Traditional methods often fail to bring about the weight loss results people hope for. Gastric sleeve in Mexico is quite popular, and perhaps you can take a cue from weight loss enthusiasts. This surgery has repeatedly proved effective and reliable in assisting individuals in their health goals.
Belonging to the family of bariatric surgery, gastric sleeve surgery is quite a popular option among people hoping for long-term weight loss. Hence, you will not only see patients undergoing bariatric surgery in Tijuana, Mexico, in large numbers, but gastric sleeve surgery is now equally popular.
However, gastric sleeve surgery is not devoid of side effects, just like other types of surgery. Before one opts for it, it is essential to understand what medications can you not take after gastric sleeve, what antibiotics are permissible, and other important facts. Let’s learn about it in detail below.
Gastric Sleeve Surgery at a Glimpse
The underlying cause of several chronic health conditions is mostly excessive weight. Therefore, it becomes imperative for individuals to consider effective and safe medical procedures that would help them lose a significant amount of weight.
Gastric sleeve surgery is one effective and safe treatment option to facilitate individuals in addressing their health concerns through weight loss. We can differentiate between gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgery because the latter involves a laparoscopic procedure.
Hence, in this surgery, the individual receives small incisions on their abdomen and decreases their stomach size significantly. This surgery is famous as the gastric sleeve surgery, because it leaves the patient’s stomach only 20% of its original size pre-surgery.
The stomach resembles a sleeve post-surgery, but you must note that it can only hold a small portion of food from then on. Since patients can consume only a limited amount of food due to the reduced stomach size, they feel fuller for long and lose weight more successfully.
The altered absorption abilities and anatomy of the stomach also aid it in emptying faster. Due to this effect, the patient’s body processes medication differently after the surgery.
Medications to Avoid after Gastric Sleeve Surgery
As mentioned above, gastric sleeve surgery alters how medications move through one’s body. The surgery reduces the stomach size; certain medications can potentially irritate the tissues inside.
Let’s take a look at the medications to avoid after gastric sleeve surgery below:
1. Aspirin
For the first-week post gastric sleeve surgery, patients must avoid taking aspirin or medications containing aspirin. The following are aspirin medications and can irritate the tissues lining the gastrointestinal tract if a patient consumes these in the first week:
- Ecotrin
- Excedrin
- Alka-Seltzer
- Bayer Aspirin
2. NSAIDS
NSAIDs are anti-inflammatory, non-steroidal drugs, such as:
- Celebrex
- Ibuprofen
- Naproxen
- Aleve
- Advil
- Motrin
Patients should avoid these medicines for a month after gastric sleeve surgery. The first month of the post-operative phase is especially sensitive for patients, considering the newly-reduced stomach size.
In this phase, patients are vulnerable to DVT, a condition in which they can likely develop blood clots in their legs and veins away from the heart. If the blood clots extricate from the veins and wander away from the lungs, the patients will likely suffer a pulmonary embolism.
Hence, it is imperative to refrain from the medications mentioned above and prevent the risk of deep vein thrombosis for at least a month. Patients who need an alternative to alleviate post-surgery pain may take Tylenol.
What Antibiotics Can I Take After Gastric Sleeve?
If you’re wondering what antibiotics can I take after gastric sleeve, you must have a detailed discussion with your surgeon. Before gastro-sleeve surgery, you may have to complete a course of antibiotics to prevent infection. However, medical experts recommend avoiding antibiotics after the surgery, as they could hamper the course of healing.
Medications After Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Patients can develop a cough, cold, or other viral or airborne infections after the surgery. They can likely experience aches and pains or mild fever, if not from the surgery, that may be due to airborne infections.
The point is that there may be instances where patients will require some form of treatment to help relieve the unsettling health conditions they suffer. While medical experts strictly instruct patients to avoid certain medications after gastric sleeve, they allow the following to help ease other symptoms.
- For pains, aches, or fever – Doctors recommend taking Tylenol or acetaminophen. This medicine is potentially risk-free because it does not irritate your gastric mucosa or cause stomach ulcers.
- Patients may use Chloraseptic throat spray and halls, or capecol sugar-free lozenges for sore throat.
- For cough – patients may take delsym dextromethorphan. In case of productive thick cough problems, you may use Mucinex DM, a guaifenesin combination product with lots of water.
- For nasal congestions – patients may take Afrin, Sudafed, or Sudafed PR nasal sprays. For those patients who suffer from high blood pressure issues, a saline spray would be a safer choice.
Patients should opt for sugar-free medications during the post-operative phase while completely avoiding NSAIDs. Moreover, if a patient is prescribed medicines for other chronic conditions, they must resume taking those with their doctor’s approval after the surgery.
It is also essential to learn about the correct dosages of prescribed medicines with the primary care doctor. Due to the altered stomach size, it might also be necessary to readjust the dosage of the standard medications. This is especially relevant to health conditions like blood pressure, cardiac issues, and diabetes.
Can You take Capsules after Gastric Sleeve?
Once you have undergone gastric sleeve surgery, you will have several questions about your diet and medications. So can you take capsules after the gastric sleeve? The fact is that patients have to adopt a complete liquid diet for the first two weeks after the surgery.
Due to this, patients can only take liquid or crushed medications to facilitate their post-surgery healing. It is important to discuss alternatives with your surgeon in case of certain capsules that you cannot crush.
Final Thoughts
Gastric sleeve surgery is a highly effective and popular option for losing excessive weight successfully. It helps people attain their health goals and cure numerous chronic conditions resulting from obesity and excessive weight.
However, just as it is crucial to follow specific guidelines after other forms of surgery, patients must also be careful in their post-operative healing in the gastric sleeve.
