Tummy Troubles? Gastrointestinal Concerns after Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery is the most effective tool in overcoming obesity, especially for those who have struggled with obesity long-term. That doesn’t, however, make it an easy fix to a complicated problem. While highly effective, weight loss surgery is far from a magic solution that will lead you to lose weight without any extra work or hardship. Bariatric intervention can be the catalyst necessary to produce long-term healthy changes in your life, but it shouldn’t be taken too lightly.

Bariatric surgery works by making fundamental changes to the way that your body processes food. Every form of weight loss surgery makes these changes in its own way, but each has one thing in common. After weight loss surgery, the amount of food that you can eat at any one time is going to be greatly restricted. This means that you have to be especially careful not to overeat, otherwise you could stretch your stomach pouch.

Making the wrong food choices while participating in any medical weight loss program can inhibit your weight loss results, but after having weight loss surgery there is a much greater risk. Choosing the wrong foods or eating too much can actually result in pretty severe upset stomach.

Here are just a few of the issues that you could experience after weight loss surgery:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Constipation

While these are the most common types of digestive issues that you could experience, each type of bariatric procedure comes with its own individual risks.

For example:

• After gastric bypass surgery, patients should be cautious of dumping syndrome, which typically occurs between 30 minutes and a few hours after eating and includes nausea, cramping and diarrhea, in addition to lightheadedness and intense sweating. This mostly happens if too much refined sugar is consumed, so sticking to your surgeon’s diet recommendations can help prevent it.
• After sleeve gastrectomy surgery, you do need to be on the lookout for diarrhea. This is the result of fatty acids being consumed and bypassing so much of the intestinal tract thanks to the changes to your digestive system.
• After Duodenal Switch surgery, diarrhea or otherwise loose and soft stools are somewhat common, even happening up to two to three times a day. This is something that you need to be prepared for after this type of weight loss surgery, as it is a direct result of the changes to the digestive tract.

Lap-Band surgery doesn’t have the same sort of associated digestive tract concerns that the other primary bariatric procedures do, in part because the Lap-Band procedure allows the digestive tract to stay intact. After Lap-Band, of course, you need to be sure not to overeat or drink anything too quickly, or it could result in upset stomach or even vomiting.

There are ways that you can reduce your risk of experiencing this sort of stomach discomfort. Following your weight loss surgeon’s instructions, especially concerning the foods that you should and shouldn’t be eating during your recovery period, is essential in preventing stomach issues after weight loss surgery.