Financial Complications
Surgery of any kind is going to cost money. Specialty surgery is going to cost more money than normal surgery because of the higher demand for the services and the lower supply of services available. Bariatric weight loss surgery is a specialty surgery that is very expensive for many people and there are many countries in the world that do not have a public health plan and even more that have a public health plan that does not specifically cover the non-essential surgical procedures such as bariatric weight loss surgery. This makes money a complication in the surgical procedure and it is actually a complication that can hurt the procedure as a whole. A person that is stressed out about money is a person that is not focused on losing weight and that can result in the weight being put back on by old bad habits soon after the surgery has taken place.
Medical Complications
Just as surgery of any kind costs money, so too is surgery of any kind dangerous. The antibiotic and anesthetic eras that we are currently in have done a lot to make surgery routine and safe but the fact remains that every time a person has surgery, they are taking a risk to some degree. The bariatric procedure involves the removal of excess fat from the body and if the wrong items are removed then there could be some adverse effects to the patient during their recovery from the surgical procedures. Additionally, anesthetic complications are also possible as they are in any other form of surgery.
Recovery Complications
Recovering from surgery is a very important phase of the surgical timeline and improper behavior during this phase can result in complications. It is important to remember that as a person you will be quite different physiologically after the surgery has commenced and because of that you should ease into your new life rather than jump in head first. Part of the recovery process is making sure that you adhere to a healthy diet and then once the pains of surgery have worn off also making sure that you adhere to a regular exercise program. Doing these two things in tandem will allow you to keep the weight off permanently and prevent the most common recovery complication; not being able to keep the weight off long term.
Conclusion
Many people try weight loss surgery and a lot of the complications that occur are brought on by the person themselves. It can be argued that the biggest complication in weight loss surgery is the surgery not resulting in permanent weight loss but from a scientific point of view only you as the person trying to lose weight have the ability to make the weight loss permanent.
My husband chose this surgery, against my wishes. His lap band was inserted on a Monday afternoon, on Sunday a.m. he was admiited to the emergency where he went to ICU, and he passed away on the Friday. I watched him die over 4 days, the poster child for the slogan “dying to be thin” In that time, his weight gain was 75 lbs, so much so that his eyes were swollen shut, his ears were bulging out from the inside, his kidneys shut down, his blood sugar spiked from all the gluscose being pumped into his body, along with the other 10 – 14 other iv’s running into his body, trying to stop the raging infection that was killing him over the 5 days. so now my husband fits into a box on the mantle,
Oh my God Sharon, I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for posting this. I don’t think words can console you. I pray for your peace and hope you are compensated although no amount of money can bring back your beloved. So sorry.
Hello Sharon, I am so sorry for your loss. I know you must be devistated and heartbroken. I too am overweight and searching for options. I have dieted all my life and have gone up and down, unable to keep any weight off for a long period of time. I was looking into the lap band procedure when I came accross your comment. I would like to know if your husbands’ case was related to the lap band or the gastric bypass procedure. Thank you so much.