There are multiple stages of recovery for patients following a gastric bypass operation. The Roux-en-Y procedure is the most common of the half-dozen techniques employed by doctors for this procedure. It involves stapling the stomach so as to create a small passageway that bypasses part of the intestine.

Three-Month Diet Plan

For the first couple of days after a gastric bypass, patients must refrain from eating. Once the stomach has gone through this brief, initial healing phase, the patient will then be tasked with following a specific diet for 12 weeks. The regimen progresses gradually, from liquids, to ground up foods, to soft items, and then finally to normal fare.

At its core, the gastric bypass is a very simple solution for those who were unable to previously control their weight via proper diet and exercise. With their stomach pouch reduced to the size of a small walnut, they can become full after consuming much smaller amounts of food. In fact, for the first six months following the operation, it is not uncommon for patients to eat too much and vomit as a result.

Other side effects of the operation may include body aches, dry skin, hair loss or hair thinning, cold-flu like symptoms, and mood swings.

UK Lawsuit

In the summer of 2011, a legal filing made by a former British policeman made lots of headlines in England. But because his health insurance provider refused to cover the cost of a laparoscopic version of the operation, 62-year-old Tom Condliff has gone to court over the matter. He claims that if he does not receive a gastric bypass, he may die, and is trying to overturn a High Court ruling in favor of the health insurance provider's coverage denial.

The argument being made by Confliff's lawyers to the effect that the insurance provider and High Court have denied his basic human rights, was to be appealed and debated in London by a panel of three judges. However, if he fails to bypass the previous court's decision, he may need to quickly find an alternative way to pay for the operation, as he claims without it he has less than a year to live.