Gastric surgery is one of the most common weight-loss surgeries, in the United States alone about 140,000 procedures are conducted yearly. There are people who have undergone surgery would report about 60% of improvement in their body weight. There are others, who would report as much as 80% of weight loss.

The effects of the surgery would be most felt after a year, where most patients would report to be at their lowest weight. However, there could still be tendencies that the lost weight may be regained especially if the dietary and exercise recommendations are not followed. After all, reducing your food intake is not the only way to lose weight and maintain it.

Gastric bypass is a procedure done to address issues of severe obesity. There are associated conditions with obesity like diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obstructive sleep apnea and the gastroesophageal reflux disease. There are about 80% of patients with hypertension will be off medication significant time after the surgery. The same goes for 90% of diabetic patients who will not be dependent on insulin.

It could even reduce the patients risk of having heart disease and cancer. Because of the weight loss, gastric bypass surgery could help a person improve mobility and flexibility. Gastric bypass surgery could lessen asthma attacks and reducing dependence to medication or inhaler. Arthritis, fatigue, joint pain and shortness of breath due to physical movements are also reduced by weight loss brought by surgery.

Being extremely overweight could have significant effect on the bladder and other organs of the body. They get too much pressure increasing stress incontinence. It could also cause hormonal problems which could lead to infertility. There are studies showing that after undergoing the bypass, 90% of infertility is restored.

Because of the weight-loss, there are patients who claimed that they increased their confidence and well-being is improved. There are studies showing that those who have undergone surgery would usually experience depression and anxiety. Counselling and support would help the individual to recover and the psychological effects could be lessened or could disappear.

The National Institute of Health, said that patients who have undergone bypass showed dramatic and sustained improvements in how they live their lives. They were able to go beyond the results of weight loss and improve their over-all life. They have higher self- esteem and higher energy levels after the surgery.

For example, gastric bypass surgeries that have been performed to obese teens were able to improve the quality of life within six months, some studies say. Aside from weight loss, their health improves and starts to become appropriate for their age. They were also able to socialize better and deal with peer pressure.

However, it is important to understand that aside from the numerous benefits you can get from gastric bypass surgeries, there are also risks just like any other medical intervention or surgery. Morbidly obese patients have higher risks in surgeries compared with those who are not morbidly obese. It is important to weigh our options before we proceed to any procedure.

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It’s been quite noticeable in some celebrities: the sudden weight loss and return to a svelte figure is often touted to the result of liposuction or a lot of dedication in the gym. But there are some celebrities that have gone that extra mile and had a gastric bypass. That may sound like some sort of heavy surgical procedure but it’s actually one of the more easy to handle weight-loss surgeries.

Getting a gastric bypass is a pretty simple process you just have to go to your local hospital and consult with a surgeon. They obviously won’t just let you have one willy-nilly, of course, there are several guidelines that limit the administering of a gastric bypass procedure to someone. The main things that restrict any prospective recepient of the procedure are the following: the patient must have been obese for more than five years, the patient must also not have a history of alcoholism and psychological disorders.

Finally, the person should not be younger than eighteen years old and no older than sixty-five years old. If you fit all of these categories, you’ll also be judged if you have exhausted all other weight-loss measures for yourself. This is because it may be one of the safer surgeries that can be done, a gastric bypass is still a major operation and cannot be taken lightly.

If you do pass all of these tests, then you’ll be up for the procedure. Here’s a simple explanation of it: it is essentially, having your stomach capacity lessened and making your digestive tract skip a part of your small intestine. To go into the nitty-gritty of it, the procedure creates a small pouch in the upper part of your stomach, usually via surgical staples or a plastic band. This stomach pouch is usually small it can get to the size a walnut for some procedures. After this pouch is created, the middle of your small intestine, the jejunum, is connected to it. This means your food will skip the main part of your stomach and your duodenum, the upper portion of your small intestine. The result is lower stomach capacity and a lower calorie intake. You will be able to satisfy your appetite more quickly and have less calories inside your system, creating a consistent and quick weight loss for you until your body has adapted to it.

It may sound easy but still it’s a long road after a gastric bypass. After the four-hour operation you will be under observation for the next few days, while being limited to liquids only so that your stomach can heal. After five days you can be released from the hospital but your ordeal won’t end there. For the next twelve weeks, you will be following a diet that will slowly progress you from liquids to solids, getting you new stomach used to the strain.

Even then, you will have to deal with some of the side-effects your whole life lower energy intake can be detrimental to your health, while over-eating can cause you to vomit or feel great pain, so a gastric bypass should be a last resort for anyone who’s suffering from obesity.

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Getting a gastric bypass seems to have become somewhat of a choice these days. Nowadays, there’s an increasing desire for that perfect body. Images of slim, toned bodies bombard us daily on every media outlet. The thing is, having that perfect body won’t just help you catch the eyes of everyone but also help out your health big-time. Obesity is more than just being overweight it has incredible detrimental effects on your life and weight problems can cause your body trouble down the line. Some of the diseases associated with obesity are: diabetes, hypertension, migraines, and a dozen other liver and heart diseases.

There are a lot of ways to shed all of those unwanted pounds: dieting and exercise are probably two of the simplest and easisest ways to do so. Those two choices only require an investment of some time and discipline to get you to a fighting trim. Unfortunately, sometimes people don’t have the time to do so, or are suffering from conditions that make exercise or dieting a bit of a no-no or, at worst, make these approaches totally ineffectual. So, if you’ve been failed by these options, what are the choices that you have left? Well, there’s surgery.

When we think of weight-loss surgery, we usually think of liposuctions. That would be a complete misrepresentation of the process. Weight-loss surgery is a lot different from weight-reduction surgery, which is what liposuction is liposuction is actually not even actual surgery. Operations or procedures that reduce weight do only a temporary reduction of your body weight while weight-loss surgery aims to make changes in your body that would make weight loss a possibility and something that can be maintained. A gastric bypass can do this, as long as it is combined with behavioral changes.

What exactly happens during a gastric bypass? Well, in simple terms, a doctor finds a way for your stomach to be made smaller. The complicated explanation is that a doctor creates a small pouch for you near the opening of your stomach and connects that pouch directly to your small intestine essentially making your food skip over a large part of your stomach and small intestine. This makes it so that you don’t absorb that much calories from your food, and it also makes your stomach hold a lot less food. Less calories and smaller intakes are what essentially drives you to lose weight after a gastric bypass. After the procedure, you’ll be in the hospital for three to five days, though there are some variations of the procedure that make that already short stay, even shorter.

Sounds all right doesn’t it? However, like all surgeries, it is still a major surgical operation that can affect the way you live. It should not be understaken unless it has been fully considered. You won’t be eating anything for three days after the surgery and you’ll be on a strict diet afterwards eating too much will literally hurt you. Your body adjusting to the lower energy intake also takes its toll.

A gastric bypass is not a miracle cure-all but it can help a lot. So think long and hard before you do it.

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Obesity is worldwide problem. There are millions worldwide who are suffering from this disease. In the United States, there are about 12.5 million children and adolescents who are overweight. Children are also suffering from the diseases associated with obesity and disease traditionally seen only in older people, like diabetes and heart disease. Because of these health problems, they are looking for weight-loss options and gastric bypass surgery is one of them.

Gastric bypass surgery is not the popular among the young population though. About 1% of those who undergo the procedure are teens according to the survey reported in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in March 2007. There is a relative increase on the number of teens undergoing the procedure, but still remains unpopular or uncommon.

Sadly, obese children think that they are living a kind of life like those who have cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, according to the survey done by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Teens suffering from obesity would deal with being teased, socially not accepted, and unable to participate in social activities.

Not all obese teens are recommended to undergo gastric bypass surgery. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2004, there are guidelines that should be considered before a teen or an adolescent is recommended for gastric bypass or any weight-loss surgery:

Failed to lose weight by any organized attempt of weight management for the last six or more months, with an assistance of a doctor.

Have reached a physiological and skeletal maturity. Adolescents that have reached an age (or older) of 13 years old for girls and 15 years old for boys have reached this level of maturity.

Has a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 associated with severe obesity-related problems. Has body mass index of more than 50 even though there are no serious obesity-related problems.

There are medical and physiological examinations and evaluations performed before the surgery, the teen undergoing that should be prepared to handle these evaluations.

In general, those who have undergone gastric bypass surgery are advised to avoid pregnancy at least two years after the surgery. This is to avoid any complications and increasing risk to the fetus because of drastic weight loss. Anybody, not only teens, should be aware and agree on this.

Prepared to follow strict dietary regulations after the surgery. There is a strict diet that patients should follow like low sugar, low fat, low-carbohydrates, and low-calories meal plans.

Have a supportive environment. Because of the dramatic change in their lifestyle, teens should have supportive family environment that will be able to guide them to the different changes. Often times, there are patients of weight loss surgeries who would suffer from different physiological and psychological side-effects, like depression. Families should be prepared in helping their children through these stages.

There are doctors who would say that conducting gastric bypass or other bariatric surgery on teen-agers are safer than conducting the procedure with adults. Teens have not developed any case of obesity-related problems like high blood pressure and heart disease which are common among adults and also increases the risks of surgeries. Teens also heal faster and required less time spent in the hospital.

There are many benefits by undergoing gastric bypass and weight-loss surgeries. Some patients would even report losing 5% of their weight within the first month and about 50 to 60% within a year. Associated obesity related problems are also reduced by having the surgery. However, not everybody is recommended to undergo the procedure.

Even a teen is required to have be able to make sound decisions, before undergoing surgery. Afterall, maturity does not come with age.

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