We are starting to publish a series of articles on bariatric medicine (obesity surgery). Our consultant in this matter is one of the best specialists in this field – a surgeon, Honored Doctor of Russia Bekkhan Bayalovich Khatsiev, who operates on the basis of the clinic for endoscopic and minimally invasive surgery of the Stavropol State Medical University (Stavropol Territory).
How does it feel to be obese? How do people get big at all? Those who have worried all their lives about 2 extra pounds in the waist area will never understand the feelings of a person whose weight is more than 100 kg …
Yes, someone has always been a “donut” due to a genetic predisposition. Someone conquers genetics every day with willpower, sports and balanced nutrition. Some, on the contrary, were like a pole at school, but recovered already in adulthood – from a sedentary lifestyle and delicious sandwiches at night.
Everyone has their own story. But it is absolutely certain that being overweight has never made anyone healthier or happier. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to radically change your lifestyle, nutritional system, to lose at least 30 kg on your own and keep the achieved result, and for many it is simply not feasible. Of course, there are those who have succeeded, but there are much fewer of them than those who could not; as practice shows, 2 people out of 100.
Perhaps the only way you can lose weight once and for all and radically change your lifestyle is bariatric surgery… Such operations are popularly called “stomach suturing”. This phrase sounds creepy, so this prospect frightens and repels many. “Cut off a part of a healthy organ for your own money?” This is, of course, a philistine approach. In Europe, such operations are included in the patient’s insurance and are prescribed for pathologically high weight. You just need to understand what exactly we are dealing with.
The whole truth about obesity and bariatric surgery
Obesity surgery is an operative change in the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract (digestive tract), as a result of which the volumes of food taken and absorbed change, and the patient loses his total body weight evenly and consistently.
1. Bariatric surgery has nothing to do with surgeries such as fat removal, liposuction, and other plastic and cosmetic procedures. These are not temporary cosmetic methods of slight weight loss, this technique is just aimed at finally getting rid of extra pounds.
2. The essence of bariatric surgery is to change the nutritional system, naturally reduce weight to normal levels and maintain this result in the future. The most important thing, as with any other medical intervention, is to be treated by a highly qualified specialist in a proven clinic.
3. There is no “too low metabolism” or “initially malfunctioning of the hormonal system”, there is overeating, which many owe dozens of extra pounds. Moreover, even with certain diseases, for example, when it comes to endocrine obesity, weight will not grow as rapidly as with the usual systematic overeating.
4. Many can lose weight and maintain the desired parameters thanks to the right lifestyle. However, the percentage of people who were able to lose weight on their own is significantly higher than those who were able to maintain the result and achieved a stable weight. “There are a number of interesting and illustrative studies on this topic. A dietitian, physiotherapist and psychotherapist were assigned to groups of patients who were losing weight. Indeed, absolutely all the participants in the experiment lost weight, but only from 1 to 4% of the total number of patients were able to maintain these results for 3-6 months, ”says the doctor. .
5. Bariatric surgery treats type XNUMX diabetes (non-insulin dependent, when too much insulin is produced). Already in the first week after the operation, the glucose level in the blood begins to decrease, that is, there is no need to take special devices. Losing weight in the future will completely eliminate this disease.
6… After the operation, you will never be able to eat as much as before the operation! Psychologically, of course, it is not easy to imagine that you will no longer be able to eat a kebab skewer or a bucket of fried wings. It will be physically impossible (you will feel discomfort, nausea), but your body will have nothing left, so get used to eating little by little, but more often.
7… Before the operation, you will be asked to at least not gain weight, but as a maximum to lose a couple of kilograms. This is not done because of the harmfulness of doctors. Too large a liver can interfere with the necessary access to the stomach (if you still gain a couple of kilos with a lot of weight, then the liver will also enlarge), plus the liver itself, with even more weight gain, can become more vulnerable and prone to damage. With such data, the patient may be denied an operation, because the most important rule is NOT TO HARM. For example, in most European, Australian and American clinics, weight loss before surgery is almost a prerequisite for it.
8. After the operation, you must strictly follow the recommendations of doctors, otherwise you can harm yourself, earn complications and, as a result, not get the desired result. The first 2 weeks will be the most difficult (you cannot eat more than 200 grams of liquid and mushy foods per day). Only from the second month after surgery will your diet begin to resemble the diet of an ordinary person.
We can say that bariatric surgery is a turning point towards the beginning of your new life at a new weight.
The most important thing is to contact a really good specialist and be sure to follow all the recommendations and instructions. In any case, the doctor will always be in touch with you in the postoperative period.
Excess weight is not even a matter of aesthetics, but above all a matter of health. Obesity is heart problems (how much blood needs to be pumped to ensure the full functioning of the body?), There is a high probability of atherosclerosis (due to excess weight, dysfunction of the lining of the blood vessels occurs, which leads to such a diagnosis), diabetes and diabetic hunger (when there is I want it all the time), as well as a constant huge load on the spine and joints. And with this a fat person lives every day – all his life, while the discomfort from bariatric surgery is 2-3 months.
In the next article, we will discuss all types of bariatric surgery and all possible surgical solutions to this problem.