Tag: gastric sleeve surgery

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition where food from the stomach re-enters a patient’s esophagus. Conventionally, GERD should reduce after a gastric bypass, but there are cases where the procedure makes it even worse. You may experience GERD as you try to recover from gastric bypass surgery, so how are GERD and bariatric surgery connected? How can you treat it?

What Is the Relationship Between GERD and Gastric Bypass?

Are you wondering if gastric bypass and acid reflux are connected? When you undergo surgery, it alters the normal shape of the stomach, changing how food usually travels through your digestive system. It is expected that the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) will also be affected. This is the muscle ring at the end of the esophagus, which opens when food enters the stomach and closes to prevent the particles from re-entering. However, when it fails to work, food contents from the stomach find their way back to the esophagus, which causes symptoms of GERD or acid reflux after gastric bypass surgery.

How Does Bariatric Surgery Affect the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES)?

There are various ways that the LES can be tampered with during surgery. For instance, the angle where it meets the stomach may flatten, making it easier for food to travel back to the esophagus. Similarly, if there is excessive pressure in the stomach, it may exert the same pressure on the muscles, forcing them open. Lastly, acid reflux may occur because food post-surgery stays in the stomach for too long. 

How to Treat Gerd After Gastric Bypass

If you are suffering from excruciating acid reflux after surgery, it is crucial to seek immediate medical attention. Doctors recommend  PPIs (Proton Pump Inhibitors), which go a long way to reduce the excessive production of acid in the stomach. They may also prescribe prokinetic agents to make the LES contractions and the contractions along the tract stronger.

If you have severe GERD and medication doesn’t seem to work, then doctors will recommend surgery. They can perform RYGB or LINX surgeries or the Stretta procedure. You should see a doctor immediately when you detect acid reflux; otherwise, you risk complications like inflammation of the esophagus, peptic strictures (narrow esophagus), or esophageal cancer. 

Seek Professional Help to Deal With GERD After Gastric Sleeve Surgery

Are you interested in undergoing a gastric bypass in Manhattan? Or have you had one but need surgery to treat severe acid reflux? Consult with our professionals from Lennox Hill Hospital today for a safe bariatric surgery and treatment of acid reflux, GERD, and other post-gastric bypass complications.

Gastric sleeve surgery is one of the most highly requested weight loss procedures by patients worldwide, thanks to its high rate of efficiency. However, like any other surgery, it also comes with potential risks, like back pain and leakages. If you have just undergone one, it helps to know the gastric sleeve leak symptoms and how to prevent such complications.

What Happens During Gastrointestinal Leaks After a Gastric Sleeve?

Leakages post-surgery cause severe complications for patients, which manifest differently based on the case. There are two types of leaks: staple lines and anastomotic. With an anastomotic leak, the condition occurs where the stomach has been stapled. Usually, it happens when patients have undergone surgery before or are suffering from diabetes. On the other hand, leaks along the staple lines occur along the staples after surgery. This is more common among patients struggling with alcoholism or severe cases of obesity.  

Signs of a Gastric Sleeve Leak

Gastric sleeve symptoms of a leak are easy to detect, the most common one being abdominal pain, ranging from mild to severe pain. You may also experience other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills, chest pain, and respiratory distress. You should know how to detect the leak symptoms after gastric sleeve early and seek immediate medical attention. Otherwise, failure to recognize them makes them worse. You risk further complications like septic shock, gastric ulcers, and organ failure.

What to Do When You Suspect That You Have a Gastric Sleeve Leak

If you have noticed any of the symptoms above, the next step is to consult with your doctor. You should seek treatment immediately to avoid the situation escalating. Usually, doctors prescribe antibiotics to patients and other treatments for the infection, but in severe cases, treatment involves repair surgery.

Prevention is the best way to avoid such complications. Ensure that you take adequate rest after surgery and listen to your doctor as you follow the instructions to guarantee speedy recovery. Also, don’t skip any follow-ups with your doctors for frequent monitoring, and to be safe, remember to seek medical attention whenever you detect any of the leak symptoms.

Consult the Professionals

Are you thinking about undergoing a gastric sleeve in New York? Are you experiencing signs that you may have a post-surgery leak? Consult with our surgeons at Lennox Hill Hospital to find the way forward and the best treatment methods to get you back on your feet to continue your weight loss journey.

Bariatric surgery is the answer if you are looking for an effective way to lose weight within a short time when other methods seem to fail. But what happens when you have undergone a gastric bypass but are yet to lose your target weight? Can you get a lap band after a gastric bypass instead of a full correctional surgery? Here’s what to know.

Can You Have a Lap Band After Gastric Bypass?

As advised by a surgeon, you can get lap band surgery after undergoing a gastric bypass. It is a procedure otherwise known as a band over bypass, and although not very popular, it is quite simple to get done. In most cases, patients opt for the band over gastric bypass at least a year later.

Why Go for a Band Over Bypass Surgery?

Patients undergo gastric bypass to help lose weight, and if that doesn’t happen, they opt for corrective surgeries. However, instead of redoing the entire process, doctors recommend going for a lap band surgery, which also works but is not as complex as a gastric bypass. The main reason why you can have a lap band surgery after a gastric bypass is if you didn’t lose your target weight after the initial surgery. It is also ideal if you feel like your weight has plateaued or you are starting to add more weight.

How Does a Band Over Bypass Surgery Work?

This procedure is also a laparoscopic surgery—the same as a lap band. Here, the surgeon makes small incisions in the abdomen and then ties your stomach pouch with the gastric band. As a result, the new stomach pouch will now hold even less food. The goal is to limit the patient’s food intake, which goes a long way to prevent overeating and, in turn, facilitates weight loss. It is an effective solution to keep you feeling full and reducing your food intake. It is also lauded for being a safer option than the conventional revisional procedures.

Lap Band Surgery After a Gastric Bypass

Have you previously undergone a gastric bypass but fear that it may have failed? Is your weight stagnant or increasing by the day, and you are uncertain about getting a correctional procedure? When you consult our surgeons from Lennox Hill Hospital, we will advise you on the best way forward, often recommending lap band surgery in NYC as a simpler and safer solution.

Have you or someone you know undergone a gastric sleeve procedure? If so, you need to understand the road to recovery in the first few weeks comes with a few challenges, including one common one: halitosis or bad breath. Luckily, this side effect doesn’t last that long. So, what causes bad breath after bariatric surgery?

GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)

When undergoing a gastric sleeve, a large part of the stomach is removed, and in turn, there is less space for the food to go through the digestive tract. It must travel quite slowly and sometimes gets stuck in the process, leading to acid buildup in the stomach. The more the acid flows back and up into the mouth, the more it causes bad breath.

There is good news about this, however. It is treatable and is only a minor side effect that goes away after some time. There are prescription drugs you can take to reduce the condition, and luckily, the more you recover, the more your body gets used to the new stomach and finds natural ways to avoid acid reflux.

Ketosis

The state of ketosis in your body, which happens when the body opts to burn fat instead of glucose, changes after bariatric surgery. This is one of the wins of the procedure because it helps you drastically lose weight. However, in the process, the body releases ketones containing acetone as a by-product, an element known to have a fruity smell that can be considered foul.

Dehydration

Many patients suffer from bad breath after gastric sleeve surgery due to dehydration. You may forget to drink water because of your diet changes; you feel full faster and only intake small amounts of water. When this happens, it is challenging to rinse away bacteria, leaving the odor in your mouth.

Fortunately, a few tips help reduce the chances of bad breath after your surgery.

1. Maintain drinking the recommended eight glasses of water throughout the day in spaced-out amounts.
2. Avoid eating acidic meals and fizzy drinks, and have antacid tablets around.
3. Brush and floss your teeth after every meal, and clean your tongue.
4. Chew sugar-free gum throughout the day to help produce saliva to fight off bacteria in your mouth.

Read More: Is It Okay To Chew Gum After Bariatric Surgery?

Contact an Expert for Your Bariatric Surgery

When you have a trusted team of NYC bariatric surgery experts from Lenox Hill Hospital on your side, you never have to worry about side effects of the procedure, like bad breath. You have experts to guide you through surgery preparation, the surgery, and recovery.