Question:
When laproscopic gastric bypass is performed, what happens

When laproscopic gastric bypass is performed, what happens to the acid in the portion of the stomach that is bypassed? If it is directed into the lower intestin (without the aid of any food to dilute it) it would eventually rot away the intestinal lining. If it is kept in the unused "pouch" of the stomach, it would eat away at the unused portion of the stomach. What is the longest anyone who has had a gastric bypass has lived??? Please, if anyone has any info, or any links, let me know. I have yet to find a doctor that can answer the first question.    — Chris C. (posted on February 6, 2002)

February 6, 2002
Does it not meet food when it arrives in the used portion of the intestine and then excreted? And if the stomach is producing the acid, it can handle it and not be eaten away. I'm sure there has been enough research to support the surgery or they would not be perfoming it. Even before surgery, acid is being produced without food in there all the time, and it has not been known to 'rot' anything.
   — [Anonymous]

February 6, 2002
These questions are pretty far-reaching. Thats probably why a doctor hasn't been able to answer the questions. Did someone ask you these questions because they are against you having the surgery?? You might want to ask a surgeon these questions. PCP's won't be able to answer them, they can barely answer general questions about the surgery itself. They are not well-informed. You need to talk to someone who is.
   — [Anonymous]

February 6, 2002
The way it was explained to me by my surgeon is the unused portion of stomach continues to live and secrete digestive juices and these along w/bile from the gallbladder if you still have one empty into the common portion of intestine distal to the new stomach pouch and aids in the digestion of food it meets at that point.
   — jsuggs

February 8, 2002
That acid that goes into your intestines will NOT rot away your intestines. Your intesines produce thier own digestive juices which are base in nature. They pretty much counteract the acid. If it didn't, when you had a BM, you would be scalded from the acid that was moving through. Think of it this way...when you have heart burn, or indigestion it's because you have produced too much acid...so what do you take...a tums, or peptobismal, or whatever. Those products are BASE in nature and sooth the stomach by the same principle. Your body will do what it needs to do to retain it's natural PH. No need to worry.
   — [Anonymous]

February 8, 2002
I am very sympathetic to your fear of stomach "invasion". I had suffered from ulcers for 30+ years before I had this surgery. Most were duodenal (peptic) ulcers, down in the "exit" of the normal stomach. When the stomachs are separated, we no longer feel acid in the pouch, so there is no more indgestion, heartburn or any of that. Ulcers CAN occur in the pouch, but it isn't common in a proximal RNY. Now, you ask, what happens with all that acid running amok in the lower stomach? Well, there's no food in there, so the acid maintains a "low tide" level. It's not the same as the normal stomach--when food arrives, a fresh shipment of acid & bile comes in to process it. A LARGE shipment. But in the bypassed stomach, it doesn't get that huge load of gastric cocktail. CAN ulcers occur in that stomach, now safely sealed below? Yes, but that is extremely rare. I don't know what the official tally is, but I'd put it well below 1% from my experience. Far lower than our chance of ulcer with a normal stomach, OR the rest of the comorbs that come with our disease (morbid obesity). I know it is scary & defies all reason when you first begin processing the info, but it begins to make sense as time goes on.
   — vitalady