![]() It will be important to alter not only your eating habits, but also your level of physical activity. Patients should consult their doctor about this.Īfter surgery, you will see your dietician about a week or two later, you will see Dr Crawford at 4-5 weeks and then as often as required (usually once or twice over the next few moths), before settling in to an annual review. ![]() It is common that medication for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes or asthma may need to be altered (reduced) after this operation. Tablets can be broken down into small pieces or crushed before they are taken. You should wait until your weight has stabilised before planning pregnancy. Should you nevertheless get pregnant, it is advisable to let Dr Crawford and your nutritionist know. It is not advisable to become pregnant during starvation, despite the fact that the foetus has priority over the mother with regard to nourishment. The period between surgery and weight stabilisation is considered to be a period of starvation. Your nutritionist will give you advice around vitamins. A chew-able or liquid vitamin mixture containing multivitamins, in particular the vitamin B complex, is recommended following surgery. Notify Dr Crawford if new or persisting vomiting develops after you are home.ĭuring the phase of rapid weight reduction, vitamin supplements are advisable. By eating slowly and calmly, you will learn to listen to the signals from your stomach. This can be can be caused by swallowing too quickly, trapping air, or un-chewed chunks of food getting stuck. Patients may vomit or feel pain after food intake. General Advice and Possible Minor Side-effects after Surgery These include but are not limited to the following which are similar for almost any abdominal surgery. For severe reflux a conversion to a bypass operation might be necessary (about 1/50 patients). After surgery, around 30% will suffer some degree of reflux that might mean taking anti-acid tablets long term. Some have a Hiatus Hernia which is a weakness in the diaphragm, just above the stomach which is checked for and if necessary corrected during surgery. Many people have reflux before surgery from being overweight. Dr Crawford will explain if he thinks your risk is higher than this. The risk of a leak: The overall risk of a leak is between 1-2%. Most leaks occur because of a healing problem and show up at around 2-6 weeks after surgery. Early leaks due to technical failure are very rare. Preventing a leak: There is no absolute way to prevent a leak in Gastric Sleeve. Other technical aspects, such as type and size of staples, the use of buttressing, the presence of a sliding Hiatus Hernia, where the upper staple-line could be ‘sucked’ up into the negative pressure of the chest influence leak rates. We know that as we tighten the remaining stomach by using smaller sizing tubes, we run into more problems from leak because of pressure. Smoking impedes healing and there is some evidence that it might affect leak rates, so smokers should cease prior to surgery. This is thought to be particularly when the removal of band is performed at the same time as the sleeve operation. Previous surgery (particularly gastric band) due to the scar tissue build up and the possibility of folded over stomach in the staple line. There are some patient and surgical factors that influence the likelihood of a leak: These are usually managed with small plastic tubes (stents) placed by an endoscope. These leaks would usually cause an abscess (localized collection of pus) around the upper stomach. The symptoms to particularly watch for are signs of infection like fever or sweats. Later (within weeks of surgery) when you are home recovering. This is very rare, particularly if you haven't had stomach surgery before. You would need another keyhole surgery to washout and drain the infected fluids, and other procedures such as stents until it healed. ![]() Leaks could occur:Įarly (within days of surgery) while you are still in hospital, with peritonitis. ![]() Most leaks occur in the upper part of the staple line where the healing can be most compromised. The leak is caused by a combination of the intentionally high pressure stomach and either a failure of staples or a failure of healing. This is the complication that worries bariatric surgeons the most with respect to this procedure. Thankfully serious/major complications are rare, but nonetheless they could occur. ![]()
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