Could Weight Loss Surgery Cure Some Diabetics?

MG_Fit

Story: http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/could-weight-loss-surgery-cure-some-diabetics-n68416

Okay, so I'm not the guy to normally post stuff like this, but when this story ran last night I was getting pissed for some reason. Maybe because I was told diabetes is inevitable for me, as it runs in my family. I'm not a fan of taking meds and even worse, needles. So I decided to do something about it. Two things actually, workout and eat healthier.

"There is encouraging news in the fight against the epidemic of diabetes ..."
"Weight loss surgery for these people can be more effective than taking medication in beating this disease..."

Now, I'm by no means saying that I'm fully against the surgery in extreme cases. However the way this story was portrayed makes seem like people with diabetes have 2 options: meds or the surgery. How about promoting a healthy life style. They went on to talk about how diabetes was better under control for the 2 people that had the surgery. Well if you can't eat as much and really need to watch what you eat after gastric bypass, OF COURSE one's condition will stabilize. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of this diabetes. But the way this story ran, we're circling back to the whole "obesity is a disease" discussion :explode:

ItsCasey

The AMA deciding that obesity is a disease has clearly established that this is the new paradigm. Your medical problems are congenital. It's not your fault, and you can't save yourself. Only expensive treatments and procedures can save you.

Helloitsdan

I'll ask this:

If you adapt your body to maintain or gain fat via lifestyle, what happens to that energy if you take away its storage space?

If you want yo lose fat, change lifestyle first.

Discuss.

a_stronger_me13

The AMA deciding that obesity is a disease has clearly established that this is the new paradigm. Your medical problems are congenital. It's not your fault, and you can't save yourself. Only expensive treatments and procedures can save you.

This. I also think this has caused the big change with the insurance companies now covering what I would still consider an ELECTIVE surgery.

These articles and even some of the weight loss surgery posts on here really grind my gears. There are alternatives. Much cheaper ones. There are way too many 200+lb weight loss success stories on this site, long term success stories at that, for me to believe that some people just "can't" lose large amounts of weight on their own over a reasonable period of time without resorting to surgery or even VLCDs. Equally as impressive are the people on this site like the OP who are being PROACTIVE and taking their life into their own hands and doing what they can to prevent health issues.

Wtn_Gurl

I am glad to read that 4 out of 4 posters so far say that there is a third alternative - EATING RIGHT.

is it true that a person with the worst kind of diabetes could 100% change that to 0 diabetes if they eat right? well maybe not those stats exactly. Did diabetes thrive a long time ago when our diets were naturally different?

staceyloukelly

I completely agree with you, i have PCOS and in turn insulin resistance, i've known about the insulin resistance since i was about 17 but never did anything about it, i didn't research how to turn it around or how to stop myself getting type 2 diabetes, i was diagnosed 5 and a half weeks ago age 29 and i fully blame myself for NOT doing the research that i have now done, the insulin resistance made my weight bloom to 22 stone, i am now 17 stone (i lost 7 stone between March 2012 and Sept 2013 with exercise) and working out daily since diagnosis, i was ill for the last 4 months of last year and put 2 stone on but now i know how to defeat the type 2 and insulin i'm working my butt off, my fasting bloods were consistently around 13 five weeks ago, now with hard work and low carb they are 5.6 at fasting and rarely spike during the day, the highest i have had in 2 weeks after food is 6.9! At least if i fail to get rid of my Diabetes and cannot turn the insulin resistance around i only have myself to blame, i will have given it my all.

I'm not dieting i'm changing my life simple as that, my uncle died aged 46 from Type 1 complications and left 3 children behind, it would be an insult to him to not try and get rid of my type 2 when he was never so fortunate.

Iknowsaur

Yes, it's true.
No, it's not the only way.

FitandFab33

Vertical sleeve gastrectomy has shown promising results in treating the physiological imbalances of metabolic hormones (think: leptin, ghrelin, glucagon, etc)- I.e. reducing the effects of metabolic syndrome, including INCREASING insulin sensitivity. Diabetes is INCURABLE. Once you've progressed to the stage where your pancreatic beta cells have stopped functioning (burnout persistent glucose saturation) your body ceases to produce insulin sufficiently. Depending on how severe the burnout is (have you killed all your beta cells or just some), you can improve symptoms and reduce the risk of serious complications like renal disease, amputations, etc through diet and exercise. (Exercise increases insulin sensitivity).

Something like 90+% of the individuals who go in for gastric bypass consultation (yes they must meet with a registered dietitian prior to surgery in MOST cases) have symptoms/lab values indicative of metabolic syndrome. Yes, diet and exercise CAN help in some cases, but for many people it's such an uphill battle that it becomes next to impossible. Once your body stops physiologically functioning the way it should... it becomes like climbing Mt. Everest (versus an "uphill battle"). Yes, prevention is key. But we do very little for promoting nutrition and well-being in current medical care.. our health care system is designed to "fix" the problems (with medications, surgeries, etc) instead of addressing the causes in order to PREVENT them.

With a select few exceptions, no one wants to be obese. No one wants to be chronically ill. No one chooses to have their limbs amputated from diabetic complications.. or to spend 25 hours/week in a facility having dialysis because their kidneys stopped functioning. Largely, people are relatively clueless about nutrition and health... but you don't tell a man who smashed himself up on his motorcycle "Too bad, you knew the risks and you did it to yourself so fix it yourself". You take him to the hospital and fix him up... it's the same way with obesity. Yeah, in some cases they did it to themselves- usually there are mitigating circumstances/factors (hormonal, psychological, genetics etc) that we are remiss to dismiss so quickly as negligible variables when in fact they have a lot to do with it.

Yes, obesity is an illness and is classified as such. It happens to be a preventable illness (in MANY but not all cases), but it's still a multi-factorial, multi-system affecting illness and those people deserve the best treatment they can get.