Over the past few years, there has been tremendous improvement in technology which has resulted in people living a more comfortable and luxuries life. Additionally, the same improved technology has had a great impact on the alteration of people’s lifestyle. These alterations in lifestyle include change in how people eat, their physical activities among others. In addition to these changes is the distressing occurrence of numerous health problems and medical conditions many people are facing. One of leading health issue currently facing many people in the world and bring about numerous illnesses as well as death is Obesity. The number of overweight person has tremendously increased not in United States but also in other nations.
WHO (world health organization) has gone a step further to declare obesity as an epidemic as it more than half of the American population. When a person is overweight and obese, the chances of him/her acquiring serious infections such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer among others. Due to the alarming rate of how the American population is becoming overweight, a lot of people are now watching what they eat to maintain a healthy living. For individuals who are overweight, there are various techniques that can be employed to lose weight which include traditional techniques such as rigid exercise or instant surgery. Surgery is often viewed by many as the easiest way to loose weight. Very little is known about the weight loss surgery but professionals and health experts believe gastric bypass surgery (type of weight loss surgery) are a cure for various diseases such as Diabetes.
However, not many people have embraced weight loss surgery as the alternative to this overweight problem and thus raised a lot of eyebrows as there are people who support the surgeries while others don’t. Some people go a step forward and ask if indeed surgery is the appropriate way a person can loose weight and still be healthy. If an appendix fails to work, surgery is regarded as the best option and if one has blocked arteries surgeries is also considered. Then why do people overlook that surgery can also solve the issue of obesity and diabetes? Initially, the most possible solution to this issue was dieting or even exercise but research suggest that the optimal alternative to manage this condition is surgery.
Weight loss surgery can be very helpful for an individual suffering from type 2 diabetes as this means their blood sugar will resume back to normal after the surgery. This means that diabetes can be cured and less medication needed to be ingested. According to research, more than 50% of people with type 2 diabetes often record an improvement in blood pressure, and triglyceride levels after a weight loss surgery as compared to those ingesting medicine who are roughly 10%. Despite weight loss surgery being an effective and efficient way of regaining a stable body weight, it is highly recommended for individuals who have struggled with weight issues for long and have been unsuccessful in attaining their desired weight and individuals suffering from extremely health problems.
Also identified as bariatric surgery, weight loss surgery is known to alter the way a persons digestive system operates as it helps in limiting the food being consumed. By doing so, a person’s weight is lowered thus decreasing the risks of acquiring health related issues. In some instances, bariatric surgery might end up affecting and interfering with the way the body absorbs certain nutrients and thus force people who undergo the surgery change certain aspect of their lifestyle such as diet and regular exercises. One of the most performed bariatric surgeries by health practitioners is the gastric bypass.
Compared to other types of bariatric surgeries currently present, gastric bypass is regarded as the best as it is much safer, has few complications and offer long-term results. Morever, gastric bypass is able to set an individual in a path that other techniques such as exercise cannot do. Initially, it was hard for obese individuals to lose weight but with type of surgery it becomes easier for them to improve their general health and wellness. For some individuals, the gastric bypass procedure often results in the remission of type 2 diabetes. This is possible as the surgery is able to restore the body’s sensitivity to insulin and also awakens the pancreatic cells that play a role in producing insulin.
This takes place even before a person begins losing weight. According to biologists, the production of Insulin is made possible due to inflammation that is caused by overactive immune cells which form fatty tissue. When an individual becomes obese scientists argue there is an increase in inflammation which makes this possible. This inflammation results into things such as the production of more insulin to control glucose levels in the blood. As time passes by, the insulin-producing cells present in the pancreas start wearing out resulting into type 2 diabetes. When gastric bypass surgery is performed, inflammation which causes type 2 diabetes decreases or even disappears. Tiny cells present in the body identified as mitochondria come back to life and increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin production. For individuals with type 2 diabetes, weight loss surgery is the solution as it is capable of altering how the hormones in a person’s gut works thus affecting how the body produces insulin. Additionally, it is able to increase the amount of bile acids being made by the body which results to the body’s cells being more sensitive to insulin. Moreover the surgery is able to improve how the cells operate which results to lower blood sugar levels.
Despite gastric bypass surgery being much safer and offer minimal complications than other types of bariatric surgery, it does have various issues associated with it as it brings about change in a person’s lifestyle, diet and also behavior. For the treatment to be a success it largely depends on the patient. In most cases, people who are obese have their BMI ratio between 35 and 39 and for those who are severely obese their BMI ratio is always above 40. With such high BMI ratio, these individuals are always at risk of acquiring serious illness such as diabetes or even hypertension. Many people tend to think that what is needed for one to go back to being healthy is the surgery alone. This is not the case as much more is needed such as dietary changes, daily exercises to make sure the results of the gastric bypass surgery are satisfactory to you.
Health practitioners advise that before any bariatric surgery is performed on anyone, he/she must first be properly informed on all deltas regarding the procedure as well as other alternatives, risk and benefits to make the patient make a sound decision. Moreover, an informed consent needs to be given before the procedure is done as not everyone qualifies for any type of bariatric surgery. In some cases, bariatric surgery is sometime offered to adolescents but only if other convectional approaches have failed working for the past six months. New studies indicate that for adolescents fighting with weight issues, gastric bypass is the most ideal type of bariatric surgery they can undergo. The whole procedure is often done under general anesthesia and various tests, dietary changes as well as X-rays are performed prior to the surgery.
There exist four types of gastric bypass that an individual can be performed to an individual depending on the situation at hand. They include BPD-DS ( biliopancreatic diversion with a duodenal switch), VSG (vertical sleeve gastronomy), RYGB (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) and finally AGB (adjustable gastric band). AGB entails physicians putting a band around the top part of a person’s stomach with the intention of reducing the size of the stomach pouch. By doing this, the amount of food the patient intake is reduced bringing about loose of weight. For the case of RGYB, a gastric band is places by physicians and the food is bypassed from the pouch to the small intestine. For the case of BPD-DS, a large part of the stomach is removed, food is bypassed from the stomach to the small intestine and later the bile as well as digestive tract juices are re-routed with the intention of reducing the amount of food being absorbed and digested. VSG on the other hand entails the reduction of a certain portion of the stomach to make sure the quantity of food being consumed is minimal. In any of these procedures, the patient is required not to eat anything within the next 24 hours after the surgery and a special diet is needed which includes liquids as well as soft foods and minimal solid foods.
As time has passed by and technology advanced so has the number of complications related to bariatric surgery. The number of readmissions has also reduced drastically which proves how efficient the procedure is. However, there are some few early complications that are associated to gastric bypass and they include infection, emboli, bleeding damage of intestines, and heart attack among others. Other complications that might be witnessed over a period of time include vomiting, gallstones, hernias, malnutrition, pneumonia, dehydration among others. For some people, further surgery might be required though rare.
Summary
Though bariatric surgery is associated with fastening the process of reducing weight, the procedure is very risky as it entails alteration of various parts of the body. Thus, the procedure is always available to a certain group of people meet the set criteria. For an individual to be considered for a surgery, he/she must have a Body Mass Index of more than 40 and also have weight related health condition such as type 2 diabetes. The hopeful candidate should have tried other techniques of losing weight such as dieting and exercising. Additionally, these individuals should be in perfect health condition and must be ready to commit to a long-term follow-up after undergoing the surgery.
There are a lot of discussion of how gastric bypass helps cure type 2 diabetes but people are not aware of how this is possible. What many people know is that the surgery is responsible for putting type 2 diabetes into remission but few people know how this is done. It’s obvious that loosing weight does play a crucial role in reducing the level of blood sugar for an individual suffering from type 2 diabetes. Among the many ways of reducing weight, bariatric surgery is considered by physicians as the best. Scientists argue that bariatric surgeries immediately impact how the body processes glucose and how food is absorbed and digested. Through surgery, the increase production is increased and hormones that prompt hunger become dormant. This means that type 2 diabetic individuals reduce their crave for sugar thus able to manage blood sugar levels.
In any case, researches as well as studies have shown that bariatric surgery is more effectual than drug therapy when it comes to managing diabetes. Thus, scientists need to consider surgery as the best alternatives for curing type 2 diabetes. Though it has complications and risks associated to it, the final outcome is worth the sacrifice,
