Surgery Overview
Restrictive operations like gastric sleeve surgery make the stomach
smaller and help people lose weight. With a smaller stomach, you will feel full a lot quicker than you are
used to. This means that you will need to make big lifelong changes in how you
eat—including smaller portion sizes and different foods—in order to lose
weight.
This surgery can be done by making a large
incision in the abdomen (an open procedure) or by making several small
incisions and using small instruments and a camera to guide the surgery ( approach). More than half of your stomach is removed, leaving a thin vertical sleeve, or tube, that is about the size of a banana. Surgical staples keep your new stomach closed. Because part of your stomach has been removed, this is not reversible.
Sometimes this surgery is part of a larger approach to weight loss done in several steps. If you need to lose a lot of weight before you have duodenal switch surgery, gastric sleeve surgery may help you.
What To Expect After Surgery
You will have some belly pain and may need pain medicine for the first week or so after surgery. The cut that the doctor makes (incision) may be tender and sore.
Because the surgery makes your stomach smaller, you will get full more quickly when you eat. Food also may empty into the small intestine too quickly. This is called dumping syndrome. It can cause diarrhea and make you feel faint, shaky, and nauseated. It also can make it hard for your body to get enough nutrition.
Your doctor will
give you specific instructions about what to eat after the surgery. For about the
first month after surgery, your stomach can only handle small amounts of soft foods and liquids while you are healing. It is important to
try to sip water throughout the day to avoid becoming dehydrated. You may
notice that your bowel movements are not regular right after your surgery. This
is common. Try to avoid constipation and straining with bowel movements.
Bit by bit, you will be able to add solid foods back into your diet. You
must be careful to chew food well and to stop eating when you feel full. This
can take some getting used to, because you will feel full after eating much
less food than you are used to eating. If you do not chew your food well or do
not stop eating soon enough, you may feel discomfort or nausea and may
sometimes vomit. If you drink a lot of high-calorie liquid such as soda or
fruit juice, you may not lose weight. If you continually overeat, the stomach may
stretch. If your stomach stretches, you will not benefit from your surgery.