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The following identifies areas that will be important for patients to follow after weight loss surgery.

Diet

The modifications made to your gastrointestinal tract will require permanent changes in your eating habits that must be adhered to for successful weight loss. Post-surgery dietary guidelines will vary by surgeon. You may hear of other patients who are given different guidelines following their weight loss surgery. It is important to remember that every surgeon does not perform the exact same weight loss surgery procedure and that the dietary guidelines will be different for each surgeon and each type of procedure. What is most important is that you adhere strictly to your surgeon's recommended guidelines. The following are some of the generally accepted dietary guidelines a weight loss surgery patient may encounter:

Going Back to Work

Your ability to resume pre-surgery levels of activity will vary according to your physical condition, the nature of the activity and the type of weight loss surgery you had. Many patients return to full pre-surgery levels of activity within weeks of their procedure. Patients who have had a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure may be able to return to these activities within a week.

Birth Control & Pregnancy

It is strongly advised that women of childbearing age use the most effective forms of birth control during the first 16 to 24 months after weight loss surgery. The added demands pregnancy places on your body and the potential for fetal damage make this a most important requirement. If you undergo Gastric Bypass, these should consist of “barrier” techniques (condom, diaphragm) or implantable hormonal therapy. The ability of oral birth control medications to be predictably absorbed after gastric bypass is uncertain. Gastric Banding should have no effect on birth control medication absorption.

Long-Term Follow-Up

Although the short-term effects of weight loss surgery are well understood, there are still questions to be answered about the long-term effects on nutrition and body systems. Nutritional deficiencies that occur over the course of many years will need to be studied. Over time, you will need periodic checks for anemia (low red blood cell count) and Vitamin B12, Folate and iron levels. Follow-up tests will initially be conducted every few months or as needed, and then every one to two years.

Support Groups

The widespread use of support groups has provided weight loss surgery patients an excellent opportunity to discuss their various personal and professional issues. Most learn, for example, that weight loss surgery will not immediately resolve existing emotional issues or heal the years of damage that morbid obesity might have inflicted on their emotional well-being.

WOW Support Group Meeting Schedule:

Meetings are held at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, in conference rooms A & B, at 12:00pm on the following dates in 2008:

Everyone is invited to attend!

Sutter Roseville is located at One Medical Plaza in Roseville, just off Interstate 80.

WOW Online:

"WOW Online" is an interactive, fully moderated support group/message board system. It is a place for our patients to share their experiences with one another. WOW Online also serves as a searchable research device. For user information, or to gain access to WOW Online you must be a patient of SALSA. Please email us at WOW@salsa.md and our staff will assist you.

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