Gastric Exclusion Essay, Research Paper

Gastric Exclusion Operations

Over thirty percent of the US population is currently obese. A scary

statistic. Contrary to popular belief, obesity is not a psychological, nor an

eating disorder. Obesity is a hereditary disease, that can not be “treated” by

Jenny Craig, or Weight Watchers. Surgery for obesity should not be

considered only as a last resort. Right now surgery is the only effective

treatment for obesity.

One type of surgical treatment is gastric exclusion. There are four

questions that will help someone decide if this surgery is right for them. Are

you 100 or more pounds overweight? Have you tried many times to lose

weight, including diets, exercise and behavior modification with the only loss

being a lot of money? Is your health being affected by your weight? Has your

doctor recommended that you lose weight? If any one of these answers is yes,

then surgical weight loss may be right for you.

Gastric exclusion is exactly what it sounds like the stomach is

excluded from the digestion process. The top portion of the stomach is

divided, which creates a small pouch and decreases the amount that the

stomach can hold. The small intestine is then connected to the pouch which

lets food pass trough the digestive system while lessening the calorie intake.

Because the stomach can hold less the person feels full sooner and longer.

This surgery also helps lose weight, because it makes it nauseating to eat

refined sugars.

There are few complications resulting from this surgery. The most

serious one is pulmonary embolus, and only one out of every one thousand

patients are affected by it. Pulmonary embolus is when a blot clot forms in

the lower abdomen or leg, and breaks off into the lungs. This can be fatal, but

is very rare. The most frequent complications are post-operative pneumonia,

hernia formation and wound infection. Only five percent of patients develop

post-operative pneumonia, more frequent in smokers. Wound infection and

hernia formation only affect four percent of the patients.

This surgery, like all others, can have some side effects. About thirty

percent of gastric exclusion patients develop gallstones. If gallbladder disease

is found before or during the operation, it will be removed. If the gallbladder

is not removed, and gallstones form, it will be removed through lapaeroscopic

surgery.

Following the surgery the patient should only drink liquids and

gradually build up to soft solids. Depending how severe the surgery was, the

patient will not be able to eat very much. Eventually the amount the stomach

can hold will increase, then stop after several weeks. For the first two to three

weeks the patient should not drink any citrus juices,diluted, unsweetened

apple or grape juice are the only juices that should be drunk. The patient

should never eat a food with added sugar, or sugar listed as one of the three

main ingredients this would cause nausea and clamminess.

After the surgery there should not be too much strenuous activity. The

patient can, and should, start walking right after the procedure, pushing

herself a little more each time. By the next visit with the doctor, which would

be about three weeks after the operation, she should be able to walk a full

mile in fifteen to twenty minutes. The patient can return to work as soon as

she feels ready, but avoiding anything that puts stress on the wound. There

should be no driving for several days, and then the patient should start with

little trips. The one rule of thumb is ” If it hurts, don’t do it”.

As stated in the beginning only those who are morbidly obese, and

have answered the four questions “yes” should consider this operation.

People who want to quickly take off ten to twenty pounds should NOT. If

these people have the money to pay for an operation like this, they have the

money to join a gym, or hire a personal trainer.