Understanding the reasons for gastric bypass or sleeve surgery
The struggle of excess weight
Our clients come to us because they have had trouble losing excess weight—and there are many reasons for this to become an issue. Everyone has their own story and journey. Often, the common factor is a brain that encourages them to eat more than necessary to maintain a healthy weight.
There are a number of variables that may contribute to this: genetics, pregnancy, environment, family and culture, along with psychological factors. Habits and lifestyles are created and become ingrained and very difficult to change.
Once a certain weight is reached, famine response mechanisms can make dieting impossible, often resulting in a bounce back to a higher weight. For the vast majority of these cases, gastric bypass or sleeve surgery has been found by far to be the best solution.
The videos here explain this more.
Gastric bypasses and sleeves, and other metabolic and bariatric surgery options are a tool that jump-start change. But for long-term success, it’s crucial to use other tools too. Whilst the operation works very well in the short-term, a significant number of people will very quickly start the fight against the subconscious brain all over again. That’s why we ensure that our gastric bypass and sleeve patients understand the need to work on their mindset and habits, making permanent changes to their subconscious.
Simply put, the reasons that you struggled with excess weight will not disappear post-surgery. Our stringent pre-surgery checklists and multidisciplinary care are intended to provide the highest possible chances of long-term success to all our gastric surgery patients.
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Once you decide you want to proceed with gastric sleeve or bypass surgery, please obtain a GP referral to Tailor Clinics.
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Once we receive your referral, we will contact you to make your four consecutive appointments. The initial consultations will be carried out over one to two days and will cover all aspects of the pre, intro, and post-surgical phases. This includes the initial consultation with the bariatric nurse and the surgeon, who will discuss the surgical options available to you fully, along with the risks and complications associated with these.
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After seeing the bariatric nurse and the surgeon, you will be required to see the dietitian or nutritionist and the psychologist.
The initial consultations with our team assess your general health, specifically looking at any co-morbidities (associated medical conditions) relating to your weight. We will outline the different surgical procedures available and the complications and risks (including death) of these, along with preventive measures. We will educate you on nutrition pre- and post-bariatric surgery, and support you with tools and strategies to enable you to deal with physical and emotional changes and challenges. We strongly encourage you to ask questions and we will endeavour to answer these questions adequately and honestly.
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Successful gastric sleeve or bypass surgery requires close follow-up with the surgical team. This includes regular appointments at 6 weeks, 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months and then, preferably, annually. However, your GP may take over your care after a year. You may at times require more frequent visits.
These follow-up appointments can include prior blood tests and occasionally other studies/investigations in order to monitor and maintain your health. We encourage you to be seen regularly by your GP and other specialists as required for the management of any medical conditions such as diabetes, sleep apnoea, high blood pressure, or any other disease that may have resulted from excess weight.
All forms of bariatric surgery are a tool: not a cure, miracle, or guarantee. Recurrent weight gain is very possible, but we do our best to equip you for ongoing success with our approach of multidisciplinary care.