Below are the frequently asked questions regarding undergoing bariatric surgery with Mexico Bariatric Center. If these questions don’t answer your own, please contact us with your question in mind.
Pain and Discomfort
What is done Postoperatively to Minimize Pain and Discomfort?
How is Nausea is Treated Postoperatively?
Why is It a Bad Idea to Bring Your Own Medication?
Why Does One Feel More Pain Than Another?
What can Patients do to Minimize Discomfort?
What Happens if Patients Go Back Home, and Has Pain that Can’t Be Relieved?
Is Removal of the Drain Painful?
What is the Average Pain Time Period I Can Expect?
What Medications Should Post-Bariatric Surgery Patients Avoid?
Endoscopy
What is Endoscopy? Is it Painful? What Are the Risks?
What Symptoms Would Indicate the Need for Endoscopy?
How Often Should Lap-Band Patients Have Endoscopy?
What is the Role of Endoscopy in Bariatric Surgery?
How has Endoscopy Helped You?
Gastric Bypass Surgery
Who is a Candidate for Gastric Bypass Surgery? Minimum Age?
What is the Minimum Age for Gastric Bypass?
What Are the Risks of Gastric Bypass Surgery?
What are the Complications During and After Gastric Bypass Surgery
Why Are Some People Not Hungry After Gastric Bypass Surgery?
What is the Dumping Syndrome? How to Avoid?
What is Care is Required for Gastric Bypass Surgery?
What Are the Advantages of Gastric Bypass over Other Bariatric Surgeries?
What Options Do Gastric Bypass Patients Have for Revision Surgery?
How can a Stoma Be Fixed?
Why Does a Gastric Bypass Fail, and What Are the Options?
What are the options if VSG or vertical sleeve gastrectomy, has an enlarged pouch?
Revision from Lap-Band to Sleeve
Do You Recommend Lap-Band to Gastric Sleeve Revision Surgery
What Are the Risks of Revision from Lap-Band to Sleeve?
How Risky Would it Be to Remove the Band Alone, and Not Revise?
What are the Benefits of Revision From Gastric Band to Gastric Sleeve?
What are the options for revision if Lap-Band Surgery Fails?
Gastric Balloon Surgery
Do You use Gastric Balloon Surgery?
Can Gastric Balloon be used on Gastric Bypass or Gastric Sleeve Patients?
Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Who is a Candidate for Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
What Are the Risks for First-Time Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery?
Is there a Drain After Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
What is the ongoing Medical Maintenance of Sleeve Gastrectomy Patients?
What Is the Age Requirements for Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
How Many Nights Do Patients Need to Stay in the Hospital After Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
What are the Complications of Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
Will People Have Acid Reflex After Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
Dumping Syndrome, How Often does it occur?
How Long Should Patients Stay in the Hospital After Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
If Gastric Sleeve Doesn’t Work For a Patient, What Are the Options?
Can a Patient Re-Sleeve if the Pouch Stretches?
What size bougie is typical for gastric sleeve?
How many leak tests are provided?
Are silk sutures done after the staples?
Metabolic Surgery
What is Metabolic Surgery?
How does Metabolic Surgery Work?
What Surgery is Best to treat Metabolic Syndrome?
Dieting
When Can Patients Resume a Normal Eating Habits?
Can I have Sugar in My Diet?
Are Artificial Sweeteners Okay to Consume?
Is it safe to drink Carbonated Beverages?
Can patients drink alcohol after surgery?
When should I start my pre-op diet?
Bariatric Surgeons and Industry
Which Bariatric Surgery Should I Choose?
When a Patient Says that they Are Going to Choose a Surgeon With No Complications, how do you Respond to that?
What is the Future of the Bariatric Surgery?
Why Choose a Joint Commission International Accredited Hospital?
How Should I choose a Bariatric Surgeon in Mexico?
Revision Surgery
Who Should Consider Revision Surgery?
What Are the Risks of Revision Surgery?
What are Adhesions? Why do they happen and how do you repair them?
What is the BMI requirement for a Revision Patient?
What are the options for Revision Gastric Sleeve Plication?
After Bariatric Surgery
I know walking is important after surgery. Are there any other activities I can do that are easier?
What is the chance of developing abdominal hernia after surgery?
How do I take care of my incisions?
Can I become pregnant after my weight loss surgery?
How do you know If I have a leak? What are the symptoms and how likely am I to get a leak?
What is the right amount of exercise I should be doing after the weight loss surgery?
What happens to the lower part of the stomach that is bypassed?
If I get staples, will I be able to have a MRI test?
Do I have to follow my diet after surgery, including pureed food diet?
Can I eat pain free after immediately following my surgery?
Miscellaneous
What Lifestyle Changes need to be made to ensure Success?
Is there a way that Patients can prevent leaks?
How Long after surgery, can patients resume their normal activities?
What Weight-Loss Surgery would allow me to safely have a Pregnancy?
Some surgeons are not using drains, and some patients will go on forums and say that they’ll choose a surgeon based on this fact. Why are Drains Important?
Can Patients Become Too Thin?
What About Constipation after Bariatric Surgery?
What kind of Maintenance is Required after Surgery
What company is in charge of making arrangements?
Can I have the surgery while on my menstrual period and does it matter if I am a heavy bleeder?
Mexico Bariatric Center Process
What expenses will I have while there in Tijuana?
What are the Arrival times?
How many days after surgery do I stay in the hospital?
How many days at the hotel?
Name of Hospital?
Name of Hotel?
Do I have to stay 2 additional nights at the hotel after surgery?
Can I come alone?
Can I bring someone with me?
Pain and Discomfort
Most Patients are concerned with pain, but pain should not be a concern after bariatric surgery. We can treat all pain levels. Most pain for patients is on the scale between 6 or 7 for the first 12 to 24 hours. Read our FAQs on Pain Below:
What is done Postoperatively to Minimize Pain and Discomfort? – Back to Top
Answer: We use different pain relievers. One is left in the abdominal cavity, and numbs the abdominal cavity. Another pain reliever is constantly passing through the IV. We use a third on every six or every eight hours, as needed. We use the forth one in case of severe pain.
How is Nausea is Treated Postoperatively? – Back to Top
We treat nausea just before the nausea starts. We use special medications that are designed to combat nausea. Because of this it is less common, than before, that patients experience nausea. We have a rate of about 3 to 4% who experience nausea. It also depends on the procedure, for example, sleeve gastrectomy might have more nausea than lap-band or gastric bypass. But we combat this through IV shots of administered medication. If Patients Still Experience Nausea, What Options are there? We can use another pain reliever, or more of the same prescribed.
Why is It a Bad Idea to Bring Your Own Medication? – Back to Top
It can creat ulcers or even bleeding – especially oral medication. Leave your medication at home, we will take care of your pain management.
Why Does One Feel More Pain Than Another? – Back to Top
Look at pain threshold as a fence. If you have a low fence, which is a low pain threshold, anything can cross it. If you have a high fence, or a high pain threshold, only few things can cross it. So this is why patients feel different pain levels regarding the same or different surgeries. People have different pain thresholds, and therefore feel different pain levels. What if patients have low pain thresholds? Should you talk to your bariatric physician beforehand? If patients have low pain thresholds, our goal is to stop pain before we even start the surgery. Talk to your physicians before to ensure that we know you have a low threshold. So pain is easy to handle after surgery.
What can Patients do to Minimize Discomfort? – Back to Top
Walk. Most of the discomfort is because of the gas right after surgery. So patients must walk and/or move around as much as they can right after surgery.
What Happens if Patients Go Back Home, and Has Pain that Can’t Be Relieved? – Back to Top
It’s very rare for that to happen. If that happens, they must call me first. It’s important to find a physician that can handle this pain. But most of time when patients go back home, their pain level out of 10 is around 1 or 2.
Is Removal of the Drain Painful? – Back to Top
No, it’s a new drain that is not painful. It might feel weird that something is moving inside – but it’s not painful.
What is the Average Pain Time Period I Can Expect? – Back to Top
We are having happier patients because we are using new medicine, patient feel pain on the scale of 2 or 3 on a scale of 10.
What Medications Should Post-Bariatric Surgery Patients Avoid? – Back to Top
It will depend on the restriction of the surgery, the more the restriction the less medication. We don’t want patient to have too much pain-killers, too much anti-inflammatory drugs. There will be certain medications that will be mandatory for the patients. Some pills will be larger and thus harder to swallow, but before you go in and break up the medication. You should as your physician or pharmacist to see if you can. If the pill is extended release, breaking up a pill would cause a lot of medicine within a short period of time – which can be harmful.
Endoscopy
What is Endoscopy? Is it Painful? What Are the Risks? – Back to Top
Endoscopy is a diagnostics tool, with a special camera attached to it that records video, we use the tool to to go in the mouth to the esophagus to make biopsy or to record video. It helps us to record the stomach. It offers us to visualize the upper digestive track. Is it Painful? Answer: We use sedation with this procedure. Patients don’t remember the procedure or feel any pain. Most endoscopies last just 10 to 15 minutes. What are the Risks Answer: The complication rate for endoscopy is very rare – it’s 0.001%.
What Symptoms Would Indicate the Need for Endoscopy? – Back to Top
If patients are having revision surgery, patients must have an endoscopy. If patients are removing Lap-Band, it is also required to have endoscopy. It helps us look for ulcers or things that can change the procedure patients will undergo. Post-operative with Gastric Sleeve or Gastric Bypass, if patients are having difficulties with their surgeries endoscopy would be required. If patients are losing too much weight, or having trouble with certain foods – we need to see what exactly is going on.
How Often Should Lap-Band Patients Have Endoscopy? – Back to Top
It depends on symptoms. For Lap-Band patients it’s better to have upper GI Tract X-ray, than endoscopy. But if we expect erosion then we would use endoscopy. There isn’t a regular maintenance or schedule to have endoscopy.
What is the Role of Endoscopy in Bariatric Surgery? – Back to Top
We do endoscopy in any revision surgery. The endoscpy works because we need to see if we have any intragastric complications in the band, we need to see if the band is eroded. If we have a another problem, we’ll use endoscopy to check out the issues.
How has Endoscopy Helped You? – Back to Top
Recently, I’ve become more experienced in endoscopy so I’m ready for a host of other bariatric surgeries that will use endoscopy. I can see in the next few years that endoscopy will become a useful weight loss tool.
Gastric Bypass Surgery
Gastric Bypass typically isn’t a painful surgery and also depends on individual pain threshold. It requires at least two-nights in the hospital. Leak rates are less than 1%. There are two tests for leaks that we do. We do a third leak test after the surgery.
Who is a Candidate for Gastric Bypass Surgery? Minimum Age? – Back to Top
People with BMIs over 40 are sustainable. As well as BMIs with 35 as well as co-morbidities include diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc.
What is the Minimum Age for Gastric Bypass? – Back to Top
Answer: The NIH consensus in 1991 says from 18 to 65 years old, BMI 35 to 40 with related co-morbidities. But I’ve done patients under 18 with evaluation of motives and disciplines as well as psychological evaluations. I’ve done surgeries between 13 and 18 years old with good results.
What Are the Risks of Gastric Bypass Surgery? – Back to Top
The risk factors depend in the medical condition of each patients. Do they have heart conditions, sleep apnea, hypertension. Some patients might have problems with previous surgeries. Some patients might have asthma or allergies.
What are the Complications During and After Gastric Bypass Surgery? – Back to Top
During the surgery, it is rare to see complications. Sometimes there is bleeding, but that is easily fixed. Main complications are bleeding and leaking and occur about 1%. This can sometimes cause infections or other serious conditions.
Why Are Some People Not Hungry After Gastric Bypass Surgery? – Back to Top
We don’t remove anything from the stomach, we just reorganize in the upper part of the gastrointestinal track. So when we create a pouch and separate the stomach, it decreases the secretion of ghrelin. Ghrelin is the hormone that creates hungry in patients and when it decreases the patients doesn’t feel as much hunger as before. And that is part of the action method of gastric bypass. How Long Can This Last: It can last around a year, but a lot of patients can have this for two years or so.
What is the Dumping Syndrome? How to Avoid? – Back to Top
Dumping syndrome is when undigested foods gets to the small intestines, and this reacts with the fluid in the small intestines.
Patients feel dizziness, nausea, pain, bloating, diarrhea or drop in blood pressure. Patients can experience these symptoms all together or separately. Some patients might have this the first year, but only 15% of patients will have dumping syndrome forever. They won’t be able to tolerate fat or sugar – regular sugar. How can this Be Managed? How to Avoid Dumping Syndrome? They must avoid fatty foods and regular sugar.
What is Care is Required for Gastric Bypass Surgery? – Back to Top
Track your weight loss, take vitamins and minerals, as well as protein. The first year after gastric bypass, you need to go to your primary care physician to take a blood work up.
What Are the Advantages of Gastric Bypass over Other Bariatric Surgeries? – Back to Top
This is the first bariatric surgery with the most long-term studies. There are five, ten or fifteen years of studies done with Gastric Bypass Surgery. But with Sleeve Gastrectomy, there is less follow up because it’s so new. Gastric Banding Surgery, on average, provides less weight loss than gastric bypass.
What Options Do Gastric Bypass Patients Have for Revision Surgery? – Back to Top
We have three things I prefer to do in these patients. First, if the endoscopy shows the opening is wider than usual then, we can inject special medication to decrease the output of the stomach to create restriction again. Second, the most common way is put a band over the stomach to create restriction. The last way, which is less used, is to increase the amount of (Unknown). It is more risky, it has a report of 10 to 15% mortality rate.
How can a Stoma Be Fixed? – Back to Top
An endoscopic injection can fix your stoma. You might need two or more injections to create restrictions if you have pouch enlargement.
Why Does a Gastric Bypass Fail, and What Are the Options? – Back to Top
Pouch enlargement, or enlargement of the intestines are the common causes of failure. This can be treated by doing revision surgery. Some surgeons like to put a gastric band on the stomach to help decrease the weight in the next couple of months or years. Some people ask whether doing a duodenal switch after gastric bypass is acceptable. Some surgeons are doing this, but it has high complication rates, because you need to re-attach the stomach to the gastrointestinal track – but overall the complications are higher.
Gastric Sleeve Surgery
What are the options if VSG or vertical sleeve gastrectomy, has an enlarged pouch? – Back to Top
We can re-sleeve, which removes the excess, or enlarged part of the stomach off. Some surgeons say the best way to revise this issue is go to gastric sleeve to gastric bypass surgery, I’ve done this successfully as well.
Revision from Lap-Band to Sleeve
Do You Recommend Lap-Band to Gastric Sleeve Revision Surgery – Back to Top
Yes, it is a safe surgery with good weight loss results.
What Are the Risks of Revision from Lap-Band to Sleeve? – Back to Top
It can cause an increase of complications. But in my practice it doesn’t complicate too much – the risks would be 1% or less than 1%. Leaks would occur 1% or less than 1%. I leave drains in Gastric Sleeve patients, especially in revision surgery to help with drains. How Would Leaks Be Diagnosed: Upper GI, CT Scan with contrast, or sometimes endoscopy might find the leak.
How Risky Would it Be to Remove the Band Alone, and Not Revise? – Back to Top
Erosion is our main concern. If patients remove the band chances of leakage are still present. But if we have an erosion we prefer to remove the band endoscopically. The problem of not revising to Gastric Sleeve is that patients are likely to gain weight, possible regaining the weight already lost.
What are the Benefits of Revision From Gastric Band to Gastric Sleeve? – Back to Top
Patient’s weight is more likely to remain stable by revision surgery to gastric sleeve surgery. In case of the Gastric Sleeve, there is more variety of foods you can tolerate than on Gastric Banding Surgery. Gastric Sleeve patients therefore would have a better diet than gastric banding patients.
What are the options for revision if Lap-Band Surgery Fails? – Back to Top
Lap-Band surgery might fail if the patient doesn’t have very good eating habits. If the pouch becomes enlarged, it might lead to weight gain. There are several options for lap-band failure, first we can try to save the band, we can release the band pressure, so the pouch enlargement might decrease, but it might take a long time. Other options is to go from Lap-Band Surgery to Gastric Sleeve or Gastric Bypass and restart the program.
Gastric Balloon Surgery
Do You use Gastric Balloon Surgery? – Back to Top
Yes. Gastric balloon is a very useful tool to reduce weight before more difficult bariatric surgeries in very obese patients. Especially in patients with BMIs 63 to 65, because we can do the balloon for six months, we can remove to balloon and see a significant weight loss. Then they can do a more complex bariatric surgery.
Can Gastric Balloon be used on Gastric Bypass or Gastric Sleeve Patients? – Back to Top
No. Because the gastric balloon must be inflated which can cause damage to these surgery types.
Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Who is a Candidate for Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
Patients with a BMI over 35 with a medical condition (co-morbidity). Patients with a BMI over 40 are also considered good candidates for surgery.
What Are the Risks for First-Time Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery? – Back to Top
The risks are low. 1% chance of leakage or bleeding. If patients are extremely obese and other conditions, like hypertension, heart conditions, sleep apnea, the complication rate might increase.
Is there a Drain After Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
I prefer to leave the drain. The drain is like the window into the abdominal cavity. We can detect leakage earlier than if we didn’t have a drain. How many Leak Tests are preformed, and what are the rates? Answer: Less than 1%, with preform three leak tests.
What is the ongoing Medical Maintenance of Sleeve Gastrectomy Patients? – Back to Top
We must check lab workups at least twice a year for the first year. After the first year, we would check once a year. We also check reporting of iron and B12 deficiencies like Gastric Bypass.
What Is the Age Requirements for Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
Things are changing. So far we’ll say 18 is the minimum age. But if we individualize each patient – we can do this surgery on younger patients. 65 is the oldest, but we must individualize each case and check patient’s medical condition. I’ve preformed this surgery on patients over 65 with very good results. We have to measure the risks verse the benefits, in consideration of their health standing.
How Many Nights Do Patients Need to Stay in the Hospital After Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
Two Nights.
What are the Complications of Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
Leakage, Bleeding, depending on the patients the medical make-up of each patients.
Will People Have Acid Reflex After Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
Will People Have Acid Reflex After Gastric Sleeve Surgery? They might get acid reflex, but is a low rate. But sometimes patients have the need for acid reflex medicine. Can people have Acid Reflex Permanently? There have been cases that show people need to switch from Gastric Sleeve Surgery to Gastric Bypass Surgery because acid reflex was severe. But again, this is rare.
Dumping Syndrome, How Often does it occur? – Back to Top
About 10 to 15% of Cases dumping syndrome occurs. It occurs because of the increase pressure of the surgery. Dumping Syndrome can be completely managed with proper diet.
How Long Should Patients Stay in the Hospital After Gastric Sleeve Surgery? – Back to Top
Five Days.
If Gastric Sleeve Doesn’t Work For a Patient, What Are the Options? – Back to Top
There are two things patients can revise to do: Gastric Bypass or Duodenal Switch. There are some risks and mistakes, and so far, I don’t know what the success rate is for this.
Can a Patient Re-Sleeve if the Pouch Stretches? – Back to Top
In certain patients, it can be revised to. It depends largely on a case by case basis. You need endoscopy, upper GI to see if there is no increase of pressure. So if there are no other problems then we go ahead and re-sleeve.
What size bougie is typical for gastric sleeve? – Back to Top
Most doctors use bougie 32, because in a long term is the best. The size don’t have direct relation to the amount of pounds that you will loose but is in relation about the time that you stomach could grow up.
How many leak tests are provided? – Back to Top
Always 3.
Are silk sutures done after the staples? – Back to Top
Yes.
Metabolic Surgery
What is Metabolic Surgery? – Back to Top
Metabolic surgery is a surgery that helps patient with metabolic syndrome. So patients with obesity, hypertension and diabetes, patients can also have sleep apnea or high cholesterol levels. Specifically, metabolic surgery refers to patients who are below 35 BMI and need to be treated for hypertension, diabetes or some other condition. We can do gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy, but so more, scientific articles are recommending gastric bypass to treat metabolic syndrome.
How does Metabolic Surgery Work? – Back to Top
It works because there are certain changes in the intestinal hormones that helps the body the way it treats blood sugar. The increase or decrease of different hormones can improve the diabetes and other conditions.
What Surgery is Best to treat Metabolic Syndrome? – Back to Top
So far they’ve proven that Gastric Bypass is the best surgery to treat metabolic syndrome.
Dieting
When Can Patients Resume a Normal Eating Habits? – Back to Top
After surgery, my point of view, we have several steps. The first step is taking care of your surgery, we go back to your normal diet, by following the progression of having a liquid diet, solid diet, etc. The second step, which depends on each individual patient, you must find out which food is best for you. So the second step will be finding the foods that each patient can tolerate. The third step is social adaptation, how to live outside your home. When you’re with friends, when you’re out for dinner; at this time you’ll have more chances to know what type of foods you can tolerate. The final step is the diet you can create for yourself, knowing what foods you can enjoy, normally 6 or 7 months after surgery, you can create a plan for yourself. It will be different if you’re trying to lose weight versus trying to maintain your current weight. Generally, by this time patients will be comfortable with the foods they can eat.
Can I have Sugar in My Diet? – Back to Top
When patients eat something with high sugar so your excited for the next 15 to 20 minutes, then after you’ll energy levels will drop. The body responds by producing insulin in the blood which will cause hunger. So we recommend that patients have five to six meals a day with protein.
Are Artificial Sweeteners Okay to Consume? – Back to Top
If patients are to choose between real sugar or artificial sweeteners, I’d prefer artificial sweeteners because its more likely to have less hunger in patients.
Is it safe to drink Carbonated Beverages? – Back to Top
We urge patients not to drink carbonated beverages because it can cause bloating in patients and can cause harm. Sometimes patients can drink it by allowing the carbonation to release and by diluting the beverage. But overall, we urge patients not to drink them because they can cause patients to gain a little weight – which is something you don’t want.
Can patients drink alcohol after surgery? – Back to Top
It depends on the procedure, the gastric bypass will absorb the alcohol faster. This might cause liver complications. It’s allowed for patients to have one or two social drinks per week. Alcohol has a lot of calories, it might create ulcers, and its important to drink very small amount of alcohol.
2. When should I start my pre-op diet? – Back to Top
Need at lead 8 days if liquid diet before the surgery.
Bariatric Surgeons and Industry
Which Bariatric Surgery Should I Choose? – Back to Top
It will depend on the patient. It will depend on how much weight you’ll want to lose, how much want to stick to vitamins and minerals, and how organized you are with yourself. Every surgery will need something from you, each surgery will represent 50% of the weight loss, the other 50% will come from you. For gastric banding, you’ll have to be more organized after surgery. With the sleeve gastrectomy and bypass, your appetite will decrease – so it’ll be easier than gastric banding. But you’ll have to avoid certain kinds of food that will cause dumping syndrome. So it’ll depend on how much you can live with your procedure, and the importance of statistics of long-term weight loss. So far sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass are complex procedures that will provide more weight loss.
When a Patient Says that they Are Going to Choose a Surgeon With No Complications, how do you Respond to that? – Back to Top
I think everybody has complications, especially in the learning curve.
What is the Future of the Bariatric Surgery? – Back to Top
Any new surgery will need to be analyzed, and be followed for studies. We must be aware of complications, we have to be aware of the procedures and the technologies themselves. So we must have statistics and patient follow-ups after for a few years to see if it really works.
Why Choose a Joint Commission International Accredited Hospital? – Back to Top
Joint Commission is a well-known institution that is trying to reduce the risk of the hospital as well as the complication rates, by having very strict quality controls of the hospital. So when we have a Joint Commission Hospital we have to check twice for every step before going forward. Being a member, we have reduced our complication rates.
How Should I choose a Bariatric Surgeon in Mexico? – Back to Top
Experience is the most important on choosing a surgeon in Mexico. In Mexico we have the Mexican Council of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery. You need to find a surgeon that works in a good hospital with certifications, the more being better.
Revision Surgery
Who Should Consider Revision Surgery? – Back to Top
Patients who are gaining too much weight, should consider revision surgery. We obviously need to study the patient before we decide to start another revision. We need blood tests, BMIs, endoscopy just to see if it’s possible to just do something. After that we can advise to another surgery or modify a patient’s regimen.
What Are the Risks of Revision Surgery? – Back to Top
Any revision has higher risks, including surgical risks. Because we are handling scar tissue in the stomach and intestines. So when cut, we have increase risk of leakage.
What are Adhesions? Why do they happen and how do you repair them? – Back to Top
Adhesions happen after any surgery, endoscopy has less chance for adhesions. The way to treat it is by letting it heal itself, but if we have problems like abdominal instruction or pain, we might have go in and take another look to see if we can heal the adhesion.
What is the BMI requirement for a Revision Patient? – Back to Top
Sometimes revision surgeries are because of complications, and not of weight regain. We don’t use the same criteria that we had before the original surgery.
What are the options for Revision Gastric Sleeve Plication? – Back to Top
Gastric Plication might unrupt and might cause a whole host of issues. To revise the gastric plication we need to undo gastric plication and do gastric sleeve. Some articles suggest that gastric plication can become enlarged by suturing the stomach without cutting the excess. Overall, the gastric plication is a new surgery only within about a year – so it’s within the learning curve of the surgeons. We need a control group to study the patients and see the followup results to see just how effective gastric plication is.
After Bariatric Surgery
I know walking is important after surgery. Are there any other activities I can do that are easier? – Back to Top
After bariatric surgery, you have to start walking. This is the first exercise to start with. You have to remember that exercise is important to start increasing your health. Walking also helps patients lose weight faster, than patients who don’t choose to walk. How much walking is needed? It depends on your own ability, with more being better.
What is the chance of developing abdominal hernia after surgery? – Back to Top
The laparoscopic surgery is the approach of doing gastric sleeve, the bypass or banding. The risks of this type is surgery is really low. Some patients ask whether they can develop illness after this type of surgery. The risks are low because we use small incisions.
How do I take care of my incisions? – Back to Top
After the laparoscopic surgery, you have to take care of your incisions by taking a shower. Then you have to change the dressings. You don’t have to change the stitches because they are absorbable.
Can I become pregnant after my weight loss surgery?
After the bariatric surgery you have to wait at least one year and a half to become pregnant. The first year you can’t become pregnant because you’re losing weight too fast. Your body has to stay in condition in order to be pregnant.
How do you know If I have a leak? What are the symptoms and how likely am I to get a leak?- Back to Top
The complication of getting a leak is typically 1% to 3% risks. The first day after weight loss surgery we leave a drain, which helps minimize the risks. After the fourth day we remove the drain. If you have pain or a fever, those are signs of a leak. Typically after surgery the previous day will have more pain and discomfort than the next. So it’s important to contact us if you experience continued pain and discomfort or increasing pain or discomfort.
What is the right amount of exercise I should be doing after the weight loss surgery? – Back to Top
After the surgery you have to start walking as much as you can. As soon as three or four hours after surgery. After the laparscopic surgery you can get inflammation in the abdominal wall, so by walking you help reduce this risk. Walking helps to speed up recover and decrease your pain. If you can’t walk, you need to move to recover faster – even if it’s as simple as moving in your bed.
What happens to the lower part of the stomach that is bypassed? – Back to TopA: After a bypass we’ll leave a portion of the stomach that we don’t remove. Typically we leave the stomach in your body, in case your body needs the stomach because of an emergency. We can reconnect the stomach if needed. Your stomach continues to produce metabolic acid that is required to digest your food.
If I get staples, will I be able to have a MRI test? – Back to Top
The staples have no issues, they are very safe to use, and will not be detected in scans.
Do I have to follow my diet after surgery, including pureed food diet? – Back to Top
After bariatric surgery you have to follow our rules. You have to eat liquids in the first week. After two weeks you’ll eat you will obtain all kinds of foods, but you have to eat in portions. After you end of forth week of post-op you will be able to eat all sorts of foods. You have to remember to eat every three hours (5 times a day) to maintain regular energy.
Can I eat pain free after immediately following my surgery? – Back to Top
After the surgery it’s normally to feel a little pain if your eating or drinking in the first two weeks. As your stomach continues to heal you’ll feel better.It’s important to realize that you’ll feel better the next day, and the day after. If you feel worse day after day, then there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Miscellaneous
What Lifestyle Changes need to be made to ensure Success? – Back to Top
Obviously we need to change our lifestyle to include exercises and include physical activities. We need to include cardiovascular exercises, as well as specific parts of the patient that needs extra attention – for example, the back or leg muscles. It’s also important to change our diet, the way we think about food, the way we choose our food. Patients need to choose responsible foods that help the surgery be effective.
Is there a way that Patients can prevent leaks? – Back to Top
This is a common complication after surgery, especially for gastric bypass or gastric sleeve. Most likely, it’ll happen 5 to 7 days after surgery. How to avoid leaks, it’s important to follow your diet recommendations. If you have a large amount of food in your stomach, the sutures and your stomach can leak.
How Long after surgery, can patients resume their normal activities? – Back to Top
It depends on the usual activities of the patients, but usually 7 to 10 days. That is one of the advantages of laparoscopic surgeries. If a patient does heavy exercises or lifting, patients will need to wait at least six weeks.
What Weight-Loss Surgery would allow me to safely have a Pregnancy? – Back to Top
Any patient, with any surgery might become pregnant. Obviously, the more complex the surgery the more complex the pregnancy. In my experience, patients do very well with any surgery. In case of gastric band it’s easy to handle, all we do is release the pressure of the gastric band and we can safely have the pregnancy. In the case of the other surgeries, like Gastric Sleeve or Gastric Bypass, we must have the patient have blood examines before the patient becomes pregnant — we do this to make sure that the patient does not have any complications. It’s important to wait at least 1 or 1.5 years to decrease the risk of the pregnancy. But, generally any surgery will do fine. But surgeons prefer to have gastric banding surgery for younger patients. Some patients have gastric sleeve or other surgeries with no complications at all.
Some surgeons are not using drains, and some patients will go on forums and say that they’ll choose a surgeon based on this fact. Why are Drains Important? – Back to Top
I use drains for patients, because it drains the blood in the abdominal cavity, which will reduce the pain and the adhesions of the patient. Which will help me see if the patient has any complications of the surgery. So it’s important to have drains for at least 5 to 7 days of the surgery, which the time that coincides the period with the most complications. Most of the time when the complications happen, we can be aware of that, and help resolve it.
Can Patients Become Too Thin? – Back to Top
When patients get too thin, they have a hard time accepting themselves as a new thinner person. I usually get the person as thin as I can, because they’ll usually gain weight. In a few years, most patients, will gain weight back. Most of the problem is that patients need to accept themselves as a thinner person, it’s important to psychologically be ready for the change. Statistics show that within 18 months after surgery you’ll achieve your ideal weight, then in three years you’ll gain like 15 to 20% back.
What About Constipation after Bariatric Surgery? – Back to Top
It happens about 20-30% of patients. It’s important for patients to have enough fluids, like two or three liters per day. It’s also important to eat less.
What kind of Maintenance is Required after Surgery? – Back to Top
After any surgery we need to monitor patients for a long time, at least one year. If the surgery induces malabsorption, we need to do work ups regularly like blood work ups, lap work ups, including B1 and others. If malabsorption is involved we need to monitor at least once per year, and patients will be required to consume vitamins and minerals. In the case of gastric sleeve, there are around 10-15% that needs vitamins including B12 and iron for longer than five years. In the case of band, we need to track the whole device including the upper GI at least once a year. Looking for slippage or erosions.
5. What company is in charge of making arrangements? – Back to Top
Mexico Bariatric Center (“MBC”), with SOURCiS, Inc. Parent Company.
12. Can I have the surgery while on my menstrual period and does it matter if I am a heavy bleeder? – Back to Top
Yes, medically there is no reason you can’t have the surgery, it is a matter of your comfort.
Mexico Bariatric Center Process
What expenses will I have while there in Tijuana? – Back to Top
Up to you.. tipping, and any extra things you might want but no expense if you don’t want. Hotel provides you with your after care liquid diet. If you want you can bring extra vitamin water, Gatorade etc..
What are the Arrival times? – Back to Top
There are exceptions to the time frame.
How many days after surgery do I stay in the hospital? – Back to Top
Typically 2 nights, depends on surgery. Look at each individual surgery page for more information about the surgery.
How many days at the hotel? – Back to Top
3 Nights. 1 Night prior, and 2 Nights after hospital stay.
Name of Hospital? – Back to Top
Tijuana: Hospital Mi Doctor. Puerto Vallarta: San Javier Hospital
Name of Hotel? – Back to Top
In Tijuana, the Tijuana Marriott. In Puerto Vallarta, the Marriott Puerto Vallarta. In Guadalajara, Malibu Hotel.
Do I have to stay 2 additional nights at the hotel after surgery? – Back to Top
Yes, the doctor does not want there to be any problems and prefers you stay.
Can I come alone? – Back to Top
Yes.
Can I bring someone with me? – Back to Top
Yes, we make accommodations for someone to stay with you at the hotel and at the hospital. If the hospital is full, your companion may not have a place to sleep at night and have to stay in the hotel. You will be paying at our discounted rate for those nights.
