After the operation, you may first eat liquids. Over the next four weeks, the diet is gradually adjusted. You can eat soft food about 4 days after the operation, and then increasingly other foods after 14 days. After four weeks, a transition to a normal full diet can take place.
It is extremely important to completely change your eating habits after obesity surgery. It is not mandatory to follow a specific diet, but the amount and type of food should definitely be adjusted. The nutritionists in our network will help you with this.
Pain can occur in the first few days after the operation and feels like sore muscles in the area of the scars. If this is the case, you will be given painkillers.
Enlargement of the pouch is extremely rare in gastric bypass surgery.
In the case of a gastric sleeve, on the other hand, there can be a dilatation, an enlargement or stretching of the rest of the stomach. This expansion can be triggered by continued dietary errors, for example when a patient does not follow the instructions of the nutritionist advising him postoperatively and eats uncontrollably. In extreme cases, the gastric tube can expand 1 to 2 years after the operation.
It is usually not necessary to take medication after the procedure. After the operation, however, the body must be given lifelong multivitamin preparations to prevent deficiency symptoms and to replace missing vitamins and minerals. Since you have to bear the costs yourself, we would be happy to advise you on cost-effective options.
As a rule, patients lose a lot of weight very quickly within the first 6 to 12 months. With a gastric sleeve it is 50 – 60% of the excess weight and with a gastric bypass even 60 – 70%. The results also depend on the change in your everyday life and eating habits.
After the operation, physical exhaustion and tiredness often appear at first, but this improves after about 4 weeks. You and your employer should be prepared for this. As a rule, you are on sick leave for two to four weeks after obesity surgery.
In the first postoperative months, increased hair loss can occur due to the rapid weight loss and the vitamin and protein deficiency. This condition normalizes again as soon as the weight loss no longer progresses so quickly and the vitamin stores and trace elements have normalized again through needs-based nutrition and multivitamin preparations.
After bariatric surgery, the absorption and utilization of alcohol changes. After drinking the same amount of alcohol, the bariatrically operated patient has significantly higher blood alcohol concentrations, which then also fall much more slowly. So the “1 glass rule” no longer applies.
If you are very overweight, such an operation may be necessary after bariatric surgery. You can always clarify more details in the follow-up appointments with your treating doctors.
After the procedure, there is standardized follow-up care that includes all areas such as nutritional advice and physical and psychological support. As a patient, you undertake to participate in the aftercare program even before the procedure.
After obesity surgery, fertility increases very rapidly. We therefore advise you to use reliable contraception for 18 – 24 months after the operation, for example with an IUD. The other contraceptives are not very safe during this time. In the first few months after the operation, there is a great loss of weight and changes in the body. It is therefore very difficult to provide the expectant child with enough vitamins and calories to avoid damage.
After this period, pregnancy is possible. However, intensive medical checks of the vitamins and trace elements are also necessary so that you give birth to a healthy child.
