The Vital Importance Of Taking Supplements After Weight Loss Surgery
One of the problems with many forms of weight loss surgery, and in particular absorptive forms of surgery such as the Roux-en-Y and vertical sleeve gastrectomy with duodenal switch, is that gastric bypass surgery not only reduces the number of calories which the body can absorb from the food eaten, but also prevents the take-up of the necessary level of vitamins and minerals. For this reason, anybody undergoing bariatric surgery must take vitamin and mineral supplements for the remainder of their life.
Just how important this is was demonstrated by the recent publication of a study showing that a number of patients who had failed to take the supplements prescribed following surgery developed a condition known as Wernicke encephalopathy. This is a serious, though entirely preventable, brain illness brought on by a deficiency of thiamine, a B complex vitamin.
For weight loss surgery patients who fail to take post-operative supplements, and in particular for women under the age of 55, the illness normally appears within one to three months of surgery, although it can appear many months post-operatively, and is characterized by vomiting, a lack of coordination, confusion and involuntary eye movements, which can lead to limited vision. If untreated, the condition can prove fatal.
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