Is Weight Loss Surgery Your Best Option?

Obesity treatments come in many forms. While weight loss surgery is one of them, there are also lifestyle adjustment programs including eating strategies, exercise programs and even certain types of counseling.  There are several categories of prescription drug available to support those efforts too.

Of course, when it comes to an obesity treatment, not all weight loss surgery options are created equal too.  It’s also important to remember that there isn’t just one type, and some come with higher risks than others.  Though people who do not have a solid understanding of what bariatric surgery, for instance, entails, it’s hardly a quick fix and should certainly not be considered to be the easy way out.

Many forms of weight loss surgery are serious procedures that involve altering parts of your digestive system – particularly your stomach – in substantial ways. The goal is to help you to feel less hunger and to feel satisfied by meals more quickly.  That said, it can take quite a bit of time, money, and recovery before the benefits can be enjoyed. Moreover, this still doesn’t necessarily make things “easy”. You’ll still need to change your eating habits and ideally adopt other healthy lifestyle routines to support weight loss once the procedure is complete, and you have healed.

Is it Worth It for You?

Is spending your time and money and going through the whole process of the surgery worth it? Will you be able to achieve the result? Is it safe and effective? Enduring the pain, struggling after the surgery, and sticking up to the restricted guidelines—is it all enough to get away from obesity? For many people, the answer is “definitely”.  After all, obesity is dangerous itself. It has its own short-term and long-term side effects, and it affects your whole lifestyle, having a negative impact on both your mind and body.

Weight loss surgery sure has some advantages as it not only cuts down fat percentage in the body but also fights other obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and sleep apnea. Patients have said their overall lifestyle had a positive impact after the weight loss surgery. It also has a constructive effect on longevity. Besides this, it generally promises dramatically surprising results that might amaze you at first but knowing the potential disadvantages before opting for it is important.

What to Discuss with Your Doctor Before Choosing Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery is linked with severe complications that might make you regret the decision later on. Some of the side effects will have long-term effects on your health and will require additional treatment or even other surgery in some cases.

First and foremost, you need to be prepared about changing your lifestyle forever. If you don’t, you will be more vulnerable to life-threatening diseases. Secondly, you will have to consult the doctor for at least three years. You might have to take additional medicines to normalize the body functions after surgery. Minor problems include excessive skin left after the surgery, for which you will have to pay a sizable sum of money for cosmetic surgery.

The most serious dangers include clotting, which affects the important organs as it causes deep vein thrombosis (clotting in the legs) and pulmonary embolism (clotting in the lungs). Other serious issues after surgery are internal bleeding and infections, which affect a majority. Formation of gallstones in the patients 10 months after the surgery is common. Gallstones are formed by cholesterol in the gallbladder. 

All surgeries have some level of risk. Weight loss surgery isn’t any different. The risk posed by the surgery depends entirely on the personal condition and various other factors, such as age, BMI, and any other vulnerability within the immune system.