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Bariatric Patient Compliance and Weight Loss Surgery in Huntsville, AL

Written on . Posted in Blog.

Bariatric Patient Compliance and Weight Loss Surgery in Huntsville, AL

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The ugly truth about caregiving and medical care today is that relationships between doctors and patients are tense at best. With insurance companies, administrative costs rising at unreasonable rates, little contact between patients and doctors, lawsuits, and outright conspiracy theory levels of suspicion, it is outright infuriating. Especially for doctors who try to convey the importance of medical compliance.  This is especially true when it comes to dangerous procedures like bariatric surgery.

There are horror stories that medical practitioners tell of patients who outright refuse to listen to their doctor. Because either the patient thinks they know better, or they have yet to address underlying psychological and environmental issues that makes the condition worse.  No one likes to be preached at about this. In fact, most people are resistant when it comes to doing what they need to do. However, the consequences of long term damage outweigh the annoyance of someone else speaking up.

So, we are going to be looking at what non-patient compliance looks like in the case of weight loss surgery. We will also look at possible reasons why it is there and what they can do to help.

Obesity and Eating

There are various reasons why weight loss surgery is a need in the first place. Sometimes, it is from a rare genetic condition, other times, it is a reaction to a medication. But those hardly contribute to the 1 in 3 obesity rates in the United States. As a whole, obesity is a chronic and multifaceted condition. So many factors play into it, and unless patients are willing to tackle the most common ones, the surgery is just going to be a temporary solution to a permanent problem.

Binge eating and the abundance of processed foods are the biggest contributors of why people are obese in the first place. There are also environmental factors and traumatic circumstance that can lead to binging behaviors before and long after the surgery. Combine this with the culture that we build around food and we can see why its super hard for people to get in the mindset of a pre and post-surgery liquid diet.

The Pre and Post Op Diet

And it’s understandable that from the perspective of the patient, that it is so hard. But a lot of bariatric patients do not realize just how important it is to follow a that pre and post op liquid diet in the first place. When patients don’t have context for why the restrictive diet is in place, it is almost like they are being punished for needing the surgery in the first place.

However, this is far from the case. There are reasons why doctors and surgeons tell them to follow that diet to the letter before getting weight loss surgery. Most of them are practical. Others are specifically about how our bodies function.

What does Compliance with Diet Do for Me?

  • It Keeps the Weight Off. :
    • The diet does not only serve to prime patients for what to expect to eat during recovery. It is also increases the chances of keeping the weight off long after. The more you keep in contact with your bariatric team, the more likely you will do better.
  • It Prevents Increased Risks of Heart Attacks.:
    • It is no secret that one of the incidental benefits of weight loss surgery is the decrease in heart attack risk. However, when you gain the weight back, the risk goes back up. That risk combined with the trauma you put your body through with the surgery is going to make your situation worse. Much more worse than if you haven’t gone through with it at all.
  • It Adjusts your Eating Habits to your New Size.:
    • Most people don’t realize this but larger people need more energy to function.  According to Cleveland Clinic, ““When you weigh more, you require more calories to function. After bariatric surgery, your metabolism decreases, and your need for calories drops as you lose weight. You can’t eat the same number of calories at 150 pounds that you did at 300 pounds, or you’ll gain weight.”
  • It Helps with Psychological and Mental Health.:
    • Compliance with diets post weight loss surgery means that you are going to need to touch base with your team of doctors more often than not. This includes counseling to possibly address any major eating issues you have and what you can do to help combat them.

Conclusion

When you follow pre and post op diets for weight loss surgery, you are not only increasing your chances of weight loss in the long run, but you are also decreasing your chances of making your experience painful. If you want to talk to a weight loss surgery expert in Huntsville, Al, visit us at www.alabariatrics.com