Bariatric surgery can help patients lose weight and lower their risk for certain diseases, but each type of surgery comes with its own set of risks and side effects that vary based on its type.
A new study seeks to develop a risk model for complications following bariatric surgery. Backward selection in univariate analysis identified age; use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); smoking history and history of psychiatric disorders as potential predictors.
1. Infection
Bariatric surgery entails altering the anatomy of your stomach or intestines to assist with weight loss, with three main procedures being gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy and gastric banding being most frequently employed. All surgeries come with risks of infection; however obese individuals face higher risks from wound infections and blood clots due to their procedures.
Your doctor may need to insert a tube through either your mouth or nose in order to provide nutrition after surgery. Your abdomen might also be swollen and you might require catheter placement in your bladder; before leaving the hospital you will need to learn how to use the toilet and drink clear fluids regularly.
Surgical Site Infections (SSI) are infections of the operating area that may lead to scarring, pain and an extended hospital stay. Obesity increases your risk for these infections but there are ways you can protect against them as well.
Bariatric surgery carries another risk: blood clots in your legs known as pulmonary embolisms can form and travel through blood vessels to your lungs, blocking oxygen flow and leading to shortness of breath – this complication is life-threatening and requires medication in order to be prevented.
Your surgery might cause what’s known as an anastomotic leak from your stomach after bariatric surgery, which requires emergency drainage and washing by your surgeon to rectify. If left unresolved quickly, an anastomotic leak could become serious enough that serious health problems and even death result. Leaks tend to occur less with RYGB than with SG, while leaks can also be minimized by following postoperative guidelines for diet and behavior and selecting an experienced clinic as your bariatric surgeon.
2. Restrictive diet
Many people attempt to lose weight through restrictive diets that restrict entire food groups or limit calories, yet these dieting techniques can be hazardous. Restrictive dieting techniques often result in hunger pains and other unpleasant side effects that make sticking with it challenging; additionally, nutritional deficiency could result in fatigue, depression or headaches for those attempting to follow such plans.
Bariatric surgery provides a more permanent and effective method to achieve long-term weight loss for morbidly obese patients, often relieving health-related issues associated with obesity while improving quality of life. But surgery does come with its own set of risks and requires major lifestyle adjustments before success can be realized.
The most prevalent procedures combining restriction with malabsorption include the sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). With these surgeries, surgeons create a narrow stomach pouch to limit oral intake before rerouting part of the small intestine in order to cut off digestive acids that transport nutrients; thus cutting off pathways that carry digestive acids for absorption purposes resulting in malabsorption that leads to deficiencies such as malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency and vitamin D deficiency.
Surgery may cause some patients to experience full-fledged eating disorders as a side effect of weight loss, though these are unlikely to meet diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa (AN). Instead, post-surgery weight loss often leads to rapid weight loss and preoccupation with food that leads to binge eating episodes not meeting diagnostic criteria for AN but which are distressful nonetheless; they might not even be reported because such symptoms might seem normal given how quickly someone has shed so much weight.
3. Injuries
Bariatric surgery changes the anatomy of your stomach to make you consume less and feel full more quickly, and is one of the most commonly performed surgeries today. These procedures typically result in weight losses ranging from 50-84%, depending on which surgery was chosen. Furthermore, bariatric surgeries have also been shown to effectively alleviate diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pains, and infertility issues as well.
As with any surgical procedure, bariatric surgery does carry some risks; your doctor will inform you of these before proceeding with it.
Anastomotic leak is the single greatest risk associated with bariatric surgery and could prove deadly if left untreated promptly. This complication arises when surgery compromises the connection between stomach and intestines, leading to fluid or food leakage into peritoneal space and, eventually gastroenteritis, abdominal pain and fever as a result of fluid or food leakage into peritoneal space.
Blockages to lung function, or pneumonia, are another serious risk associated with asthma and can be caused by mucus secretions accumulating. One way to protect oneself against this situation is performing incentive spirometry exercises 10 times every hour while awake, as well as walking regularly.
Bleeding can be a serious complication of bariatric surgery, potentially even leading to death if not addressed immediately. During an operation, surgeons use various means to stop blood flowing freely: they may stitch blood vessels closed with stitches; use electrocautery; or create clots by electrocautery over cut or damaged vessels if this fails; alternatively a blood transfusion might be necessary – which is why it’s crucial that you inform your surgeon of any medical conditions or medications you may have prior to having the procedure performed.
4. Depression
Depression is a primary concern among patients contemplating bariatric surgery, and recent meta-analyses indicate this can result in an increase in depressive symptoms and decrease in quality of life after surgery. The research included 33 clinical studies with 101,223 patients; all relevant studies were included using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to ensure inclusion.
Bariatric patients frequently present with mental health disorders, most frequently depression and eating disorders or both. Treatment of these disorders often succeeds in producing marked and sustained weight loss along with improvements to medical comorbidities; however, outcomes from such interventions may not always meet expectations: higher prevalences of depression post-bariatric surgery has been associated with poor health outcomes including worsening quality of life and increased risks of suicide.
Diet changes, gastrointestinal issues and weight loss are often at the core of post-bariatric surgery depression, although lack of social support or the inability to change behaviors that led to obesity are other sources of depression as well as certain people being more prone than others to it.
Preventing depression after bariatric surgery requires taking steps to prepare for it beforehand. Anyone considering surgery should speak with a psychologist to assess whether they are psychologically prepared. Individuals with histories of psychiatric disorders should also undergo evaluation prior to any procedures being done on them, while support groups are highly encouraged as an aid during transitioning towards healthier lifestyles.
5. Weight gain
Bariatric surgery should only be considered after individuals have attempted to achieve weight loss through diet and exercise alone. You could qualify for bariatric surgery if your BMI exceeds 40, which is considered extreme obesity; or between 35-40 with weight-related health complications like type 2 diabetes or sleep apnea.
Bariatric surgery can help alleviate or completely resolve symptoms of severe obesity, although you will still require a balanced diet in order to remain healthy. After bariatric surgery, many experience an improvement in quality of life as they become less preoccupied with food and more energetic.
Weight gain, however, can negate these gains and even lead to other health complications like high blood pressure and diabetes. If this occurs, any positive outcomes associated with bariatric surgery could deteriorate quickly leading to other issues like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Rapid weight loss from bariatric surgery may have serious repercussions for your heart and lungs, increasing the risk of blood clots forming either in your legs (deep vein thrombosis) or your lungs (pulmonary embolism). To decrease these risks, blood-thinning medication, compression stockings, regular walking sessions, or all three should be used. To combat them as effectively as possible.
Bleeding can occur after any surgical procedure, though its risk for bariatric surgery is relatively low–less than 3% of patients experience it. If a pocket of fluid develops, draining and taking antibiotics are both treatment options available to you.
Some individuals who have undergone bariatric surgery still use food as a coping mechanism for stress and other emotional difficulties, in such instances psychiatric treatment is frequently recommended.
