Obesity and sport
2 patients talk about their operation and their experiences
Pathological overweight? Obesity? Is sport still possible here? What is it like after obesity surgery?
Ariane and Tanja tell us about their journey from being overweight to surgery, the advantages and disadvantages, the importance of aftercare, and what they do now in terms of sport.
“Everybody needs to act” – This is the motto of World Obesity Day on 04 March 2022. Find out how Swiss1Chirurgie sees the effort against the worldwide affliction of obesity and what is expected from all of us in the Swiss1Chirurgie statement.
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The Grand Prix will take place in Bern on Saturday, 11 May 2019. As “Team zfbc” we would like to tackle the old town route (4.7 km) together. The distance can either be run or walked.
Participation is free for the first 20 registered persons! For further participants the entry fee is CHF 43.00. Each participant will also receive a “zfbc” running shirt.
Registration: hand in the form at the clinic or send an email to bc@hin.ch
Registration deadline: Sunday, 31 March 2019
You can find more info here.
Protein, carbohydrates, fats. These are the essential components of our diet. At the protein information event, nutritionist Deborah Beyli, BSc BHF, explains the role of protein in our nutrition system and the effect of both an undersupply and an oversupply of protein on the body. Free admission. The information event is only open to a limited number of participants. Therefore, registration is requested.
Date/Location: Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, 7:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., Bariatric Surgery Center. Seilerstrasse 8, 3rd floor, Bern
Registration with surname, first name, mobile phone number by e-mail to bc@hin.ch
More information at www.swiss1chirurgie.ch/eventsdetails/?action=evrplusegister&event_id=2
More information:
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Severe obesity with all the possible secondary diseases such as type 2 diabetes is one of the widespread diseases in the developed industrialised countries and the number of cases is increasing. Not only in the USA, but also in Europe, morbid overweight (obesity) is rampant. Both in Germany and Switzerland, more and more clinics are specialising in the medical and, above all, surgical treatment of heavyweight contemporaries. Accordingly, surgical procedures are performed more frequently in obesity surgery than they were a few decades ago. Stomach reduction, tube stomach or gastric bypass are the keywords for operations related to obesity. While in Germany, according to current surveys, there is an almost complete lack of professional aftercare, in Switzerland, for example, the Centre for Bariatric Surgery (ZfbC) also sets a good example in the aftercare of patients.
A stomach reduction, in whatever form, is the only way out of the vicious circle of obesity, secondary diseases, lack of exercise and even more obesity for many obese patients. In Germany, but also in Switzerland, clinics have specialised in surgical interventions for obesity and provide patients with at least short-term hope for change. However, in Germany in particular, this hope remains a mere expectation. Because even more important than the success of the actual surgical intervention is the subsequent aftercare. And in most cases, this will be necessary for a lifetime. Postoperative care for obese patients is by no means limited to the control of small scars or wound healing in the gastrointestinal tract. More importantly, after such an operation, patients have to change their whole life decisively. This starts with a new form of nutrition, continues with controlled nutritional supplementation, for example with vitamins, trace elements and protein, and ends with a new way of learning sensible exercise. Only a corresponding change in lifestyle habits can ensure the success of bariatric surgery in the long term and thus make the lives of overweight patients better.
All experienced medical specialists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychotherapists agree on this. However, there is a lack of concrete implementation of such follow-up treatment and further care in Germany. As the Norddeutscher Rundfunk NDR recently revealed in a contribution to the health magazine “Visite”, the concept of follow-up treatment is poorly neglected in Germany and virtually not established at all. One of the reasons for this is that the health insurance companies neither include such a lengthy to lifelong care for patients in their cost catalogue, nor do they seem to be interested in it. Anyone who has managed to get an overweight operation financed by German health insurance funds at all is often left alone and downright to fend for themselves afterwards.
Accordingly, few patients then find their way to nutrition counselling and further care. Until the body again sounds the alarm and all short-term successes of bariatric surgery are acutely endangered. Those who are financially well off will treat themselves to the necessary aftercare if they have sufficient insight and self-discipline. Those who are less well-off or do not even know how important further care is, do not act at all at this point due to ignorance or lack of financial mass and thus endanger not only the success of the overweight operation, but their health in general.
The German health system clearly has a duty here and must find ways to ensure that bariatric surgery does not turn into an odyssey through the clinical pictures of accompanying secondary diseases.
It’s different in Switzerland. Here too, medical centres such as Swiss1Chirurgie, together with the Centre for Bariatric Surgery in Bern, have dedicated themselves to surgical interventions for morbid obesity. Unlike its German neighbours, however, the focus here is on the protracted nature of such interventions from the outset. Only patients who are willing to receive lifelong counselling and support are even considered for bariatric surgery. This is already addressed in the initial talks and is also consistently enforced after the interventions. Of course, always with the cooperation of the patients and all the professionals needed for this.
This methodology is also supported in principle by the Swiss health care system. Here it is clear that anyone who has to undergo bariatric surgery will need the support of the relevant specialists such as internists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychotherapists for a long time afterwards, if not permanently. This is the only way to ensure the long-term success of obesity surgery, which ultimately not only benefits the health of the patients, but also significantly minimises the follow-up costs due to a lack of follow-up care.such as internists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychotherapists.
It remains questionable whether this insight will be reached in Germany in the near future. While the health care system there mainly works on apparent undesirable developments and deficiencies, most obesity patients remain on their own, with or without bariatric surgery.
We have provided more information on the “Visite” report by NDR here http://bit.ly/ndrnachversorgung.
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| Dr. med. Michèle Gasser Dr. med. Claudia Meier Dr. med. Yvette Ottiger Dr. med. Stefan Schäfer Dr. med. Rudolf Steffen Dr. med. Jörg Zehetner Seilerstrasse 8 |
Dr. med. Jörg Zehetner Professor (USC) MMM, FACS, FEBS (hon.) PD Dr. med. Rudolf Steffen Dr. med. Alejandro Metzger Schänzlihalde 1 |
When the specialists at Swiss1Chirurgie look for the best ways to treat patients, it always has a lot to do with research, scientific work and the publication of the latest findings and methods.
The doctors at Swiss1Chirurgie under Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner specialise in obesity surgery as well as medical treatments under the umbrella term UpperGI. This includes, for example, interventions in the areas of reflux, diaphragmatic hernias, oesophageal and stomach cancer. Another field of work of Swiss1Chirurgie is visceral surgery, which is also colloquially referred to as abdominal surgery. In all these specialties, the medical professionals not only work on the patients themselves, but also, and above all, in parallel in the areas of research and further development of methods and techniques.
While Prof. Dr Jörg Zehetner was still attending the OESO Congress in Beijing, Swiss1Chirurgie received a special honour. At the ASMBS Meeting 2019 in November in Las Vegas, USA, Dr Catherine Tsai received the International Award for the best video presentation of a surgical procedure.
Dr Catherine Tsai has been working as a research assistant at Swiss1Chirurgie in Bern for the past two years, and her scientific research work significantly supports further development at the Swiss1Chirurgie sites in Switzerland.
In the video presentation “Laparoscopic Conversion from Gastric Sleeve to RY Gastric Bypass with Remnant Gastrectomy using Fluorescent Angiography” by Dr Tsai, Dr Steffen and Dr Zehetner, you can see the laparoscopic conversion from a sleeve (tubular stomach) to a gastric bypass, whereby here the remaining stomach was completely resected for medical reasons. Fluorescent angiography was used to check the blood flow in the gastric pouch and duodenum, as shown in this video.
The latest award ceremony for Swiss1Chirurgie and thus also for the Centre for Bariatric Surgery ZfBC continues a series of successes that have long since made the specialists Dr Jörg Zehetner, Dr Catherine Tsai, Dr Steffen and Dr Metzger real experts with an international reputation. We only need to refer to the numerous publications and prizes that were awarded to Swiss1Chirurgie last year.
The medical specialists are less concerned with fame and more with scientific, methodical and ultimately medical progress in the interest of the patients. Various studies are being carried out with the Inselspital Bern as well as in the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics and the Centre for Bariatric Surgery. The results of such studies primarily benefit the patients of Swiss1Chirurgie, underpin the outstanding international reputation of the specialists and, last but not least, form the basis for new developments in the specialist areas of Swiss1Chirurgie.
For the sake of completeness, we summarise here the most important publications, lectures and awards of Swiss1Chirurgie from the past years:
When the specialists at Swiss1Chirurgie look for the best ways to treat patients, it always has a lot to do with research, scientific work and the publication of the latest findings and methods.
The doctors at Swiss1Chirurgie under Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner specialise in obesity surgery as well as medical treatments under the umbrella term UpperGI. This includes, for example, interventions in the areas of reflux, diaphragmatic hernias, oesophageal and stomach cancer. Another field of work of Swiss1Chirurgie is visceral surgery, which is also colloquially referred to as abdominal surgery. In all these specialties, the medical professionals not only work on the patients themselves, but also, and above all, in parallel in the areas of research and further development of methods and techniques.
While Prof. Dr Jörg Zehetner was still attending the OESO Congress in Beijing, Swiss1Chirurgie received a special honour. At the ASMBS Meeting 2019 in November in Las Vegas, USA, Dr Catherine Tsai received the International Award for the best video presentation of a surgical procedure.
Dr Catherine Tsai has been working as a research assistant at Swiss1Chirurgie in Bern for the past two years, and her scientific research work significantly supports further development at the Swiss1Chirurgie sites in Switzerland.
In the video presentation “Laparoscopic Conversion from Gastric Sleeve to RY Gastric Bypass with Remnant Gastrectomy using Fluorescent Angiography” by Dr Tsai, Dr Steffen and Dr Zehetner, you can see the laparoscopic conversion from a sleeve (tubular stomach) to a gastric bypass, whereby here the remaining stomach was completely resected for medical reasons. Fluorescent angiography was used to check the blood flow in the gastric pouch and duodenum, as shown in this video.
The latest award ceremony for Swiss1Chirurgie and thus also for the Centre for Bariatric Surgery ZfBC continues a series of successes that have long since made the specialists Dr Jörg Zehetner, Dr Catherine Tsai, Dr Steffen and Dr Metzger real experts with an international reputation. We only need to refer to the numerous publications and prizes that were awarded to Swiss1Chirurgie last year.
The medical specialists are less concerned with fame and more with scientific, methodical and ultimately medical progress in the interest of the patients. Various studies are being carried out with the Inselspital Bern as well as in the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics and the Centre for Bariatric Surgery. The results of such studies primarily benefit the patients of Swiss1Chirurgie, underpin the outstanding international reputation of the specialists and, last but not least, form the basis for new developments in the specialist areas of Swiss1Chirurgie.
For the sake of completeness, we summarise here the most important publications, lectures and awards of Swiss1Chirurgie from the past years:
The GP Bern has been one of the world’s best-known popular races with international appeal since 1982. The Old Town Run and the Grand Prix Bern are among the ten most beautiful courses in the world and are also visited time and again by international running celebrities.
We want to take part in the run together with employees and patients of the ZfbC and Swiss1Chirurgie as a team on 09 May 2020. The registration period is running. You can find out more about the Grand Prix Bern with Swiss1Chirurgie and ZfbC as well as the possibilities for team participation in the detailed article (LINK).
We look forward to your registration and to a wonderful day in May!
Your
Jörg Zehetner
The Grand Prix Bern has been an integral part of Switzerland’s running calendar since 1982. International runners have also long since discovered the challenging 10-mile race for themselves and names such as three-time Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele from Ethiopia, world champion Martina Strähl from Switzerland or Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) grace the start lists of the Bern Grand Prix alongside national and international athletics celebrities.
The Grand Prix Bern is not only a gathering of the world’s best runners, but also a meeting place for ambitious amateur athletes from all walks of life. Whoever tackles the easy to challenging run on the road between 4.8 and 16.01 kilometres knows they are in the company of the great athletes of our time. More important than that, however, is the certainty that taking part in the Old Town Run (4.8 kilometres) or the Grand Prix (16.01 kilometres) is a challenge for body and psyche and always a good contribution to maintaining and improving health and fitness.
In 2019, Swiss1Chirurgie and the Centre for Bariatric Surgery (ZfbC) have again participated as a team in the GP Bern. And that should be the case again in 2020. Both employees of Swiss1Chirurgie and the ZfbC as well as patients with the appropriate will and physical conditions can participate as team players in the Old Town Run or the Grand Prix.
The doctors and therapists from Swiss1Chirurgie and ZfbC are particularly committed to the patients in advance. Thus, former and current patients can get individual advice from the specialists and also receive sport and health advice in preparation for the GP Bern. After all, the point of participation is not to achieve best values, but to aim for very personal goals, taking into account individual conditions. Ultimately, participation in the Old Town Run or the Grand Prix should be a contribution to the health and fitness of the participants. This is the deeper meaning of such a popular race, as Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner also knows from his own experience of participating in many long-distance races.
As “Team swiss1chirurgie &zfbc” we want to compete together with staff and patients in the Old Town Run and Grand Prix in Bern on 09 May 2020. Staff and patients can now sign up to participate in the registration list. The deadline for registration is 29 March 2020. The lists of participants are available in our clinics. Participants can also register online via the Swiss1Chirurgie app.
Participation is free of charge for the first 20 registered participants. All registered participants will receive a team shirt for the run on 09 May 2020 in Bern. We are already looking forward to a lively interest. Because last but not least, taking part in the Altstadtlauf or the Grand Prix Bern is a good contribution to keeping healthy and is even more fun as a team.
Even more information about the GP Bern and participation is available at www.gpbern.ch and of course on the Swiss1ChirurgieVictoryAPP (LINK).
The Centre for Bariatric Surgery (ZfbC) and Swiss1Chirurgie specialise, among other things, in patients who are seeking comprehensive medical help with accompanying care due to a serious and morbid obesity problem. Prof. Dr. Jörg Zehetner, as the leading mind behind the ZfbC and Swiss1Chirurgie, knows that the path from severely overweight patients to a happier and fulfilled life is not an easy one. For decades, he has treated and cared for patients who nevertheless take this long journey. Clear progress can be seen just as much as an occasional relapse into old habits and the difficult fight against obesity and the prejudices associated with it.
Dr Jörg Zehetner has also been able to count Sina Gossweiler among his patients for several years. Many people know the young woman from the show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (DSDS), where the Wattenwil native was able to convince with a magnificent voice, and also got into the recall, but not further. The young singer is also known for her fight against obesity, which she finally took up with the professional help of the ZfbC after some back and forth and repeated self-diets.
A gastric bypass operation was finally the right and appropriate way for her to move into a weight-wise and also psychologically lighter future. It was clear from the beginning that this journey does not end with the surgical intervention, but in fact requires follow-up care in a professional environment throughout life. Sina has fought this battle successfully so far and now feels visibly more comfortable in her own skin. In addition to learning healthy eating habits, as well as exercise and sport, she has now reached a healthy weight.
And in terms of music, too, the signs are pointing to success. Even though the DSDS recall almost exactly a year ago didn’t lead any further, the likeable musician is now standing there with her head held high. With their first single “Everything I Want To Be” they got off to a great start in the charts. As Sina Lark, the self-confident young woman makes her commercial debut in the music business and can already enjoy a great deal of attention.
Not only did her new song run for the first time as Song of the Day on SRF 3 at the beginning of February 2020, but a live performance on 14.02.2020, between 19:00 and 20:00 on the station will also show how consistently and with what passion Sina is looking for the way to the top and has now perhaps even already found it. Then she will present two songs live on the SRF 3 programme “Punkt CH”. Her new single will also be presented as “Hit of the Day” on 14.02.2020.
If you take both the gastric bypass operation and the musical path together, it becomes clear that Sina Gossweiler has already taken the long road very successfully as Sina Lark. This gives the soon to be 21-year-old woman from the canton of Bern even more strength to continue on her path now more than ever. On the one hand, this path leads downwards when it comes to weight. On the other hand, it is also the ascent into a new life that Sina has paved for herself with her musical talent. The fact that both directions always involve a lot of effort, challenges, stamina and also the odd setback is impressively demonstrated by Sina Gossweiler’s still young story.
In the end, it is up to each individual to decide how to deal with his or her own problems. Getting the best help at the right time also proved to be a real stroke of luck in this particular case.
Every year at the beginning of March, there is a day dedicated to the topic of obesity as World Obesity Day. Certainly, this is not a holiday for those affected, but at least it is the day when there is a good reason to think about obesity in general and the stigmatisation associated with it in particular.
This year the focus is “Male Obesity”. This cannot simply be categorised as “gluttony” or “self-indulgence”. Male obesity has as many causes as it has manifestations. It primarily affects men from middle age onwards, who (like women) are undergoing a particular type of metabolic change.
Particularly as we get older, the body strives to store food reserves as fat reserves for developmental reasons, in order to provide for possible shortages. Especially for men who consume fewer calories than they take in due to their occupation or limited exercise, this quickly leads to unwanted excess weight. Organic processes in particular play an important role here, which cannot be “switched off” so easily.
In a special video, I personally addressed the importance of World Obesity Day. This is also due to the fact that obesity is now more common worldwide than malnutrition. The actual problem is mainly to be observed in the western industrialised countries, since it is precisely here that there is an ever-increasing surplus of food – practically at all times.
The obesity rate in the USA, for example, is around 35-40 percent of the population, which is a fact that should not be underestimated. This means an overweight of at least 20 kilograms, or a BMI of 30 or more. This is also the case despite the surgical intervention options, although these methods in particular can now be classified as very safe and successful. Nevertheless, the rate of surgical interventions needed in this particular area is far too low.
World Obesity Day is not simply about informing the public and professional colleagues accordingly. Rather, I see it as important to educate people about the modern treatment options of bariatric surgery. The primary aim is always to help patients according to their individual starting situation.
It is important to understand that obesity is always associated with concomitant diseases. Diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnoea, high cholesterol – all these manifest themselves in the environment of obesity. But there is also another aspect that has emerged, especially in recent years. The point is that people who are overweight are simply stigmatised. At school, at work and even in private life, overweight people are described as lazy, fat, greedy, careless and lazy about exercise. This puts additional stress on those affected and does not help to tackle the problem in a targeted and conscious way. Significant overweight has been defined as a disease since 2013 at the latest. This puts morbid obesity in the same category as diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and many other chronic diseases.
The stigmatisation of obesity is extremely dangerous for patients, as they then withdraw and cannot address their actual problem in a targeted and active way. Professional treatment, counselling and support is the surest way out of obesity.
Everyone is challenged to exercise some restraint in their contact with morbidly obese people, both in their choice of words and in their behaviour. To this end, World Obesity Day can create better awareness. The problem should not only be addressed on this day of the year. But such a day can help to create more sensitivity for the problems of overweight people instead of leaving them to their fate with stigmatisation and devaluation.
Yes, women also suffer from morbid obesity. But men do it in a special way. There are now “curvy models” for women, but not for men. And men by nature already tend to eat the slightly larger portions, even if that seems to be gradually declining. The world view was and still is such that a belly is always subconsciously associated with prosperity. Also in modern industrial societies. The dangers are usually conscious, but are only realised when they are actually there.
In addition, after a certain stage of life at the latest, men do not have this special view of their appearance that many women have. The actual problem is not recognised, or is recognised only very late, and is then gladly accepted as natural. This means that they don’t have to go to the doctor and the obesity surgeon is an unknown quantity for many of those affected. Therefore, men in particular must be sensitised to actively face this problem. World Obesity Day provides an excellent opportunity to do this.
With its first magazine, Swiss1Chirurgie addresses all patients and those hungry for information who want to learn more about the topics of morbid obesity or about reflux disease.
We work our way forward in interesting articles on these topics and also provide interesting information about our clinics and the Centre for Bariatric Surgery (ZfbC).
You can find out more about the magazine itself and the contents in detail in the detailed article.
You can pick up a printed copy of the magazine in the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics. Those who can no longer get a copy or prefer to read online can obtain the magazine via the following link: https://v.calameo.com/?bkcode=006115199635078f16024&mode=mini&clickto=embed&autoflip=4
We hope you enjoy reading and look forward to your feedback or meeting you in person at one of our locations in Brig, Bern or Solothurn.
Your Swiss1Chirurgie
Dr. Jörg Zehetner
The first edition of the Swiss1Chirurgie magazine is out. The magazine is now available as a printed copy in our clinics in Brig, Bern and Solothurn. For those who prefer to read the first Swiss1Chirurgie magazine online, it is also available for download via the Swiss1Chirurgie app or on the Swiss1Chirurgie website.
We are happy to inform you now, more or less in advance, about the thematic focal points of the magazine in the March 2020 edition.
A major focus is morbid obesity. From stigmatisation to treatment options, you will learn a lot in the magazine that is worth knowing, new, interesting and particularly informative for those affected. In this way, we do not simply want to disseminate scientific findings, but above all to show the individual path to change. In an easily understandable yet correct form.
To this end, we have approached this still very difficult topic in the magazine with various articles, statements, reports and testimonials. We hope that this will pave a new way for overweight people in particular to get informed and ultimately take the right steps to treat their morbid obesity.
At this point, the reports by and about Sina Gossweiler, also known as Sina Lark in the music scene, should be of particular interest. The young woman is not only known from the show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (DSDS), but has also been fighting against morbid obesity for a long time. Obviously with success.
Another main topic in the first Swiss1Chirurgie magazine is reflux disease. Persistent, chronic acid regurgitation is not only unpleasant and annoying, it can also have real medical significance. Especially when the oesophagus is attacked by the constant confrontation with stomach acid. Consequential symptoms can extend to oesophageal cancer.
Here we also take the opportunity to present different medical and surgical procedures for the treatment of reflux disease in a little more detail.
The first issue of the Swiss1Chirurgie magazine also gives us the opportunity to present our locations in Brig, Solothurn and Berne in more detail. You will not only learn interesting facts about the clinics themselves, but also about the doctors who are there for you every day.
We will also focus on the Centre for Bariatric Surgery Bern (ZfbC) and show you how the scientific work is being further developed there. A number of different specialist papers and support for bariatric surgery worldwide shows the expertise with which this centre is equipped.
We would also be pleased to introduce you to the new Swiss1Chirurgie app. Many people already know them and may also use them to read this article. Anyone who is not yet familiar with the new Swiss1Chirurgie app is expressly invited here to download and use it free of charge.
A wealth of information, a direct line to the medical specialist and support before, during and after treatment are just some of the many benefits that you can enjoy with the Swiss1Chirurgie app.
Take advantage of this opportunity and simply pick up your print copy of the Swiss1Chirurgie magazine in the clinic or download the online version to your device.
I hope you enjoy reading
Your Swiss1Chirurgie
Dr. Jörg Zehetner
