| Gastric bypass patients need to take vitamins and | | | | to reverse the damage to the body, which has |
| minerals following surgery to compensate for the | | | | built up over a considerable period of time. |
| fact that bypassing part of the intestine prevents | | | | In many cases the administration of such vitamins |
| the body from absorbing not only calories, thus | | | | and minerals as B12, thiamine and copper can |
| resulting in the desired weight loss, but also many | | | | certainly help to reduce or eliminate symptoms |
| of the vitamins and minerals which are vital for | | | | but, in a significant number of patients, some of |
| the body to function normally. | | | | the symptoms prove to be permanent. |
| In most cases patients are very good at taking | | | | In the main the symptoms of vitamin and mineral |
| their daily vitamins and minerals but, in all too | | | | deficiency in gastric bypass patients are seen in |
| many instances, patients pay insufficient or no | | | | terms of neurological problems, often affecting |
| attention to this need with often unexpected and | | | | more than one area of the neurological system. |
| shocking results. | | | | Most commonly the spinal cord is affected and |
| For some patients the symptoms of vitamin and | | | | patients experience problems in co-ordination and |
| mineral deficiency can appear within as little as a | | | | walking and are prone to falling. The condition can |
| couple of months after surgery and can be quite | | | | also lead to severe spasticity and result in the |
| pronounced and include such things as hallucination | | | | patient being confined to a wheelchair. |
| and difficulty in walking. If symptoms appear at | | | | Gastric bypass surgery is a major surgical |
| this early stage then the problem can often be | | | | procedure which requires patients not simply to |
| resolved with treatment, although it can take | | | | make significant changes to their lifestyle in the |
| anything up to a year for the patient to recover | | | | weeks and months following surgery but for the |
| fully. | | | | remainder of your life. One of these lifestyle |
| More commonly however symptoms do not begin | | | | changes in the need to take vitamin and mineral |
| to appear until some time after surgery and it is | | | | supplements and failure to pay this small price and |
| not unusual for the onset of symptoms to appear | | | | adopt this simple daily habit could land you with a |
| as much as several years after surgery. In this | | | | very severe penalty. |
| case it can be far more difficult, if not impossible, | | | | |