No bariatric surgery pour moi!

[Lila]

My doctor is affiliated with the Piedmont Hospital network in Atlanta area. When I checked in for my appointment yesterday, I noticed a flier about their bariatric procedures. Today on my twitter feed, Piedmont Fayette was hawking their gastric sleeve surgery.


Now I have a friend who had this surgery. She said she would have taken a 2nd mortgage on her home to do it if her insurance had not paid for it. She had absolutely amazing results. Did I say amazing? Absolutely amazing.


BUT, she had 75% of her stomach removed.


Although I would like to lose 100 pounds, and really need to so my BMI won't be in the bad range, I'm just not going to do that.

[Suzhookem]

Good for you. You can do this!

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Lila,


Good thinking about the surgery.  While your weight loss is slow now, this will improve as each of your systems begins to function normally.  Your lab results shows that this is happening.  The slower the loss, the more your skin can contract so you don't get the flabby folds of hanging skin, especially across your torso. 


While your friend might be delighted about the weight loss and seemingly good recovery, she is not getting healthier, just thinner and her body is adjusting to not having to deal with the stresses caused by extra pounds.  My sister's friend had that surgery and swears by it.  BUT, she still eats lots of grains and sugars, craving the carbs.  She is just merely heavy set now, not morbidly obese.  Her energy level is supposedly high.  She does have those folds of skin like a tire around her mid section and her skin and hair doesn't have a healthy glow. 


This surgery is a big money maker so it is being touted.   Easy way to lose weight because you aren't hungry much with only 25% of your stomach intact.  Just doesn't address the issues which caused the problem in the first place. 

[deanna in AR]

For all the amazing stories, I'll bet there are just as many horror stories. I have a friend who has one. And what they eat just astounds me...nothing healthy by any standards!

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Lila,


In anticipation of all the Baby Boomers needed some sort of surgery, the hospitals and doctors are just expanding their facilities outside of the main hospitals.  This is happening all over the country.  These special surgery centers have to be utilized to keep the money coming in and the medical machine running, so expect to see lots more of the push for bariatric surgery, joint replacements, torn ligament repairs, face and body lifts and anything else that can be thought up.  While some of the surgery is really life saving, most of it is the result of our bad eating habits which are never addressed. 


Today's paper has a feature article about hospitals/doctors developing off campus sites for the multiple specialty centers which help hospitals offer more services at lower costs than their main facility.  This also frees up a lot of space for the main facility.  Many of the hospitals just don't have the space to expand so these centers help. 


I expect that there will be lots of suggestions and pressure by our doctors to have the surgeries these facilities offer.   

[Lynda (Fl)]

I understand that with only a quarter of your stomach remaining, every bite of food becomes critical, in terms of nutrients supplied.  Personally, I don't have what it would take to preserve my health under those conditions. I can certainly understand the attraction, however.

[Bob Niland (Boundless)]

There are several articles on WBB regarding bariatric:

Weight Watchers, Optifast, gastric bypass . . . and finally address the cause
...which contains an interesting remark by Uncle Roscoe

Bariatric Whistleblower: Fake Nails and Lap-Band


Better late than never!

[Jan in Key West]

Interesting thing about bariatric surgery is that since obesity has now been legally identified as a 'disease'....it will, unfortunately, be more than likely covered by insurance.

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Jan,


Sure it will be covered by insurance!  Now everyone can take advantage of this easy way to lose weight and keep eating your chips.  Keeps all those machines (scans, xrays), labs and adjunct personnel busy and you constantly in the doctors office for followup visits. 

[Jan in Key West]

Well it didn't work so well for Chris Christie....did it?

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Nah!  His Grain Brain is just becoming more evident now.  It is just too bad. 

[BarbinNC]

I am also very much against this surgery, and have two friends who had it done - with success I must say, they are both slim and look good (with clothes on).  But the skin folds are there underneath, and one has had some surgery to remove skin, and also had breast reduction, but it's all so painful and extreme in my opinion.  Both also eat horribly same foods they ate before and just less.  One of them is pretty much anorexic I think, I only see her drinking diet sodas mostly.  The other one had to be taken off a cruise ship, for emergency surgery to fix a leak of some kind, not sure what it was exactly, but she was close to death, the ship actually went to closest harbor to get her off board!  She looks emaciated, but is proud of her looks, always feels nauseated and other problems too … no thanks, I'd rather do it the old fashioned way.

[Redhead65]

I am sure you can do it without the surgery. The others have already posted good reasons, e.g. being slim suddenly does not mean being healthy, if you loose weight slower, it will be better for your skin. Plus your body does not have to deal with these enormous changes that the body had not been made for. Surgery should not be underestimated. A year ago I had 2 major and 4 minor surgeries in 15 months. None of them were optional. It was insane. After every surgery I could feel that returning to normal energy level was harder. After the 7th it took about a year.

In Germany there is a fitness coach - a former cook - who used to be so obese. He lost a lot of weight by exercising and cooking more healthily. Today he is roughly half the size (or even less) than he used to be. Today he offers sports camps and healthy cooking classes for people who want to loose weight.

[Loanne]

Lila, I know you started this trail awhile back, but I considered this type of surgery, too, at one time.  I had a friend who had umpteen feet of her intestines removed back in the 70s when that was all the rage.  She could never be far from the bathroom since she had diarrhea a LOT.  Also couldn't take any medications that had to stay in her system for any length of time.  I feel I've abused my body enough over the years, and LCHF way is the best for me.  I've been kind of depressed lately over the "no weight loss" thing...it's been 5 months since I've lost anything...weight has stayed exactly the same.  I ran across the book Fat Fast recently, or read about it here, I think.  I'm not sure it's healthy for me, but it did open my eyes to what I AM doing that's stalled my weight loss.  Too much protein and not enough fat.  I'm revamping my menus to include a smidge of something so I'm not so hungry before I get home at night.  Didn't mean to get off the track of bariatric surgery...I just know I'll never have that done, and I think you are wise to NOT do it. You're listening to your body.

[VibeRadiant]

Loanne, I haven't lost weight in a year. There was a 6 lb loss, but it came right back. I think for me, it will go when  I no longer give a rats pattootey about it. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. 

[Loanne]

I know how you feel.  Some days I'm tired of worrying about what I'm eating (still no wheat, sugar, or processed foods), and lately have cut back a lot.  Afraid to eat too much protein now.  I have 50 lbs to lose yet, and more than just about anything I want to be a normal weight.  I'm only 5'4"... I guess more for my health, too.  I gain a lot of insight from this forum, though, and appreciate your comments and understanding.  We're all in this together!  At least I know you all understand when I make off-the-wall comments that no one else gives a diddly about. 

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Vibe and Loanne,


Most of us have to find that seemingly magical place in our diets that keeps us burning fat and the weight loss that happens.  We keep trying various combinations of foods/meals and hope this does the trick.  We mostly learn and re-assess our food intake every few months to reach our goals.  Our bodies keep changing and hopefully keeps cleaning itself out after a lifetime of eating grains and sugars.  At least most of us are in an upward health spiral rather than the downward spiral of our peers.  Some of us don't have any difficulty with weight loss.  Some of us struggle constantly until our body really starts righting itself.  This is why it is important to keep trying different methods and food combinations to reach and then maintain that weight.  Your body will always try to normalize itself.

[Lynda (Fl)]

<I gain a lot of insight from this forum, though, and appreciate your comments and understanding.  We're all in this together!  At least I know you all understand when I make off-the-wall comments that no one else gives a diddly about.  >


Nobody could have said it better, Loanne.  That's just how I feel.

[Loanne]

Thank you, Barbara. I've printed your response to read at those times when I'm feeling down and not sure what my next step should be.