Wellness

[chrystaltree]

Not exactly a surprise.  Those devices sound like tragedies waiting to happen.  However, I wish people would stop call weight loss surgery or a crutch or blathering on and on and about "just go on a diet".  That's nonsene.  Pure nonsense.  There are 100 reasons why people become obese and some of them are unrelated to food.  Also, losing 100lbs is NOT exactly like losing 20 pound, except that you do it for 5 times as long.  That's rubbish too.  I wondered about those devices because there are several safe and effective (for most people) weight loss surgeries.  They aren't like the old methods and can be done laparoscopically.  Although not everyone loses weight.  Also, it's not like people have the surgery and the weight magically falls off and never ever comes back.  Wls is tool, not a crutch.  People have to diet and exersize after the surgery to lose weight and they have eat healthy and exersize to keep the weight off.  They surgery just makes it a little easier.  It's 2017 now and medical science has discovered many things about obesity but there are still aspects that are a mystery.  

[conlt]

I am an RN and have seen to many people with complications and die about 12 to 15 years post surgery. I would never consider surgery or recommend it to one of my patients, family or friends. I see the medical side of these surgeries. I deal with it daily. I have a patient right now, years post-op, weight loss surgery. She is less than 100 pounds, malnourished, bed bound, she can't eat at all for the rest of her poor life. No my friends I am not on board with the surgery. I believe weight gain has a huge mental component. 

[Moonchilde]

I'm not one to say the various devices and surgeries are "bad" across the board for everyone, or that they're dangerous for everyone - if that were the case they wouldn't still be being performed.

But as others who have medical knowledge or experience have said, when things go wrong (not at all uncommon) with these surgeries they can go really, seriously wrong. Even if they don't end in death, they can have side effects, like malabsorption syndrome or diarrhea, for the rest of the patient's life - no "fix." Or they can puncture an organ or cause obstruction or necrosis (death of tissue) leading to a slow, miserable life...or death. It's just not rare.

IMO, for me, I wouldn't do it. The possibility of lifelong tube feedings, gross-tasting supplements without which I would die, or permanent diapers are not odds I'd entertain dealing with. But if I weighed 350+ pounds, I'm sure I'd weigh (haha) the possible consequences differently.

[hckynut]

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@conlt wrote:

I am an RN and have seen to many people with complications and die about 12 to 15 years post surgery. I would never consider surgery or recommend it to one of my patients, family or friends. I see the medical side of these surgeries. I deal with it daily. I have a patient right now, years post-op, weight loss surgery. She is less than 100 pounds, malnourished, bed bound, she can't eat at all for the rest of her poor life. No my friends I am not on board with the surgery. I believe weight gain has a huge mental component. 

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@conlt

There are many people like myself that have never really cared how many calender years I live. For me is the way the I live the years while I am still on this earth. I'm sure you know the oft used phrase, what I said worded differently.

I too have a weight problem, and have had it since age 12. I however am able to weigh what I choose, and have done so for many decades, none of which involves anything but what I eat(fuel in) an my activities/exercise(waste out). Easy? Nothing worth doing in my life has been what I call "easy", and I prefer much of it that way.

My wife on the other hand needed the Roux-en-Y surgical tool to reach her goals of how she wanted to live her life. Her way of life has changed in the 9 years since her surgery(she lost and has maintained half of what she weighed pre-surgery). and has put more life she wanted into those years.

If you or others choose to concern yourselves with the number of years you live? I on the other hand choose to do what I feel is best for me, and that is what I am able to do the years I do live. This is not new for me as I have looked at my life with this view since early adulthood, many moons ago.

Living is a dangerous thing in many aspects of life. If some choose more years it is certainly fine with me. I will continue to do in my life with scant concern what my chronological years add up to at the end.

hckynut(john)

[chrystaltree]

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@hckynut wrote:

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@conlt wrote:

I am an RN and have seen to many people with complications and die about 12 to 15 years post surgery. I would never consider surgery or recommend it to one of my patients, family or friends. I see the medical side of these surgeries. I deal with it daily. I have a patient right now, years post-op, weight loss surgery. She is less than 100 pounds, malnourished, bed bound, she can't eat at all for the rest of her poor life. No my friends I am not on board with the surgery. I believe weight gain has a huge mental component. 

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@conlt

There are many people like myself that have never really cared how many calender years I live. For me is the way the I live the years while I am still on this earth. I'm sure you know the oft used phrase, what I said worded differently.

I too have a weight problem, and have had it since age 12. I however am able to weigh what I choose, and have done so for many decades, none of which involves anything but what I eat(fuel in) an my activities/exercise(waste out). Easy? Nothing worth doing in my life has been what I call "easy", and I prefer much of it that way.

My wife on the other hand needed the Roux-en-Y surgical tool to reach her goals of how she wanted to live her life. Her way of life has changed in the 9 years since her surgery(she lost and has maintained half of what she weighed pre-surgery). and has put more life she wanted into those years.

If you or others choose to concern yourselves with the number of years you live? I on the other hand choose to do what I feel is best for me, and that is what I am able to do the years I do live. This is not new for me as I have looked at my life with this view since early adulthood, many moons ago.

Living is a dangerous thing in many aspects of life. If some choose more years it is certainly fine with me. I will continue to do in my life with scant concern what my chronological years add up to at the end.

hckynut(john)

Good points John.  I'm not buying into the idea that people have serious complications 20 years after their surgery.  Some do have adhesions years and years after their surgeries but that is true of every abdominal surgery.  My sister developed adhesions 12 years after a c-section.  The techniques today are safe and effective.  I had an open roux en y myself 20 years ago.  Lost 170lbs but if go back to old habits, I re-gain 70 of them.  But I never regain the entire 170.  I just lost 55 of that 70 and I hope to keep it off this time.  I never had any complications at all and I do think it's mostly because I was 100% compliant with everything my doctor's instructions.  

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[Financialgrl]

We've all heard of the issues from those that have had actual gastric bypass surgery (Al Roker, etc).  I'm not morbidly obese but need to lose weight.  I'd never do this after watching a friend who had the gastric sleeve put in his stomach.  He was never fat until he required specific medications - they caused a barrel chested look. 

We'd go out to eat and I watched him eat very little and within a half hour was running to the restroom - bc he could not keep food down.  He got skinny but I suspect it was more bc he was constantly throwing up.  In his case, his blood work showed he had become so anemic - and the doctor required it to be removed.