your food thoroughly, meaning about 25 times per bite or until food feels like applesauce. Remember that your stomach has a very small opening now. Once you had your weight loss surgery, swallowing food that’s not chewed thoroughly will block your pouch and lead to pain, nausea and vomiting.

* Change where you eat: Do not eat food in front of the TV because it might distract you from chewing food thoroughly.

The Importance Of Roux En Y

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

This kind of surgical treatment is used for weight problems reduction. This surgical procedure will certainly restrict foods ingestion, followed by physical limitations in aspect to the compression of meals. Ingestion becomes minimal by means of a small pouch which is created by surgeon.

Staples are generally used to produce the small pouch that is left just big enough to carry a single oz of meals. The bigger part of the stomach will be then remaining the way it was, but realize that all meals begin their own movement through the sufferer’s system by the use of this exceedingly small pouch.

In Roux en Y, the second phase with regards to this kind of method now involves sectioning the small bowel just beneath your duodenum that is actually the very first section of the little bowel. After this your second portion of the little intestine, generally known as the jejunum, could be pulled up to become finally attached to that recently created pouch.

Next the actual duodenum will be reconnected to the innovative intestinal appendage, which will give your bowel a new “Y” type. Because of this very looks, the procedure is known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Since the duodenum’s work will be the first organ where actual chemical substance digestion takes place, it is very crucial that you reroute meals after that so that you can produce weight loss. It’s this that prevents nutrients and calories from getting absorbed.

There will be significant weight loss; nevertheless, an individual needs to be conscious that unfortunately generates issues of its own. Because the duodenum’s job is now so restricted because of the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, nutritional requirements the sufferer once obtained from the food that was eaten no longer could be absorbed by the body.

Thus, since the body will no longer receives various minerals, and most importantly fat-soluble vitamins, this creates an extremely dire need for the patient to be offered a complex list of vitamins to get the remainder of the actual sufferer’s life to be able to avoid complications like health inadequacies, hernias in addition to what is generally known as the “dumping symptoms.”

Dietary insufficiencies caused by Roux-en-Y can easily encompass Wernicke encephalopathy which is caused by a lack of thiamine, also known as B-1, in addition to Hyperparathyroidism, deficiencies in calcium mineral assimilation, iron deficiencies which trigger serious anemia, lack of vitamin B12 leading to neuropathies, thiamine insufficiency which might trigger beriberi, protein malnutrition causing tremendous deficits of muscle mass, as well as Vitamin A insufficiencies.

Unless the individual was presented with laparoscopic surgical procedure, hernias can be a frequent occurrence. A hernia can occur due to the agreements made in the stomach, as well as bowels, thus it may cause intestinal obstruction.

“Dumping Syndrome” refers to the fast intake of sugars which may be consumed by the patient. Since food is no longer regulated to get into your bowel gradually from the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the patient may well show some alarming signs or symptoms including although not limited to serious heart palpitations, cold sweats, and great panic.

Usually the individual will need to even take a nap for a while, after which the patient ordinarily suffers from diarrhea.

Anybody who’s considering getting a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is actually suggested to perform a tremendous level of investigation, and even find a second thoughts and opinions.

The Hypnotic Gastric Band – Weight Loss with Virtual Band Surgery

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

gastric band surgery

Virtual Gastric Band Surgery utilises the power of clinical hypnotherapy to convince your mind that you have a had a gastric band fitted therefore leading to a feeling of fullness far more quickly whilst eating just like having the real procedure. The main plus points of virtual gastric band surgery is that its’ a fraction of the price of bariatric surgerythere are risks assocaited with full blown surgery, none of which apply to virtual banding, including post operative care.

Typically an assessment is made as to your suitability for the virtual procedure. Not all Candidates will be suitable for treatment for a variety of reasons. As with full blown surgery, the virtual band protocol is for patients needing to lose a large amount of weight. You will be in the obese weight category i.e. with a body mass index of 30 and above.

After initially answering questions, both of the therapist and candidate, a full cae history then needs to be taken if both parties wish to progress. This is a very important part of the treatment and gives the Therapist vital information that will make a huge difference to the success of the treatment.

Is there a defined, structured programme out there with licensed practitioners?

Sometimes a Hypnotherapist who is aware of virtual gastric band surgery will conjure up their on ideas and tack them on to existing treatment plans. One system that has requires Clinical Hypnotherapists to be licensed in it’s use and follow a structure protocol. Hypno-Band, a system developed by John MaClean, a highly regarded Clinical Hypnotherapist.

Hypno-Band combines cognitive behaviaral therapy techniques early on in the treatment. This roots out any potential obstacles to treatment by uncovering unhealthy beliefs about food and weight which can be modified into healthy beliefs.

So if you have been thinking about gastric band surgery I wholeheartedly recommend investigating virtual gastric band surgery if you are even remotely considering full blown surgery.

5 Things To Consider Before Putting Off Weight Loss Surgery

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

For many patients gastric bypass surgery is very much a last resort and something to be put off as long a possible while they consider all of their options. Indeed, in most cases patients are helped in this by their doctor who will often insist on a program of diet and exercise before even considering referring a patient to a bariatric surgeon. But is this the right approach?

Aside from the simple fact that almost everybody agrees that exercise and diet programs do not work and are a total waste of time for the vast majority of patients, there is very good evidence to show that putting off surgery is putting patient’s lives at risk.

In a recently published study the records of more than 2,000 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery between 1995 and 2004 in one particular medical center were examined. The team carrying out the study wished to see whether there were any factors which would have predicted the risks faced by these patients before they had surgery and they found 5 things that they believed increased a patient’s risk from surgery.

The first of the five factors was gender with women being at less risk than men. The second factor was having a body mass index of over 50. The third factor was age with people under the age of 45 being at lower risk. The fourth factor was the presence of high blood pressure (hypertension), frequently linked to cardiovascular disease. The final factor was previous evidence of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolus) or a predisposition for this condition.

The researchers went on to award a point for the existence of each factor and divided the study group into those at low, medium and high risk according to their scores. Next, they looked at the death rate for each of these three groups and discovered that the death reate in the low risk group was 0.31%, in the medium risk group it was 1.9% and in the high risk group it was 7.56%.

Of course there is not much you can do about your gender but, as far as the other four factors are concerned, the effect as far as the risks of weight loss surgery are concerned are obvious. Ageing, continuing to gain weight and developing health problems all increase the risks for surgery. So, if you are morbidly obese, you should consider undergoing surgery early and balance the risks of waiting against the possibility of finding a better alternative.

Would You Be Suitable For Lap Band Weight Loss Surgery?

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

There are several forms of weight loss surgery available today including the relatively new surgical procedure of gastric lap banding which is gaining in popularity and is quickly becoming the favorite choice for a significant number of severely overweight or morbidly obese people. But would you make a suitable candidate for gastric lap band surgery?

In providing an answer to this question we will begin by presuming that you are suitable for obesity surgery in general and that your only concern therefore is whether you should consider lap banding. In simple terms this would mean that you are over 18, are severely overweight with a body mass index (BMI) in excess of 40 (or over 35 with one or more co-morbid conditions and that you have already tried traditional weight loss methods (possibly including drug treatment) without success.

It is often assumed that people having weight loss surgery are merely overweight and it is all too easy to forget that people who are severely overweight are often suffering from a variety of other conditions, some of which stem from the fact that they are overweight. It is the existence of these other conditions which normally presents a hurdle when it comes to choosing between different forms of surgery.

As lap banding is a form of restrictive surgery where the stomach is physically reduced in size to limit the quantity of food which can pass through the stomach and digestive system, this form of surgery is unlikely to be suitable if your esophagus, stomach or intestine are abnormal. An abnormality could be either inherited or acquired and a typical problem seen is a narrowing at one or more points along the digestive tract.

Problems within the esophagus or stomach which may result in bleeding (such as esophageal or gastric varices – a dilated vein) would also rule out gastric lap band surgery, as will difficulties at the location at which the band is to be placed around the stomach, such as an injury, scarring or gastric perforation.

Problems may also arise if you are suffering from any form of inflammation or inflammatory condition within the gastrointestinal tract like ulcers, esophagitis or Crohn’s disease.

Finally, lap banding is not considered suitable for pregnant women or for women who are contemplating pregnancy. Where pregnancy happens following lap band surgery the band can be deflated to allow for the higher nutritional requirement however, where loosening the band is not sufficient, the band might have to be removed.

One advantage of lap band weight loss surgery is that the procedure can be reversed and, if it is necessary, the band can be removed returning the stomach to its original state. However, this can also be a disadvantage of the system. Motivation is key to any form of weight loss surgery but becomes a particular issue when it comes to lap band surgery. Should you have any doubt about how determined you are to succeed then this type of surgery may not be a suitable choice for you.

What Should You Expect After Gastric Bypass Surgery?

Posted by: HealthyGirl  /  Category: Weight Loss

Weight loss surgery has been around for well over fifty years now and, although it does carry risks most patients are very happy with the results and enjoy a a vastly improved standard of living. However, there is a price to to be paid and you will need to follow a very different lifestyle following surgery which can be very difficult if you are not prepared for the change.

Some of the post-surgical changes are obvious as the basic principle behind weight loss surgery is to significantly reduce the size of your stomach and to restrict the amount of food which you can eat. This means that the days of enjoying a big meal are gone.

But some of the other consequences of weight loss surgery are less obvious.

As an example, the days of eating foods which are high in sugar or fat even in small quantities are also over. The results of eating foods of this nature can be very unpleasant as rapid absorption in your newly shortened digestive tract can lead to very unpleasant feelings of faintness.

You will also find that the change in your eating pattern leaves you very short of water so that you have to get used to drinking small quantities of water during the day if you are to avoid dehydration.

This is all very well but just what should you expect from obesity surgery in terms of weight loss?

Weight loss will vary from one person to the next but it is important to start by understanding just how post-surgical weight loss is measured.

Here you need to start by calculating just how much excess weight you are carrying and this is done by working out your ideal weight. Working in pounds, for a man this is 106 plus 6 times your height in inches minus 60. For instance, for a man who is 5ft 10ins tall the ideal weight will be 106 + 6 x (70 – 60) which works out at 166 pounds. In the case of a woman the principle is exactly the same but here a women’s ideal weight is 100 plus 5 times her height in inches minus 60.

Therefore, if we take the example of the man above and give him a weight of 366 pounds before surgery then he is carrying 200 pounds in excess weight. We would then measure weight loss in terms of the weight loss as a percentage of excess weight over time. Thus, if after 6 months he has dropped 100 pounds then his weight loss will be 50 percent.

In the majority of cases you should expect to lose approximately 50 percent of your excess weight within 6 months of surgery rising to about 70 percent after one year and to possibly 80 percent after 2 years. For the majority of patients however weight loss will not continue beyond 2 years and some long-term weight gain will be evident. Longer term weight re-gain is generally around 10 to 15 percent of your initial excess weight.

Once again, in general, if you are very overweight you will drop a greater percentage of your excess weight (perhaps as much as 90 to 95 percent) while if you are less overweight you may drop as little as 60 percent in the 2 years following surgery.

You will rarely shed all of your excess weight and are not going to achieve your ideal weight through surgery. For this reason, it is sometimes said that weight loss surgery is not completely successful. Nevertheless the vast majority of patients would not agree with this statement and would say that the change in their quality of life is simply inconceivable. Something that is clearly evident to anyone who has seen the many gastric bypass pictures posted online these days.