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Losing weight is rarely easy, even for people who only want to lose a few pounds. For people who struggle with weight loss and are classified as morbidly obese, weight-loss surgery can transform their lives. The most common weight-loss surgery is a gastric bypass. Aside from helping people lose weight, gastric bypass surgery can help with other health problems. Continue reading to learn five health problems gastric bypass surgery can reduce or eliminate.
Obesity
Gastric bypass surgery is mainly done to help people classified as morbidly obese lose weight. The main purpose of the surgery is to reduce the size of a person’s stomach, which prevents them from overeating. This operation is usually a last resort when dieting and exercise haven’t work and the patient is suffering from other chronic medical conditions due to their weight.
Heart Disease
Heart disease is one of the most notorious health problems and is one of the leading causes of death. In fact, the Center for Disease Control has estimated that over 600,000 people die from it every year. Gastric bypass surgery has shown significant results in reducing the risk of a person developing cardiovascular disease. Because the patient’s cholesterol and blood pressure go back to normal or relatively close to it after surgery, the risk is significantly lower.
Joint Pain
As strange as it sounds, being obese can actually have an effect on your joints. Being overweight can put an immense amount of stress on the joints. As a result, it can end up causing damage to the joints and pain. Joints in your lower body such as your hips, knees, and ankles as well as your lower back are particularly at risk as the extra pressure can cause them to become inflamed.
To put it in perspective, for every pound of weight gained, the pressure on the knees in increased by four pounds. Undergoing gastric bypass surgery can alleviate chronic joint pain as well as reduce the risk of arthritis.
Diabetes
Gastric bypass surgery not only decreases the likelihood of developing diabetes, but it has also shown to be an effective form of type 2 diabetes treatment. Often, diabetic patients notice an improvement in their symptoms as early as a couple of days after the surgery, even before they notice weight loss.
Although gastric bypass surgery doesn’t eradicate diabetes entirely, it does give people about a three-year remission due to the lack of insulin. Many patients with type 2 diabetes notice a drastic change in their general health and lifestyle after the surgery.
Hypertension
Last, but not least, gastric bypass surgery has proven to significantly reduce hypertension or high blood pressure. Due to being obese, a person’s blood pressure is increased due to the increase in their size. The bigger a person becomes, the more oxygen must be supplied to it, raising their blood pressure. However, when they lose weight, their blood pressure will also diminish back down to healthier levels. If left untreated, hypertension can lead to stroke and other worrying conditions.
Gastric bypass surgery comes with many benefits other than simply improving a person’s weight. In addition to reducing a person’s size, it will also put them at a lesser risk for heart disease, joint pain, arthritis, and high blood pressure, and it can even decrease or cure their symptoms of diabetes.
Those who undergo gastric bypass surgery often see lasting results and are able to more fully live the lives they want. If you’re concerned about your weight or any of these health problems, talk with your doctor about the possibility of gastric bypass surgery and how it can help you.
