Find out what to expect, including the benefits and risks, if you choose to have gastric bypass surgery.
Weight-loss (bariatric) surgery changes the anatomy of your digestive system to limit the amount of food you can eat and digest. The surgery aids in weight loss and lowers your risk of medical problems associated with obesity.
Gastric bypass is the favored bariatric surgery in the United States. Surgeons prefer this surgery because it's safer and has fewer complications than other available weight-loss surgeries. It can provide long-term, consistent weight loss if accompanied with ongoing behavior changes.
Gastric bypass isn't for everyone with obesity, however. It's a major procedure that poses significant risks and side effects and requires permanent changes in your lifestyle. Before deciding to go forward with the surgery, it's important to understand what's involved and what lifestyle changes you must make. In large part, the success of the surgery is up to you.
How is gastric bypass surgery done?
In gastric bypass (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) the surgeon creates a small pouch at the top of your stomach and adds a bypass around a segment of your stomach and small intestine.
The surgeon staples your stomach across the top, sealing it off from the rest of your stomach. The resulting pouch is about the size of a walnut and can hold only about an ounce of food. The pouch is physically separated from the rest of the stomach. Then, the surgeon cuts the small intestine and sews part of it directly onto the pouch.
This connection redirects the food, bypassing most of your stomach and the first section of your small intestine, the duodenum (doo-o-DEE-num). Food enters directly into the second section of your small intestine, the jejunum (jay-JOO-num), limiting your ability to absorb calories. Even though food never enters the lower part of your stomach, the stomach stays healthy and continues to secrete digestive juices to mix with food in your small intestine.
Some surgeons perform this operation by using a laparoscope — a small, tubular instrument with a camera attached — through short incisions in the abdomen (laparoscopic gastric bypass). The tiny camera on the tip of the scope allows the surgeon to see inside your abdomen.
Compared with traditional "open" gastric bypass, the laparoscopic technique usually shortens your hospital stay and leads to a quicker recovery. Fewer wound-related problems also occur. Not everyone is a candidate for laparoscopic gastric bypass, however. Talk to your doctor about whether this approach is appropriate for you.
What can you expect during the surgery?
Gastric bypass surgery is performed under general anesthesia. This means you inhale analgesics as a gas or receive the anesthetic agent through an intravenous (IV) line so that you're asleep during the surgery.
During surgery, a tube is passed through your nose into the upper stomach pouch. Occasionally, this tube stays in overnight. The tube is connected to a suction machine after surgery to keep the small stomach pouch empty so that the staple line can heal.
You may have another tube in the bypassed stomach. This tube comes out the side of your abdomen and is removed four to six weeks after surgery. Some skin irritation may develop around this tube.
Gastric bypass surgery takes about four hours. After surgery, you wake up in a recovery room, where medical staff will monitor you for any complications. Your hospital stay may last from three to five days.
What can you expect after gastric bypass surgery?
You won't be allowed to eat for one to three days after the surgery so that your stomach can heal. Then, you'll follow a specific progression of your diet for about 12 weeks. The progression begins with liquids only, proceeds to pureed and soft foods, and finally to regular foods.
With your stomach pouch reduced to the size of a walnut, you'll need to eat very small meals during the day. In the first six months after surgery, eating too much or too fast may cause vomiting or an intense pain under your breastbone. The amount you can eat gradually increases, but you won't be able to return to your old eating habits.
You may experience one or more of the following changes as your body reacts to the rapid weight loss in the first three to six months:
- Body aches
- Feeling tired, as if you have the flu
- Feeling cold
- Dry skin
- Hair thinning and hair loss
- Mood changes
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