Symptoms are changes that are deviant from normal feeling or being that a person experiences when there is an abnormality or ongoing pathology in the body. They bring to attention that all is not well in the body. Symptoms are subjective and their intensity can only be estimated by the patient?s description. There is no objective way of measuring the severity of symptoms. Symptoms can be of acute onset or chronic in nature depending on the length of the disease process. Chief symptoms also referred to as presenting complains are what prompts an individual to seek the services of a health provider. Some symptoms are general and do not point to any disease in particular. These are known as constitutional symptoms and examples include malaise, loss of appetite, and weight loss among others. In response to a patient?s symptoms, the doctor elicits signs that are related to what the patient presented with. Signs are objective and measurable. Symptoms, signs and investigations are all considered when the diagnosis is made.

Solid Foods after Bariatric Surgery

Like the other phases of the post-bariatric surgery diet, the exact timing of Phase III of your diet will vary. Phase III of your diet typically starts at the beginning of week 5 and continues for the rest of your life. The goal is to choose healthy, balanced meals and make lifestyle changes to become the new healthy you. You should continue to follow your previous routine that you used for previous diet phases for meal times and vitamin supplementation.

Surgical Concerns

The following instructions are essential to a safe experience and good outcome. If you are unable to comply with these instructions, you must notify our office as soon as possible. As a result, your surgery may have to be postponed or delayed, at the judgment of Dr. Belsley. This is essential to your health and safety. Stress and anxiety over life’s daily events and even your planned surgery can affect you. While some anxiety is common, any serious stress or distress over the thought of surgery is something you must discuss with our office. We are here to support you and answer all of your questions. We want your decision to be one made with confidence.

Recovery

DAY OF SURGERY POST-SURGERY INSTRUCTIONS

Your recovery must continue at home. Just because you are sent home after your operation does not mean that you have completed your recovery. Please take time out of your busy schedule to allow enough time to take care of yourself.

Clear Liquid Diet

Phase I – Liquid Diet Guidelines after your operation

You will be on this phase for at least 2 weeks after your surgery. You will feel full from liquids and may not meet your fluid goals the first few days. During this phase you must consume liquid only and avoid all solid foods. Your primary source of energy and protein will be protein shakes.

Preparation

Pre-operative testing and medical clearance

The pace of life in New York can be very hectic. Try to remember that your decision for surgery reflects the fact that you have decided to take a proactive step to fix a health problem. Do not be shy about asking for help from your family and loved ones.

When to Call

Surgery is stressful not only psychologically but also physiologically. There are a number of normal, well-defined stress responses that occur after surgery. These stress responses cause alterations in your metabolic and physiological processes and induce changes in your inflammatory and hormonal responses.

Day of Surgery

THE DAY BEFORE SURGERY

A woman measuring her waist to hip ratio — Your actual time in the operating room is typicall

Challenges After Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric surgery does not change your life in terms of job, family and other psychosocial aspects. If some areas of your life are causing you to eat you might want to take a step back and evaluate the situation. You must try very hard not to use food as an outlet. Set consistent meal times and follow that routine. People tend to bury their feelings in food. Food is often used as a comfort source for many emotions. It’s like our best friend. Bariatric surgery provides a tool to control your portion sizes and combined with our program, can teach you to choose your foods wisely.

Revisional Bariatric Surgery

Current thinking is that revisional operations do not work very well and for that reason they are reserved for unique cases. As with many things in surgery, much depends on the circumstances and the available options, some of which we’ll describe below. In any case, I strongly suggest that patients return to their original surgeon who performed their first operation, as every surgeon individualizes the digestive arrangements in a particular manner. The only revisional operation I regularly perform is for patients who have a failed laparoscopic gastric banding. Those patients may benefit from having the band removed and then converting to a gastric bypass or a gastric sleeve.

Paraesophageal

The hiatus is a normal opening in the muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen which moves up and down with breathing. Although the hiatus is a normal opening, there are occasions when this opening enlarges and the stomach or other organs can slip up inside the chest. This occasion of an abnormally large opening of the hiatus is called a hiatal hernia. Paraesophageal hernias account for only 5% of all hiatal hernias. A paraesophageal hernia is a type of hiatal hernia where the junction of the stomach and the esophagus remains in place, but part of the stomach is squeezed up into the chest beside the esophagus.