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Essay on Surgical Treatment of Obesity

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A rising health epidemic that America is currently facing today is obesity. This is becoming very wide spread among all races and class levels due in part to the abundance of inexpensive food available, most notably, fast food restraints . There are literally thousands of diet books available but due to the extreme will power many of these programs demand, more and more people are turning to weight loss surgery as a final solution. The most popular procedures being Gastric Bypass, and Lap Band surgery. Although these are now fairly common procedures with a high rate of success there are also many differences that one should consider when choosing which would be a better fit for themselves . Three of the biggest differences would be …show more content…

This surgery is reversible if the patient chooses to for whatever reason they might have. On the other hand Gastric Bypass surgery involves the stomach to be removed and put aside while the lower intestine is brought up to the bottom of the esophagus and a new 1oz pouch is created which will now be the new stomach. The patient can now only fit a very small amount into their stomach , however if for any reason, the patient is unsatisfied with the results this surgery is not reversible. Both surgeries require a lifestyle change , with Lap Band you can eat whatever you would like if you choose, but you need to chew your food thoroughly and eat slowly. If one is not careful and over eats they will experience immense pain as there is too much food trying to fit past their band at once. Although not pleasant this can often be relieved by inducing vomiting. A Gastric patient needs to adhere to all the same precautions but if over eating occurs a very different effect happens which occurs in the form of “Dumping syndrome”. The patient becomes violently ill for up to several hours and there is nothing that can be done except to let it pass. The Gastric patient will also need to take many liquid forms of vitamins for their lifetime due to the fact that the stomach is now too small to absorb some

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