Gastric bypass: the risks no one tells you about beforehand
A gastric bypass makes you lose weight, that worked for me too. But about everything that came afterwards, the gallstones, the internal hernias, the medication that no longer works the way it should, I was never warned. And that is exactly where the trap kept getting deeper.
On Valentine's Day 2019 it was my turn. I weighed almost 150 kilos and the surgery, everyone said, could certainly do no harm. The information about how I had to eat afterwards was good. But about what a gastric bypass otherwise does to your body and your life, I heard almost nothing.
I eventually lost 56 kilos at my lowest point, and now sit about 43 kilos below my old weight. I am still slightly overweight, but content. So the weight loss itself is not where it went wrong for me. It went wrong with everything around it, and with the fact that no one had prepared me for it.
This page does not give medical advice and is not an argument against the surgery. For many people a gastric bypass is a good, sometimes life-saving choice. This is about something else: the known risks are often not told, and the support afterwards is fragmented. That is the trap.
How I ended up there
I had just come out of my first depression and burnout, with quite a lot of excess weight. Only later did I understand that I ate to push my worries away. With an untreated ADHD, I went through life as a workaholic, working weeks of ninety to a hundred hours just to keep myself occupied, only to end up in the evening eating a big bag of crisps in bed and falling asleep with the television on. Non-stop stimulation, from early morning until I dropped.
A gastric bypass seemed the solution for the weight. And purely for the weight it did work. But the excess weight was a symptom of something much bigger, and the surgery did not dig that away.
“I suddenly collapsed. Lost too much blood. While my wife and children were sent out of the room, I had the feeling I was dying.”
The surgery seemed to have gone well at first. That same evening, during the first visit, it went wrong. So began a series of complications that would last for years.
The numbers you should know beforehand
This is not coincidence or bad luck. The risks I ran into are simply in the medical literature. They are known, they are recorded in figures, and that is exactly why it is so painful that they are rarely discussed honestly beforehand. A few of the most important ones (figures reflect the situation in the Netherlands):
Figures vary by source and by study. They are not here to frighten, but to show that these are known risks, not exceptions.
How the trap kept getting deeper
The weight loss went well, but then the problems began. First the dumping: it made me terribly ill. Swallow X-rays were taken to check for a leak or a blockage. There was none.
Then came my first internal hernia, resulting in a procedure in hospital. With the second they closed off the spaces in my abdominal cavity, so the bowel could no longer kink double. Yet later the bowel still got bunched up once more, as it were pulled over itself. That gave enormous pain. I was operated on twice for it, and both times nothing was found when the bowel was moved, but the problem was solved afterwards.
And then came the gallbladder. It turns out that people with a gastric bypass more often develop problems with the bile ducts. That had never been shared with me. For nine months I was on oxycodone, at a peak fifteen tablets of 5 milligrams a day, to manage the colic attacks. The first gallbladder operation failed. I never really got an explanation for it, except that my pancreas had been affected and inflamed. I lay in hospital for a week screaming with pain. Only when the values were good was my gallbladder removed after all.
And so I fell straight into my ACNES story, the chronic abdominal wall pain I still have today. Read how that continued ›
What no one told me about medication
This may well be the most dangerous blind spot. I did not know, and was never warned anywhere, that a gastric bypass makes your body absorb medication differently. Often permanently. Long-acting, slow-release medication is sometimes simply not absorbed properly. The only thing left is short-acting medication, and that means big fluctuations, both with pain relief and with my ADHD medication, because there is no longer an even release.
That is exactly where this interlocks with the rest of my story: the medication I needed for ADHD, depression and pain was, precisely because of the bypass, so hard to get right. One trap reinforced the other.
I was not the only one
I was in a group of people who were operated on around the same time. When I recently got back in touch with them, it turned out that most of the people who are still alive and still willing to talk are struggling with mental health problems. In my group, one person died by suicide. Others got divorced, and two became alcoholics.
That last is no coincidence. After a gastric bypass your body reacts differently to alcohol: it hits faster and harder, and the risk of addiction increases. Some people unknowingly swap one crutch for another. Despite the mandatory mental check beforehand, the information about these risks is scant and the support afterwards meagre.
What you can ask or arrange
Ask about the long-term risks
Not only about the first year, but about gallstones, internal hernia, deficiencies and the years after. Ask explicitly what is known and how often it occurs, so you have an honest picture.
Discuss your medication before surgery
If you take medicines, ask your doctor or pharmacist what the bypass does to their absorption. Especially with slow-release medication this is crucial. Keep your overview at one pharmacy.
Take the mental side seriously
The surgery changes your relationship with food, and with it sometimes with other substances. Be alert to addiction transfer and alcohol. Ask for support that goes beyond the standard mental check beforehand.
Keep going to the check-ups
After a gastric bypass you are in principle monitored for years, including for deficiencies. Keep those appointments, even when you feel well, because some problems only arise later.
Find support if you get stuck
If you get stuck between different doctors and clinics, an independent client support worker can think along with you free of charge. You do not have to figure it out alone.
Why Zorgfuik collects this
One story about a hard aftermath is a personal tragedy. Hundreds of stories together show a pattern: that known risks are not discussed honestly beforehand, and that the support afterwards is fragmented across separate doctors and clinics that do not see the whole together.
That is why we do not ask for your records or your name. We ask for your experience, so it becomes clear how often the information falls short and where things must improve.
“The weight loss worked. It was everything around it that no one prepared me for.”
Frequently asked questions
What is a gastric bypass?
Which complications can occur in the long term?
Is it true that medication is absorbed differently after a gastric bypass?
Why do people react differently to alcohol after a gastric bypass?
Is a gastric bypass a bad choice, then?
What does Zorgfuik do and not do?
🏎 Need help right now?
If there is immediate danger to yourself or someone else: call 112. Feeling low or having thoughts of suicide? In the Netherlands you can call or chat day and night with 113 Suicide Prevention via 0800-0113. Outside the Netherlands, contact your local emergency line. Struggling with alcohol or substances? You can turn to your GP or an addiction-care service. Zorgfuik is not a crisis service, but we think it matters that you know where you can turn.