Gastric bypass surgery, also called Roux-en-Y bypass surgery, is a bariatric or weight loss surgery. During this procedure, your doctor changes your stomach and small intestine to change how they absorb and digest food.
Benefits:
- Restricts the amount of food that the stomach holds
- Limits the amount of calorie absorption
- Changes your intestinal hormones
Who is the right candidate for gastric bypass surgery?
In general, gastric bypass would be an option for you if:
- Your (BMI) body mass index is 40 or more (severe obesity)
- Your BMI is 35 to 39.9 (obesity), or if you have conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or severe sleep apnea.
How do you prepare?
- Before your procedure, you must follow diet restrictions and the medications you can use.
- Avoid consuming caffeinated beverages approximately one month before surgery
- Begin to work out by performing physical activity
What to expect?
Gastric bypass surgery is performed in the hospital. Based on your recovery, your hospital stay is either one or two days but may last longer if needed.
During the procedure
Gastric bypass surgery is carried out under general anesthesia; this helps you stay asleep and comfortable during the surgery.
Unlike traditional surgery, laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery involves inserting instruments through many tiny incisions in the abdomen.
After making the incisions with the open, laparoscopic procedure, your surgeon cuts the top part of the stomach, sealing it off from the remaining part of the stomach. The pouch is almost the size of a small nut and can hold only about one ounce (approximately 30 grams) of food. Usually, your stomach can have about 3 pints (1419 ml) of food.
Then, your surgeon cuts the small intestine and sews the part of it directly into the pouch. The food then goes into this tiny pouch of the stomach and into the small intestine sewn to it.
Food bypasses most of your stomach and the first section of your small intestine thus entering exactly into the middle part of your small intestine.
This surgery mostly takes a few hours. After surgery, the medical team monitors your vitals.
After the procedure:
- Soon after the procedure, you can have a liquid diet until your stomach heals.
- Slowly your doctor will recommend having semi-solid foods; later, you can follow by having soft food later to a standard regular diet.
- You must follow strict dietary restrictions. Your doctor recommends you take vitamin and mineral supplements after surgery, like a multivitamin
- You must have frequent medical check-ups to monitor your health status in the first few months post-weight-loss surgery.
