The Dangers of Weight Loss Surgery
While many people are successful using a mix of diet and exercise as part of their weight loss, there are those who have, in despair, given up both exercise and diet because they have failed to help them shed even an ounce of weight. Are you one of those?
Unable to accept yourself as you are and terrified of the health risks associated with obesity, you might be considering weight loss surgery.
It is true that weight loss surgery will help you lose your weight, but what if you lose more than just weight? What if you lose health and well-being too?
Since 2001, about 45,000 people have had some form of weight loss surgery, and an unknown number of them have died because of post-surgery complications. Unfortunately, weight-loss-surgery deaths go unreported or misdiagnosed. Those who escaped death can suffer innumerable side effects and complications of weight loss surgery.
Here is what weight loss surgery can do apart from helping you shed excess weight:
10–20 percent of the patients who have undergone this surgery require a follow-up operation to correct complications such as abdominal hernia.
More than one-third of the recipients of weight loss surgery develop gallstones.
Nearly 30 percent of the patients develop nutritional deficiencies such as anemia, osteoporosis, and metabolic bone disease after this surgery.
Weight loss surgery cannot guarantee long-term weight loss. Its recipients often regain lost weight, usually within five to ten years.
The risks and side effects of weight loss surgery include gastro-intestinal pain, leaking of gastric juices into the chest cavity, infection, deterioration of teeth, flatulence, and uncomfortable bowel movements.
Weight loss surgery results in rapid weight loss, which affects the muscles, especially the heart muscle. As a result of this, the patient could die of heart-related complications.
Recipients of weight loss surgery could end up with eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.
What next? The policy of the International Size Acceptance Association (ISAA) could offer consolation and reassurance. This organization supports neither weight loss surgery nor weight loss diets. It aims to educate people that health and well-being are possible irrespective of body weight. Its simple policy involves accepting oneself at any size.
Filed under: Surgeries
