Gastric bypass surgery patients are at an increased risk for poor absorption of certain medications. Because the surgery essentially reroutes food and drugs around several major sections of the small intestine, these patients have a significantly decreased surface area for soaking up nutrients and certain medications. While there are not many detailed recommendations for improving drug function in these patients, some guiding principles may help them absorb medication better after gastric bypass surgery.
Instructions
1. Substitute immediate-release drugs in favor of extended-release medications. Since gastric bypass surgery reduces the length and surface area of the small intestine, extended-release medications are more likely to pass through the gastrointestinal tract partially unabsorbed. The same holds true for delayed-release and coated medications.
2. Take some medications more frequently. Some physicians may decide to give a gastric bypass patient more doses of an immediate-release drug to get the same results over time that an extended-release drug would provide someone else.
3. Switch to liquid preparations of some medications, which make it unnecessary for the drug to dissolve in the gastrointestinal tract. Consider other drug formulations that could also improve absorption, including transdermal, rectal, vaginal, intranasal, intravenous and subcutaneous.
4. Ask for specific instructions from your physician on take your medications after gastric bypass surgery. Malabsorption problems are more likely to result in a decrease in drug effectiveness, rather than an overdose. Therefore, physicians should monitor patients frequently to determine the effects of some drugs. If standard doses of prescribed medications produce little or no results, absorption may be a problem.
Tags: bypass surgery, gastric bypass, after gastric, after gastric bypass, certain medications