NeuroTalk Support Groups - Gastric Bypass Surgery Linked To Neurological Conditions

Some of us struggle to gain or regain weight, some to lose or maintain weight. Some of us may have had bariatric surgery or have contemplated it. Disability patients on Medicare are eligible for Gastric Banding up thru the age of 62. In the next few years, surgeries like the kinds discussed in this research below will become considered too dangerous and expensive, and more and more insurance companies will cut coverage for these extreme procedures, following Medicare in adopting Gastric Banding.

It has long been recognized, both in traditional bariatric (weight loss) surgery or in surgical situations where large amounts of the small bowel must be removed, that malabsorption of significant amounts of vital nutrients will occur. Many deaths are related to subsequent severe nutritional compromise.

Gastric Banding, long widely accepted and practiced all over the world, is now becoming "the Gold Standard" bariatric surgery in the US after approval - even MEDICARE approves surgery for patients under a certain age and that may be extended in time. Gastric Banding creates a small stomach pouch, but much of the effectiveness is dependent on the very small channel that food must pass from the "upper stomach" to the regular stomach. NOTHING is removed or bypassed, and the procedure is totally reversible (tho when it is removed, the weight is regained).

As we here know, a lot of vitamin/mineral deficiency damage can be done before it is so blatent that a doctor can confirm it. Here is a study just released so more of the deficiencies (neurological) can be anticipated in bypass patients. Not all doctors give the best of nutritional education or don't employ a dietician on staff or the patient lives too far away for follow-up.

Gastric Banding patients, too, need to take supplements during the weight loss period as nutritional content (daily calories) cannot provide sufficient amounts on its own, no matter how healthy the foods that are consumed. Once goal weight is reached, the band is loosened and larger amounts of foods can be eaten.

To answer any questions anyone here losing weight might have about maintaining good health on reduced calories should drop by the Vitamin/Mineral/Nutritional Supplement forum directly above this one. Mrs D can help you tremendously as she had been educated in this field and has lectured in it. She has been helping online for 10 years and keeps up with all evolving research.

- Teri

Source:University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Date:
May 26, 2007

Gastric Bypass Surgery Linked To Neurological Conditions, Study Suggests

Science Daily — Katalin Juhasz Pocsine, M.D., associate professor in the UAMS Department of Neurology, is lead author of the study, which was published online May 22 in the medical journal Neurology. The study concludes that patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, are at risk for long-term vitamin and mineral deficiencies and may develop a variety of neurological symptoms.

“The frequency of operations for treatment of obesity is rapidly growing in the United States,” Juhasz Pocsine said. “These procedures are usually successful in reducing weight, but they are not without risk. Many of the complications patients experience affect the nervous system, and they are often disabling and irreversible.”
More than 150 patients who came to the UAMS Neurology Clinic following gastric bypass were included in the report. In 26 of these patients, a link between the surgery and their neurological condition was found.

All of the patients involved in the study had previously undergone the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure in which a small stomach pouch is created by stapling part of the stomach together and bypassing part of the small bowel, resulting in reduced food intake and a decreased ability to absorb the nutrients in food. The interval between surgery and onset of neurological symptoms ranged from 4 weeks to 18 years.

Additional authors include UAMS Department of Neurology faculty members Sami I. Harik, M.D., department chairman and professor of neurology; Stacy A. Rudnicki, M.D., associate professor of neurology; and Robert L. “Lee” Archer, M.D., associate professor of neurology.

The 26 people involved in the study were followed for several years by UAMS physicians and represent the largest compilation of gastric bypass patients with neurological complications ever reported.

“As is evident from our findings, the neurological complications of bariatric surgery involve most parts of the nervous system, and frequently more than one,” Juhasz Pocsine said. “The conditions experienced by our patients spanned most regions of the nervous system from the cerebral cortex to the peripheral nerves.”

Symptoms of the patients in the study included confusion, auditory hallucinations, optic neuropathy, weakness and loss of sensation in the legs, and pain in the feet, among other conditions. None of the patients had prior neurological symptoms.
Many of the patients also experienced multiple nutritional abnormalities, especially low serum copper, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron and calcium.

“Attention should be given to long-term intake of vitamin and mineral supplements to prevent some of these complications and to avoid severe and rapid weight loss,” Juhasz Pocsine said. “Patients should be made aware of the symptoms that herald these neurological complications, and physicians should attend to the wide-based nutritional deficiencies as early as possible.”

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.