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Don't be Blindsided Later in Life by Gastric Bypass Side Effects
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
September 09 2006 | 2,662 views

BlindsidedIntestinal surgery can result in your body becoming unable to properly absorb vitamin A.

This can lead to eye problems that can start many years after the surgery. Vitamin A deficiency can result in dry eye, softening of the cornea, damage to the retina, and night blindness.

The link was discovered when the records of four patients with ocular problems were reviewed. One patient developed symptoms within months of gastric bypass surgery, but the other three did not experience any symptoms until at least 18 years after surgery.

Their complaints included night blindness, decreased vision in one eye, and decreased vision in both eyes. Lab tests confirmed vitamin A deficiency in all four cases.

There have also been other reports that a number of patients have experienced severe visual complications, including blindness, following gastric bypass surgery.


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As the number of gastric bypass procedures have surged, so have reports about all the dangerous side effects. The long-term success rate of gastric bypass surgery borders on 10 percent, and it is fraught with possible complications including:

  • Bone loss
  • Liver failure
  • Immune system damage

And it also carries a good chance of simply killing you outright.

I'm not surprised in the least by this latest complication, especially considering many patients don't get enough vitamin A to being with, so any decrease can make them very prone to problems.

A reminder: Your best sources of vitamin A are natural ones, including:

As I've said before, when you use the wrong tool to "cure" any medical condition -- especially when it's a lifestyle-related medical concern like obesity -- you're virtually guaranteed to have problems. Of course, that hasn't stopped people, like the former half-ton man, from doing it anyway.

People tend to forget that they didn't gain all those extra pounds in a short time, and it will take considerably longer to lose it safely and smartly.

Gastric bypasses and balloon procedures provide permanent and very problematic solutions to a condition that can be more safely treated by making better lifestyle decisions. If you really want to treat obesity in a healthy way:

  • Eat the foods your body burns best according to your body's unique nutritional type.
  • Start an exercise plan, with the knowledge you must treat it like a drug that must be prescribed precisely to have the optimal effect.
  • Treat the emotions that contribute to your poor health by learning an energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique that can very effectively help resolve the underlying emotional cause of the overeating problem.



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