What They Don’t Tell You About Gastric Sleeve?

Knowing as much as you can about gastric sleeve surgery makes you stronger and more courageous when taking the step forward and scheduling your first consultation at our clinics.  

Gastric sleeve surgery, sometimes referred to as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), is one of the most commonly used weight loss techniques worldwide.

Doctors remove a section of the stomach and narrow the remaining area into a thin tube that resembles a sleeve during the surgery to help patients lose weight more quickly.

The smaller stomach nevertheless permits the breakdown of essential nutrients while holding less food, making you feel fuller sooner. Gastric sleeve treatment also lowers your stomach's ghrelin output. The ghrelin hormone is what causes the hunger feeling. Patients who have gastric sleeve surgery often lose between 40 and 70 percent of their extra body weight.

Things They Don’t Tell You About Gastric Sleeve

Gastric sleeve is a dream surgery for many people who want reliable and safe weight loss solutions with little dependency on diet or exercise.

“In Australia, about 25,000 bariatric surgeries are performed each year and all but about 5% are performed in private clinics”, according to ABC News.

Here are some interesting facts about gastric sleeve surgery that experts and health practitioners may would like to share with patients:

Help Treat Diabetes & Sleep Apnea

The gastric sleeve not only helps in weight loss but also has the potential to treat problems linked to obesity and provide other health advantages. Indeed, research showed that following gastric sleeve surgery, around 60–80% of those originally suffering from type 2 diabetes might see an improvement in their condition or remission.

Better Than Lap Band

A gastric sleeve or sleeve gastrectomy will allow for more weight reduction and accelerate weight loss compared to a lap band. Also, you'll see the results at a quicker pace. Regular adjustments are not necessary after a sleeve gastrectomy. Following surgery, no plastic or devices are left behind in the stomach.

Great for a BMI of 40 or Above

The ideal candidates for gastric sleeve surgery are those with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 40. This indicates that you are at least 100 pounds overweight. It could be a suitable substitute for gastric bypass surgery because some people are too obese for it.

Besides, the surgery is great for those with a BMI of 35–39.9 (if combined with one of the health issues associated with obesity, such as sleep apnea or type 2 diabetes).

Safer & Simpler Than Gastric Bypass

You can get excellent outcomes from gastric sleeve, with excess weight reduction of up to 60%, barely falling short of the gastric bypass threshold. However, it is a less complicated option in terms of the procedure and the postoperative impact on the patient's life compared to the bypass procedure.

Over a 5-year period, sleeve gastrectomy was linked to a decreased long-term risk of complications and total reintervention than gastric bypass, according to a study,

Often Done as a “Laparoscopic Surgery”

Surgeons often use the laparoscopic method when performing gastric sleeve, which can be done in 1-2 hours only.

To install a laparoscope—a tool with a tiny camera that transmits images to a monitor—your surgeon will make a few small incisions in your abdomen. After making the incisions, your surgeon will remove 3/4 of your stomach and install extra medical equipment through them.

It Was a Part of the “Biliopancreatic Diversion Duodenal Switch”

In 2000, the first gastric sleeve surgery was done laparoscopically. However, the history of the procedure is deeper than that. The restrictive component of the biliopancreatic diversion duodenal switch procedure was initially the gastric sleeve that most obesity clinics can provide.

To lower the perioperative risks, the gastric sleeve was then used as the initial step of surgery for extremely obese patients who underwent a duodenal switch procedure. The good results led to the consideration of gastric sleeve surgery by bariatric surgeons as a “stand-alone” bariatric operation.

Weight Regain Is Possible

Following bariatric surgeries, a modest weight increase is in fact a normal thing after 1-2 years. Roughly, 10-20% of patients may have considerable weight gain after gastric sleeve.

However, many clinics gathered data after five years of follow-up, which indicated that most patients were able to keep off the weight they lost following gastric sleeve surgery. 

Not Always Covered by Insurance

In most cases, procedures related to bariatric surgery will not be covered by insurance for patients with a BMI of 30–34.9.

For people who have long struggled with weight, particularly those who have health issues connected to obesity, some clinics may provide self-pay or financial solutions.

Related Article: Hair Loss After Gastric Sleeve

Life & Diet After Gastric Sleeve

Similar to other forms of weight loss surgery, gastric sleeve requires permanent lifestyle adjustments to support long-term weight loss. Remember that you will need to permanently change your eating habits. You'll gradually transition to eating soft, solid meals after the first month.

You'll start gradually adding things back into your diet soon following surgery. Within the first 24 hours, you will begin to follow a clear liquid diet. In the next weeks, you will progress to a complete liquid diet, a soft food diet, and your usual diet.

You will be able to consume protein drinks and pureed foods by the time you leave the hospital, and you will be able to do so for around four weeks. Most patients return to their jobs or their studies in two to four weeks. Due to the low-calorie intake from the liquid diet, fatigue is prevalent during the first two weeks.

At this point in the diet, most patients do not experience hunger, though. Three weeks following surgery, when the soft diet is started, the patient's energy level rapidly increases. Other things to bear in mind are:

• Take daily supplemental vitamins and minerals.
• Avoid drinking anything while you're eating since this might lead to an overfull stomach.
• Thirty minutes after eating a meal, sip on some beverages all the time.
• Forget high-calorie drinks and snacks.

Related Article: Hypothyroidism Qualify for Gastric Sleeve

Risks of Gastric sleeve

The surgery has evolved into a generally safe bariatric surgery over the last ten years due to advancements in surgical procedures and surgeon expertise.

Complications, however, can still arise both during and after surgery. One of the most commonly reported problems is heartburn.  

According to many people, however, most patients who had heartburn before surgery report that their symptoms have improved as a result of losing weight.

Certain patients may experience the onset of new heartburn, which is typically manageable with over-the-counter acid suppressants.

The following are the primary side effects and dangers of gastric sleeve surgery:

• leakage from the staple line
• Stenosis or stricture
• Bleeding
• Blood Clot