Transform Your Health with Diabetes: A Second Chance
What is Bariatric Surgery and who is eligible?
Bariatric surgery, which is also known as weight loss surgery, is used sometimes for people who are very obese, to help them lose weight. It results in acute weight loss, thus reversing T2DM and is successful in remission maintenance due to limiting stomach size.
As part of the assessment before weight loss surgery, you may be asked to go on a calorie-controlled diet, in the weeks prior to your surgery, to reduce the size of your liver, making the surgery easier and safer to carry out. This in itself, is almost identical to the Very-Low Carbohydrate Diet and Self-Imposed Calorie Deficit methods, as well as the weight loss that occurs whilst on those options.
To summarise, it is:
- A treatment for those who are very obese (BMI 40 or more/BMI of 35-40 with a obesity-related condition such as T2DM or High Blood Pressure - BP) .
- For those who have tried all other methods (Dieting and Exercise), with no success – it is a last resort and very few patients are approved to have this type of surgery.
As mentioned above, to be eligible, patients must have a BMI of 40 or more, or a BMI of 35-40 with a obesity-related condition such as T2DM or High BP. Patients must also:
- Agree to follow up and attending regular check ups .
If you believe you are eligible, then it is best to speak to your GP who can refer you on for a suitability assessment.
The wait time for Bariatric Surgery is around 18 Months-2 Years, in that time there are other options open to you such as the Cambridge Diet.
Transform Your Health with Diabetes: A Second Chance
What are the different types of Bariatric Surgery?
There are three that offered by the NHS
The three types of Bariatric Surgery that are offered by the NHS are:
- Gastric Bypass – top part of stomach is connected to small intestine, meaning you require less food to be full and less calories are absorbed .
- Gastric Banding - band placed around stomach, meaning you need less food to feel full .
- Sleeve Gastrectomy - part of the stomach is removed, which means you feel fuller, sooner.
All of the above operations lead to significant weight loss of around 10-15kg+ within a few years, however, each of these has advantages and disadvantages.
Transform Your Health with Diabetes: A Second Chance
What are the benefits of Bariatric Surgery?
All types of Bariatric Surgery can help in losing significant amounts of weight, helping to reverse your T2DM; however, each type of surgery has its own unique advantages:
Taken directly from the NHS Bariatric Surgery webpage:
- you usually lose weight more quickly after a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy than after gastric banding
- more people tend to achieve significant weight loss with a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy than with a gastric band
- the risk of serious surgery complications is generally higher for a gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy
- gastric bands are removable, so the operation can be reversed if it causes serious problems
Transform Your Health with Diabetes: A Second Chance
What are the risks of Bariatric Surgery?
Taken directly from the NHS website:
Weight loss surgery carries a small risk of complications.
These include:
being left with excess folds of skin – you may need further surgery to remove these and it is not usually available free of charge on the NHS
- not getting enough vitamins and minerals from your diet – you'll probably need to take supplements for the rest of your life after surgery
- gallstones (small, hard stones that form in the gallbladder)
- a blood clot in the leg (deep vein thrombosis) or lungs (pulmonary embolism)
- the gastric band slipping out of place, food leaking from the join between the stomach and small intestine, or the gut becoming blocked or narrowed
Before having surgery, speak to your surgeon about the possible benefits and risks of the procedure.
If you would like to learn more about Bariatric Surgery, please follow this link, which will take you directly to the NHS Bariatric webpage: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/weight-loss-surgery/