To be eligible for gastric bypass surgery or
banding you are required to have a body mass index of at least 40.
If you have life threatening health risks such as diabetes or
respiratory diseases a BMI of 35 is acceptable. You will also have
to be considered motivated, accepting of associated risks and view
surgery as a last resort after diet and exercise has failed. This
surgery doesn’t come cheap. The average cost of surgery is $25,000
and can range from $20,000 to $50,000 depending on the surgeon,
clinic or hospital and location. There are two types of the
surgery. A smaller new stomach is created by a line of staples and
is connected to a loop of the small bowel. This procedure is
gastric bypass surgery. Gastric banding is another form.
A silicone band is placed around the upper stomach creating a small
reservoir and a restricted passage to the lower stomach. Gastric
banding is more easily reversible. Both procedures reduce stomach
volume to about 30 ml. After surgery the amount of food intake must
decrease and all food must be chewed thoroughly. Benefits of the
surgery include weight loss and reversal of such diseases as type
II diabetes and sleep apnea. However, the patient should be aware
of surgical risks. Complications include respiratory failure, staple
leaking, stenosis(obstruction of the stomach and bleeding. You
can expect to be in the hospital for two or three days and expect to
be absent from work for three to six weeks depending upon what your
job is. For the first several days you will experience some pain
and be unable to eat solid foods as your body adjusts to the
surgery. Then you will be able to consume food in only very small
quantities. The types of foods that you will be allowed to consume
like sugars, fats and carbohydrates, may be limited.
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