Weight Loss Operations
Weight Loss Operations: Last Resort or Easy Option?
‘The number of Britons undergoing drastic stomach surgery to treat obesity will have to soar in the coming years because it will be the only way that many people are able to maintain the weight loss necessary for a healthy life, scientists have said.
…”Once you start losing weight by decreasing calorie intake, your body interprets this as starvation and goes into emergency status, fighting to lay down fat deposits where possible,” explained Rachel Batterham of University College London. “Therefore you are fighting against your body when losing weight.”
Dr Batterham added: “Surgery is currently the only effective treatment for obesity … It not only helps people lose weight by physically decreasing the amount they can eat, but also alters their hormone profile, meaning they feel less hungry and therefore find it much easier to maintain weight loss.” ‘
- Steve Connor, Science Editor, The Independent, Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Do you find that terrifying? I do. It’s part of a trend towards the complete medicalization of the human condition, where no area of human life is left untouched by medical interference. To promote surgery as ‘the only effective treatment for obesity’ is to totally ignore the alternatives for healthy weight loss: a good diet combined with an exercise program.
Weight loss surgery – also known as bariatric surgery – is performed on dangerously obese people to help them lose weight. It’s usually recommended for people with a body mass index of 40 or over, or for those with a BMI of 35 if serious medical conditions, like diabetes, are also present.
Weight loss is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach. How is this done? By implanting a medical device, or by removal of a portion of the stomach, or by resecting and re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch. Sounds drastic? It is. If this surgery is recommended to anyone, it’s because the risks inherent in their current lifestyle outweigh the very real risks of major surgery and its aftermath.
Studies show the surgery results in significant long-term loss of weight, recovery from diabetes, and reduction in cardiovascular risk factors and mortality.
Candidates for surgery should discuss the risks and benefits of the options available with a doctor. Surgery is only recommended if diet, exercise and medicines haven’t worked. If you have any effective alternative means at your disposal, weight loss surgery should only be used as a last resort, and then only if your weight problem is such that your health is at immediate risk.
Gastric bypass surgery is often performed and usually safe, but in order to give informed consent, the patient must know about possible side-effects and complications. These include post-operation bruising, plus pain and swelling around the healing wounds. The patient may be sick after eating. Too much sugary food can cause an unpleasant sensation which could make them sick or faint, or cause diarrhoea. They should drink lots of fluids until the feelings pass, and cut down on the sugar they eat. Their restricted diet may cause a shortage of nutrients which requires them to take multivitamin tablets.
Infection is possible, especially with the problem of bowel leakage, though antibiotics are usually given during surgery to prevent it. Further surgery might be needed to repair the bowel leakage which sometimes happens at the point where the intestine is re-joined to the stomach pouch. Damage may occur to other abdominal organs, and they too may need further surgical repair. The possible complications of any operation include an unexpected reaction to the anaesthetic, excessive bleeding, or a blood clot, usually in a leg vein. There is a risk of developing gallstones if the patient loses weight quickly. These may require surgical removal, and the surgeon may advise the patient to have the gallbladder removed. There’s a chance the patient may not lose weight, or may even put weight back on after bypass surgery. It’s not a solution to undertake lightly. When there are safer ways to lose weight, drastic surgery is not the first option you should be looking at. The best defence is to never let yourself get into the state where weight loss surgery is being contemplated as an option at all.
Last word? If you’re seriously overweight and contemplating weight loss surgery to cure your problem, consider this quote:
‘A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington found that 1 in 50 people die within one month of having gastric bypass surgery, and that figure jumps nearly fivefold if the surgeon is inexperienced. ‘
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