An examination of the health risks following gastric bypass surgery

Gastric bypass is a surgical procedure which can help an individual lose significant amount of his/her body weight. As obesity is becoming more and more prominent in the world these days, an increasing number of people are opting for this sort of operation. However, gastric bypass does not come without certain health risks.

Is It Safe?

Namely, researches which encompassed gastric bypass procedures carried out from 1995 to 2004 discovered that 1% of people who had undergone the surgery died during the first year while about 6% passed away during the 5 following years. Taking the number of people involved in the research into consideration, we are facing a larger number of individuals who have faced the most tragic side-effect of the gastric bypass procedure.

Most of the deaths after this surgery took place due to heart failures. Namely, as an individual loses a lot of weight, his/her body undergoes an abrupt change, affecting the heart as well. Moreover, the second culprit behind these deaths was medication overdose. The tested group results showed that 16 suicides took place due to medication overdose, being intentional, while 14 deaths happened for the same reasons, but were accidental.

Means of Precaution

Most obesity surgeries are not performed if the patient is suffering from an underlying health condition which might jeopardize his/her health after the surgery. However, this method of prevention may not be sufficient in all situations.

Many patients do not get rid of diabetes or hypertension, even after their weight loss. Thus, this group of people are at a much higher risk of developing certain cardiovascular health problems. Also, one should keep in mind that this miraculous weight loss does not happen overnight. Rather, people who undergo obesity surgery remain obese for quite some time, until the real weight loss effect takes place. Months, or even years may pass before the onset of the desired “metamorphosis”.

Finally, strict diet restrictions and a complete change of lifestyle, affecting one right after the surgery can be enough to trigger anxiety, stress and even depression.

All in all, remember that you can benefit from gastric bypass surgery greatly. Nevertheless, do not neglect all the risks which may affect you or someone you care for. Ensure proper health care for people who undergo this kind of surgery and make sure you keep track of the progress afterwards. Usually, the health institutions are not very keen on doing this for you, lacking proper checkups or follow ups once the surgery is done.