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Honest opinions on weight loss surgery

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Replies

  • Sunshine_And_Sand
    Sunshine_And_Sand Posts: 1,320 Member
    IMO, WLS isn't for me. I've never been more than slightly overweight though, so I can't say if I'd still feel that way if I was at the point of qualifying for WLS, since I've never actually been there...
    Anyway, for those at that point, either way they choose, they are making that decision to improve their health and having to commit to that decision to get the results.
    Also, I wouldn't exactly say WLS is an easy way out. Everyone I know who had it still worked very hard after their surgery to continue and maintain the weight loss, including becoming and staying more active as well as following MD advice for nutrition.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    Al Roker is getting big again
    Christy never seemed to lose any weight at his surgery. Results so bad that the surgeon probably denied doing it.
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Some people qualify for insurance to pay only if they have medical conditions, are a certain bmi. It can be life saving.

    I dont think i would be a good candidate.

    Not sure what the importance is of doing it the "harder" way. You still have to make lifestyle changes.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    My honest opinion on the surgery is that the thought of me having it strikes terror in me. I would/could never do it. What other people choose to do is their business, but for me, I’d rather put the effort in without the risk. Both ways require effort.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    kroe4 wrote: »
    I was about to ask a question similar to the OP but I found this thread. So I'm going to air my WLS grievances lol

    1. Weight loss surgery has so many risks and brings on so many health problems, including the possibility of death. I know being overweight also comes with those risks, but if you loose the weight a natural way, those risks go away, with surgery.....you're always going to have those risks/health problems.

    2. People who compare WLS vs natural weight loss to the C-section/Vaginal birth debate. I see where they think of surgery vs natural, as great comparison. But no, C-section are done almost always due to a problem with either mom or baby, C-sections are done to prevent horrible complications and health problems for mom and/or baby. Yes, it has normal risks that accompany any surgery but it's typically not a voluntary option people choose and there's not a list of problems you have to live with for having a C-section......So not the same thing.

    3. I know lots of people who've had WLS and they have so many problems now. One had lap band and the band wore a hole in her stomach spilling everything out and she became septic...she spent months in the hospital, almost died. One had the gastric bypass, had problems for years, eventually died from health related problems that came with the bypass. Many had the sleeve, they mostly suffer from vitamin deficiency, GERD, hair loss, etc. etc.

    4. People say WLS isn't the easy way out, but if you want my honest opinion, I think it's probably a heck of a lot easier to say no to plate a cheese fries when you'll end up in the ER if you don't. I don't see myself as "better" than people who have WLS, but I do think It's harder for me because I could eat those cheese fries if I wanted to.

    While a c-section is often done to due to issues with either mother or child, elective c-sections aren't that rare.

    My first c-section was expedient due to my condition (baby was fine but I was not). For my second child, I could have chosen to attempt a VBAC (which carries a slightly higher risk than a vaginal birth with no prior sections for uterine rupture, but minimal in most cases) but didn't. I guess that makes it elective.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    kroe4 wrote: »
    I was about to ask a question similar to the OP but I found this thread. So I'm going to air my WLS grievances lol

    1. Weight loss surgery has so many risks and brings on so many health problems, including the possibility of death. I know being overweight also comes with those risks, but if you loose the weight a natural way, those risks go away, with surgery.....you're always going to have those risks/health problems.

    2. People who compare WLS vs natural weight loss to the C-section/Vaginal birth debate. I see where they think of surgery vs natural, as great comparison. But no, C-section are done almost always due to a problem with either mom or baby, C-sections are done to prevent horrible complications and health problems for mom and/or baby. Yes, it has normal risks that accompany any surgery but it's typically not a voluntary option people choose and there's not a list of problems you have to live with for having a C-section......So not the same thing.

    3. I know lots of people who've had WLS and they have so many problems now. One had lap band and the band wore a hole in her stomach spilling everything out and she became septic...she spent months in the hospital, almost died. One had the gastric bypass, had problems for years, eventually died from health related problems that came with the bypass. Many had the sleeve, they mostly suffer from vitamin deficiency, GERD, hair loss, etc. etc.

    4. People say WLS isn't the easy way out, but if you want my honest opinion, I think it's probably a heck of a lot easier to say no to plate a cheese fries when you'll end up in the ER if you don't. I don't see myself as "better" than people who have WLS, but I do think It's harder for me because I could eat those cheese fries if I wanted to.

    While a c-section is often done to due to issues with either mother or child, elective c-sections aren't that rare.

    My first c-section was expedient due to my condition (baby was fine but I was not). For my second child, I could have chosen to attempt a VBAC (which carries a slightly higher risk than a vaginal birth with no prior sections for uterine rupture, but minimal in most cases) but didn't. I guess that makes it elective.

    Medicine is an outgrowth of engineering and largely based on risk management as opposed to scientific fact. Cesarean section is utilized when risk to the mother/child is less than that of vaginal birth...or in theory should be. There's always going to be a change involved when humans are involved and a competent surgeon can greatly minimize this risk.

    We were going to attempt a VBAC for our second child until speaking with a colleague at a party - one of my favorite people and experienced dual boarded surgeon/anesthesiologist. He recommended against it simply because of the vasculature within the uterine wall. If you cause an unintended bleed it is extremely challenging to stop. One of those things - if things go well they go well....if things go wrong...they go wrong fast.
  • hotmammabear1
    hotmammabear1 Posts: 2 Member
    The biggest misconception most folks have about WLS, is that you can continue to eat the way you did before the surgery. WLS is NOT a magic bullet. It has extreme implications to your health, and if you do not have the strength to eat correctly before the surgery, you will not do well after. You will loose weight initially, for sure. However, over time, it is possible to overstretch the pouch and begin to overeat and gain the weight back. Just look at Al Roker and Carnie Wilson. You still have to put in the work and eat healthy and exercise.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    This is a judgment free zone when it come to WLS. The appetite control center is located in the brain and not the stomach. Removing the stomach and creating a pouch does not take the appetite away.

    "People who struggle with obesity simply do not have the same ability as normal weight people to "listen to their hunger cues". First, the obesity has messed up their hormones. Many are resistant to insulin making them eat more AND leptin making them unable to stop eating when they are full. So, telling obese people to listen to their hunger signals is simply impossible."

    If you struggle with this all of the days of your life, surgery may not fix all of this a year down the road when the healing is done. It initially gives insulin resistance and T2 a knockout punch but a few years down the road it can come back.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited July 2018
    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200504073521421

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096273/

    I finished some research about the post op long term care of the pouch from day 1 of surgery to 10 years out. Someone who'd actually worked with WLS patients mentioned earlier that it was their task to prepare patients. In the beginning, they eat 2 oz of food and about 6-8 weeks out it bumps up to 8 oz of food. The long term care of the pouch.

    If you're a potential WLS patient, why not seek out someone like this who can lead you through the steps. As they said, some had so much success they chose to keep going without surgery. We are born with a stomach. If you can learn to manage a pouch you can learn to manage a stomach without all of the post op complications and retweaking that is often done over the long haul.

    Pain is the precursor to change. Do you need the pain of surgery and the the pain of recovery to make a change. Do you need the pain that may or may not last for the rest of your life to make a change. There are only choices and consequences. You choose.

    If you have the true grit to make this dramatic change because it is not easy could you treat your stomach like a pouch and practice, practice, practice. Could you do it for 6 months. If you sat down with someone who could look you directly in the eye, face-to-face and they gave it to you straight, maybe even scaring the literal hail right outta you, could you do it. I know I could and I would do this first before I made a permanent decision to remove 75% of my stomach.

    If the surgeon told you that at the 5 year mark you may start rebounding back with weight gain and eating it back, would you still go through with it. Choices and consequences. I could treat my stomach like a pouch and I would practice. I would track my data points and I would contemplate the big picture every day. Choices and consequences. I would do this first and I'd fight for my life, scaring the literal hail right out of myself if I had to.
  • hsmith0930
    hsmith0930 Posts: 160 Member
    kroe4 wrote: »
    I was about to ask a question similar to the OP but I found this thread. So I'm going to air my WLS grievances lol

    1. Weight loss surgery has so many risks and brings on so many health problems, including the possibility of death. I know being overweight also comes with those risks, but if you loose the weight a natural way, those risks go away, with surgery.....you're always going to have those risks/health problems.

    2. People who compare WLS vs natural weight loss to the C-section/Vaginal birth debate. I see where they think of surgery vs natural, as great comparison. But no, C-section are done almost always due to a problem with either mom or baby, C-sections are done to prevent horrible complications and health problems for mom and/or baby. Yes, it has normal risks that accompany any surgery but it's typically not a voluntary option people choose and there's not a list of problems you have to live with for having a C-section......So not the same thing.

    3. I know lots of people who've had WLS and they have so many problems now. One had lap band and the band wore a hole in her stomach spilling everything out and she became septic...she spent months in the hospital, almost died. One had the gastric bypass, had problems for years, eventually died from health related problems that came with the bypass. Many had the sleeve, they mostly suffer from vitamin deficiency, GERD, hair loss, etc. etc.

    4. People say WLS isn't the easy way out, but if you want my honest opinion, I think it's probably a heck of a lot easier to say no to plate a cheese fries when you'll end up in the ER if you don't. I don't see myself as "better" than people who have WLS, but I do think It's harder for me because I could eat those cheese fries if I wanted to.

    I wanted to touch on this. Dumping syndrome is an INTENDED BENEFIT, not a medical complication, of the procedure.

    It's like a reverse Pavlovian response in the same way people snap their wrists with rubber bands when they swear or want to smoke. A painful or unpleasant response to a stimulus will, eventually, make a person psychologically not want that stimulus anymore. It's amazing thing humans learn.

    Unfortunately, our brains are capable of very advanced justification. Even in the face of extremely negative consequences, we will choose a stimulus. That's why this dumping syndrome doesn't stop everyone who has WLS from ever over-eating or eating high fat, high sugar foods ever again.

    Is it easier to say no to a plate of fries after WLS because of the discomfort and complications? Probably. BUT because our brains are sophisticated enough to justify (just a bite, just a serving, just one plate this one time, and on and on and on) a person who has had WLS still has to do the mental work to say no.

    People have to do the mental work no matter what. If your choice is a plate of fries or hospital, sure it's "easier" to make the decision than if the consequence is "just" not meeting your goals, but it's still a choice that has to be made and the fact that people DO end up in the hospital because of the food choices they make shows that it's not really as easy as it might seem from the outside.

    I personally go back and forth on whether I'd like to pursue WLS. I am a good candidate. I have a great support system, I have access to the tools I'd need to stick to it, my health is just enough at risk to get the surgery, but I'm not so unhealthy that I'd have a more difficult recovery, etc. I even have insurance that would pay for it, if I jump through the necessary hoops and am given the go ahead. But it's a huge commitment. and I'm scared of that.
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    edited August 2018
    It was the best thing I ever did for myself. I had gastric bypass in 2011, lost 130lbs. Not really working on my relationship with food, plus working 70 - 80 hours a week contributed to a 45lb regain in 2015. I buckled down, reevaluated what I was eating and why, listed reasons to exercise other than weight loss, and cut back to 60 hours at work. I lost 50lbs in 6 months and have kept it all off, including being able to get skin removal this year. WLS is an excellent tool but it's just that - a tool. If you don't use it properly, it's not going to work and you risk getting yourself sick in the process. I am so glad I did it and would highly recommend it. I have never been healthier or happier. I had zero complications and continue to thrive. When people DO have complications, I've learned to take that with a grain of salt. A lot of them are caused by not following the doctor's orders after surgery. No, you can't eat a slice of pizza fresh out the box. No, you can't have soda or wine or alcohol. So many no's that people ignore, get sick, and then blame the surgeon/surgery for. Some people consider it elective but for me, it was necessary. And yes, my insurance covered it 100%. They've never had to pay for anything else after; no blood pressure medication, no diabetic supplies, etc etc. I recently went in for labs and my doctor declared that I am the healthiest patient in his practice (and he's not the one who gave me the bypass or who was my PCP at the time of it). And interestingly enough, I also know a lot of people who has WLS, several because of me, and NONE of them have had any complications. As far as the lap band, they've stopped performing that procedure due to the issues with it. But the sleeve and the bypass are still common. I think the people who say they've seen people with issues see them because when recovery is going well, nobody has anything to complain about so you generally don't hear about it.

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