Bariatric (Weight Loss) Surgery Requirements

If you are planning to undergo a bariatric procedure, have you assessed the factors involved in the operation? Have you tried understanding the pros and cons of the surgery? Have you already checked your current health status? How about the lifetime commitment you need to undergo after the operation or even the money that you need to shell out for the whole bariatric program? Are you prepared? Are you even a good candidate for bariatric surgery?

A lot of morbidly obese individuals have considered having weight loss surgery. Statistically and logically, this procedure has been promising outstanding results. However, the aim of the whole program is realistically achievable only if the patient will commit and comply with the diet and exercise that will come along after the surgery. Thus, the success of bariatric surgery relies not only to the experience of the surgeon, but also to the individual patient as well.

In connection with the inner commitment that every aspiring bariatric patient should have, a sense of “preparedness” should go along with it. The essence of knowing how you are as an individual be a good candidate to the operation will create that readiness.

Check Your Past and Present Health Status:

Your past medical history is one of the important data that needs to be reviewed together with your current health status. This pertinent information should be evaluated by your primary care physician for further recommendations and referrals. If you have any condition such as heart, lung or metabolic diseases that may interfere with the procedure, you should be advised of prompt medical care prior any operations. Remember that you should not hurry your decisions; your health is at stake if you will push through without being medically evaluated.

Individuals who are at their peak of health besides of course from being morbidly obese will pass the medical evaluation. This part is very important; remember that an ethical surgeon will never risk anything just to operate on anyone who has other danger signs that will jeopardize the whole program. You need to be monitored or treated prior bariatric surgery if in case there is any existing medical problem.

Evaluate Your Psychological Status:

Part of the whole program is the evaluation of your psychological status. However, prior choosing any bariatric surgery, you can start assessing your current psychological state. Are you ready to have that change and its consequences? How do you fair when it comes to commitment and compliance?

If you affirmatively answer to these kinds of question, then you are in a way on the right track. Always have in mind that there should be a positive mental attitude that should emanate from within you. If you get easily irritated, bothered or worried about such issues, you could be plummeting to a much worse scenario within the whole program before you know it.

However, anxieties are manageable during the course of the program. But always see to it that you should understand and accept the possible changes that will be suggested to you after the surgery. There may be a lot of lifestyle changes that you need to cope up with; the importance of knowing yourself personally will be your key to consent to any lifestyle modifications.

On Choosing Your Bariatric Surgery:

Choosing the right bariatric procedure should start from the individual himself. However, along with the surgeon’s initial assessment, other techniques may be offered in accordance with your medical evaluation. But to help you assess roughly the appropriate procedure for you, listed below are three of the most popular bariatric procedures with a checklist of how each of them fits you in regard to your lifestyle and preference. The three bariatric procedures listed also represent the restrictive and/or malabsorptive techniques.

Adjustable Gastric Band (Lap-Band, Realize Band):

You may wish to decide having the Adjustable Gastric Band procedure if you:

• are a volume eater who don’t eat between meals and can commit a 3-meal-a-day diet
• are not fond of eating sweets
• can commit on watching caloric intake closely
• can avoid bread, rice and fibrous foods
• can commit to exercise at least 5 times a week
• don’t mind seeing your doctor for follow-ups
• have enough budget for follow-ups in case your band needs adjustment
• wish to lose weight slowly
• don’t want restructuring your intestinal tract
• want a procedure with the lowest short term complication rate
• understand that there could be higher rate of long term complications from a procedure
• want a reversible operation
• can commit to take multivitamins daily
• can accept that there could be an expected 60% weight loss after the procedure.

Gastric Sleeve Surgery - Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy

You may wish to have the Gastric Sleeve Surgery procedure if you:

• are a volume eater who don’t eat between meals and can commit a 3-meal-a-day diet
• are not fond of eating sweets
• can commit on watching caloric intake closely
• can commit to exercise at least 5 times a week
• don’t mind expenses on follow-ups
• don’t want to worry about foreign body complications like infections, slips, and erosions
• don’t like to chew food thoroughly
• wish to eat larger variety of foods after the operation
• want to experience a greater loss of hunger
• want to undergo a procedure with low short term and shortest long term complication rate
• can commit to take multivitamins daily
• can accept that there could be an expected 60-70% weight loss after the procedure.

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery

You may wish to have Gastric Bypass procedure if you:

• eat a lot of sweets and high fat junk foods
• know that if you eat a lot sugars and fats after the procedure, you may feel sick
• want to undergo a surgery that results to more weight loss than any other restrictive form of bariatric surgery
• want to lose weight faster
• want to experience a greater loss of hunger
• want to have a surgery that has the longest term effect according to statistical data
• want to combine a restrictive and a malabsorptive forms of surgery
• can commit to take daily multivitamins and protein supplements
• can accept that you need to undergo periodic blood tests to check your vitamin and protein levels
• can commit on implementing an exercise program
• can accept that the procedure is not easily reversible
• don’t want to have foreign device implants or expensive follow-ups
• can accept that the procedure have higher risk of short term complications
• can accept that you may experience nutritional complications if you do not eat and take supplements properly.

At this point, you could have at least fractionally, if not wholly, assessed yourself whether you are deemed fit for bariatric surgery or not. The evaluation is always a multi-disciplinary process as we all know; but part of this process is the self-assessment approach. You as an individual know how well you can cope with the whole bariatric program. An early assessment is vital in stepping deeper into the realm of weight loss surgery. The key is within you, all you have to do is evaluate yourself, research and read more to unlock that readiness!