Bariatric Surgery Upfront
What to expect before, during, and after surgery
Weight Loss Surgery: Is It The Right Choice for You?
**My name is Kimba Maria Wiggins and I received the sleeve gastrectomy bariatric surgery on February 28th, 2017, nearly 5 years ago at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, New York USA. The surgeon who performed my surgery was Dr. Paayal Mehta of Long Island Bariatric, PLLC located at 715 Roanoke Avenue in Riverhead, NY. If you are located in the New York Metropolitan Area, and you are considering bariatric surgery, consider Dr. Mehta. No I'm not advertising, I'm just voicing my gratitude and thanks for her excellent work and aftercare. It is only fair for me to share who made my new life possible.***
Although it is nice to know that you can lose weight, you might be wondering if bariatric surgery (commonly known as weight loss surgery) is the best choice for you. More importantly, one might wonder if resorting to weight loss surgery. This is a question and decision that cannot be taken lightly. One must weigh the pros and cons FIRST before making a final decision. Remember the sleeve gastrectomy and duodenal switch make permanent changes to your digestive system so there are no do-overs and no reversal of the surgery. Please do not rush into this and consider all possible angles.
In short, the question of whether or not bariatric surgery is appropriate has a simple solution; It all depends. Although it may not have been the answer you were looking for, it’s the reality. For many people, bariatric surgery is the only solution to their weight issues; However, you will many others who ultimately end up not benefiting from weight loss surgery. They sadly end of gaining most (if not all) of their weight back and oftentimes more weight on top of what they regained. To determine if weight loss surgery is the appropriate choice for you, you will need to consider a number of things. LAP-BAND, Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, SIPS, Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch (DS), the mini gastric bypass, Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass, and the Gastric Balloon are the choices available to many (depending on their health status and type of insurance they may have).
One of the many factors you will want to consider, when identifying whether weight reduction is the right decision for you, is the unwanted weight. Many bariatric patients (including myself) had 100+ pounds to lose. We tried counting calories, diet and exercise alone and our efforts failed miserably..many times. For us, weight loss surgery was the only option we had to live a healthier, longer life. If we had the proper tools, support, and resources available years prior, surgery wouldn’t have been necessary.
When contemplating weight loss surgery one must consider this question: Will having surgery truly help me lose and keep that lost weight off for good? Will WLS benefit my life and those of my family/loved ones? If I lose this excess weight, will my husband/boyfriend/fiance still continue to be by my side? Please, keep in mind that the divorce rate in the WLS community is the year 2021. The significant other will get jealous of the attention that their partner is getting, get insanely jealous and start fights that will ultimately lead to the demise of a once-loving relationship. Also consider the permanent lifestyle change when contemplating WLS: You will never be able to eat normal portions again. Dumping syndrome, food intolerances, acid reflux, hair loss, nutrient absorption issues are a real possibility. I’m not trying to scare you, I’m just stating the reality that us bariatric surgery patients face.
Your health is another factor that you should consider when trying to see if the weight loss procedure is right for you. Bariatric surgery can often be a lifesaver for those that are severely morbidly obese. The severely obese place their health at risk and may be at extreme risk for death. Unfortunately, my grandmother was one of those people that passed due to obesity-related complications nearly 20 years ago. At the time of death, she was 5'1" and 268 lbs, morbidly obese for someone of her small stature. Her morbid obesity is what led to her death, causing her blood pressure to go up so high that it ultimately shut all her organs down (multiple organ failure due to obesity-related complications was the official cause).
You can decide whether or not you are interested in weight loss surgery. As a reminder, it’s very important to realize that you have some time to consider (and reconsider) your choice. Not all individuals are candidates for weight loss surgery and I’ve known several people that have had their paperwork denied through pure lack of effort. My former dietician said that a client of hers was denied simply because she showed a lack of effort, and didn’t lose the 5% of her body weight necessary for approval. In order for one to be considered, one must get a referral from their PCP (or GP) and go through several months of nutritionist visits, tests and a psych evaluation which is extremely important.
If you have active addictions, you will not be considered until you get your issues under control. Weight loss surgery is very serious. You’re going to be altering a part of your body that can never be put back together if you have what we call “buyers remorse”. VSG (Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy), BPD-DS (Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch) and the Gastric Bypass are irreversible so consider your choice VERY carefully before opting for surgery.
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