Medical Treatment For Obesity
Obesity is a chronic medical problem and has to be treated accordingly. The treatment cannot be generalized as every person responds differently to treatments and hence a medical treatment that fits one’s specific requirement has to be proposed by the medical practitioner.
Because of the alarming proportions this disease has assumed, there are several treatment strategies that governmental and non-government organizations have established. Medical professionals use these broad guidelines to estimate the risk associated with the individual’s state and accordingly evolve a course of treatment.
It should be remembered that surgery is the last resort. It should be used if snoring is very severe and no other snoring treatment is proving useful. This is often referred to as “palatal surgery.” The aim of palatal surgery is to decrease or stop the collapsibility of the oropharyngeal segment, which is the area around the throat. This is normally done by reducing the amount of soft palate or removing the tonsils or by doing both.
Surgery is also undertaken to remove the chief vibratory tissue called the uvula. Some surgeons advice sleep nasendoscopy before surgery - undertaken to determine the level of obstruction. Here the patient is sedated to a state of sleep. The surgeon can then examine the upper airway through a narrow flexible endoscopes to see where the collapsing is occurring. This procedure however is not widely available as it is time consuming and costly.
Like gastric bypass surgery, Lap Band® surgery reduces the size of the stomach and allows patients to feel full after consuming very little food. Bariatric surgeons generally prefer the Lap Band obesity surgery, as it involves less discomfort and a shorter recovery period.
Still, Lap Band obesity surgery, is not completely without risk even though it is considered the safest of surgeries for obesity. The device may require repair and time consuming additional minor operations, and weight loss is very dependent on longterm follow-up visits. Plus, certain foods may never be well tolerated by Lap Band® surgery patients.
The effectiveness of the surgery is fair with average weight loss being between 50 and 100 lbs. (or about a loss of about 25% of initial weight) with about 50% of the weight loss being maintained at 5 years. It is generally common for the body weight to slowly increase after the first or second year. The surgery requires a modified diet to prevent nausea and vomiting and to help prevent other long-term side effects. Additionally, one can (partially) bypass the “restriction” by eating calorie-dense liquids such as ice cream or regular soda. Long-term changes in eating habits must take place in order for the surgery to be successful. Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, however, is a viable treatment alternative for severely overweight individuals but again, it is not a cure.
In gastric bypass, also known as Roux en Y gastric bypass, the capacity of the stomach is reduced by stapling a small portion of the stomach, followed by intestinal reconstruction to bypass the duodenum and proximal jejunum. By combining restriction and malabsorption, weight loss is faster than after restrictive procedures. Gastric bypass alters the anatomy of the bowel irreversibly, however.
