Gastric bypass patients need to take vitamins and minerals following surgery to compensate for the fact that bypassing part of the intestine prevents the body from absorbing not only calories, thus resulting in the desired weight loss, but also many of the vitamins and minerals which are vital for the body to function normally.

In most cases patients are very good at taking their daily vitamins and minerals but, in all too many instances, patients pay insufficient or no attention to this need with often unexpected and shocking results.

For some patients the symptoms of vitamin and mineral deficiency can appear within as little as a couple of months after surgery and can be quite pronounced and include such things as hallucination and difficulty in walking. If symptoms appear at this early stage then the problem can often be resolved with treatment, although it can take anything up to a year for the patient to recover fully.

More commonly however symptoms do not begin to appear until some time after surgery and it is not unusual for the onset of symptoms to appear as much as several years after surgery. In this case it can be far more difficult, if not impossible, to reverse the damage to the body, which has built up over a considerable period of time.

In many cases the administration of such vitamins and minerals as B12, thiamine and copper can certainly help to reduce or eliminate symptoms but, in a significant number of patients, some of the symptoms prove to be permanent.

In the main the symptoms of vitamin and mineral deficiency in gastric bypass patients are seen in terms of neurological problems, often affecting more than one area of the neurological system. Most commonly the spinal cord is affected and patients experience problems in co-ordination and walking and are prone to falling. The condition can also lead to severe spasticity and result in the patient being confined to a wheelchair.

Gastric bypass surgery is a major surgical procedure which requires patients not simply to make significant changes to their lifestyle in the weeks and months following surgery but for the remainder of your life. One of these lifestyle changes in the need to take vitamin and mineral supplements and failure to pay this small price and adopt this simple daily habit could land you with a very severe penalty.