Obesity, which is one of the most common diseases in every society in the world today, restricts many freedoms, especially the body's mobility, and often brings acute ailments with it. As it is one of the most important health problems in the world, it causes the person to lose their aesthetic appearance, experience psychological disorders and encounter problems in their metabolic systems.
Obesity basically occurs when the human body develops a fat mass above the standard for the human body and other components such as bone, muscle and water are excessively reduced relative to the fat mass. In terms of a different definition, it is when body mass, i.e. weight, becomes much greater than body height.
What are the Symptoms of Obesity?
The symptoms that can be seen in order to obtain a suspicion of obesity have a very wide structure, and although there are different counts and measurements in this regard, the most prominent detail is considered to be the body mass index. In the context of body mass index calculation as a sign of obesity, obesity can be encountered at standard and acceptable values between 25-29.9 kg. However, if the body mass index is between 30-39.9 kg, this is a sign of obesity.
In obesity, when the body mass index rises to 40 kilograms and above, there is a definition of morbid obesity as a severe condition. One of the most common symptoms in people who are obese or morbidly obese is that the patient encounters sleep problems. These patients may experience sleep apnea and often respiratory infections.
Among the symptoms of obesity that can be counted in a practical way
- Facing mobility difficulties
- Frequent pain in the back and joint areas
- Self-anxiety
- Decreased confidence in oneself and the environment
- Snoring in sleep
- Excessive increase in sweating
- There is a general feeling of fatigue.
Apart from these general symptoms, high fat content in obesity is one of the most important symptoms in the body. This is because with increasing fat content, the person may experience isolation from society and weakening of social aspects as a different symptom.
What are the Causes of Obesity?
The most important underlying cause of obesity in any individual - child, adult, woman or man - is too little exercise and too high a diet. In general, a healthy adult man lives with a daily energy requirement of 2500 calories and a healthy adult woman with a daily energy requirement of approximately 2000 calories. However, too many high-calorie foods in daily meals can lead to more energy intake than necessary.
On the other hand, among the causes of obesity, being too passive in physical activity, being genetically predisposed to the disease, unbalanced hormone production in the thyroid glands, experiencing Cushing's syndrome due to excessive thyroid hormone production can also be considered as causes of obesity.
When we look at the risk factors related to obesity, again
- Improper and excessive nutrition
- Age and gender
- Socio-cultural and educational level
- Hormonal factors
- Psychological problems
- Alcohol and smoking
- Regular use of certain medications
- Wrong diets
- There are also factors such as childbirth or insufficient breast milk.
What are Surgical Obesity Treatments?
With progressive obesity in people, obesity surgeries can be applied with surgical intervention. If we briefly look at the methods preferred in the treatment of obesity under normal conditions, it can be aimed to reduce the body mass index with diet, that is, medical nutrition therapy. In addition, regular exercise therapy can lead to an active life, while psychological support to change behavior and necessary medication can provide a fully supported result.
When we look at the methods applied surgically in obesity today, the types of gastric sleeve surgery, gastric balloon surgery and gastric bypass surgery, which are basically called bariatric surgery, can be considered. In addition, in recent years, methods such as reconstructive surgery for more aesthetic purposes by removing fat tissues from various parts of the body are also preferred. In each of these methods, success rates, targeted results and the price of bariatric surgery may vary.
Sleeve Gastrectomy (Sleeve Gastrectomy)
The reason why this surgical treatment method is called sleeve gastrectomy is that 75-80% of the entire mass of the stomach is removed, leaving a tube-shaped stomach. Since a large part of the stomach is removed, the patient is provided with limited nutrition in a volume of 50-100 milliliters.
Since a restrictive situation is created in the patient after sleeve gastrectomy surgery, the patient is fed less and helped to lose weight by feeding only with liquid and liquid-supported foods in the first periods. In fact, since the appetite hormone (Ghrelin) secreting region in the removed part of the stomach is removed from the body, the patient's appetite will decrease and the patient will need less nutrition.
Gastric sleeve gastrectomy surgeries provide a great benefit especially for people suffering from diseases such as diabetes and hypertension as a result of obesity. After treatment, it may even be possible to stop taking diabetes and hypertension medications.
Gastric Bypass (Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass)
Bypass is literally a surgical procedure to redirect a body part. This application can be applied in many different parts of the body, as well as in the form of gastric bypass in terms of obesity surgery. With the gastric bypass method, the stomach is reduced to a smaller size, while the small intestine is connected to the stomach, which shrinks again after this reduced size.
Since the patient has a smaller stomach after gastric bypass, satiety is achieved with a smaller amount of food, balance is achieved in hunger-fasting control, and weight loss is achieved by reducing absorption due to the change in intestinal transit. After this surgery, the patient will experience weight loss as well as improvement against metabolic disorders.
Gastric bypass is a more complex procedure compared to other surgical methods. Especially since there is a higher chance of complications compared to sleeve gastrectomy, hospitalization and recovery time may be longer.
Gastric Balloon Treatment
Gastric balloon application is generally accepted as a surgical method applied in morbidly obese people. Although it is a different method compared to stomach reduction, i.e. bypass surgery or sleeve gastrectomy, in fact, an application is made to reduce the volume in the stomach rather than surgery.
In the gastric balloon method, a method is actually applied in terms of reducing the weight that has reached a very high rate for people who have prepared other morbid obesity surgery methods. Because with this method, a water-filled gastric balloon, about the size of a fist, is inserted into the patient's stomach through endoscopy and the patient is allowed to take less food.
The gastric balloon method is also accepted as a method that has been examined and discussed in detail in recent years. Because while the patient loses a limited amount of weight with this method, the balloon must be removed after a maximum of 1 year. In some patients, factors such as extreme abdominal pain and vomiting may cause discomfort and the balloon may need to be removed prematurely.
