Gastric Bypass - I dont understand

Although I think that societal efforts should be directed towards assisting people in staying at a normal weight, I'm loath to judge people who have weight loss surgery if they are morbidly obese and already have made several attempts to lose weight. It must be terribly difficult at that stage unless you are completely committed. The fear of the difficulties associated with losing a lot of weight is one reason I've always controlled my own weight.

How ironic that this is on the motivation and support board, and so many people are being anything but motivational or supportive.

There is nothing easy about WLS. Both the traditional and non-traditional ways of losing weight are difficult.

I really think that people should have to work with a dietician as well as a therpist that specializes in over eating before being considered for the surgery. The surgery is just a quick fix but many times nobody addresses the issues as to why they are at the weight they are in the first place.

It is required by many insurance companies pre-op. It's not an easy process to have weight loss surgery. There is a lot of hoop jumping just to get approved for the surgery and for my husband and I, meeting with a therapist and nutritionist was required.

Also, I want to get kinda pissy and *****y/defensive about your comment about "why THEY are at the weight they are in the first place", but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and not take it as a snarky comment. There is an ugly stigma attached to those of us who have had WLS from some folks and I have mad bat-**** crazy ninja skills that come out when I feel like I'm being looked down on or judged for my decision.

To be absolutely honest with you, it's not that we are looking down on you it's that we are bat-**** crazy jealous that you are getting the end prize! A new body, the ability to do a harder workout, the ability to stop eating, becuase you have that "tool" that we don't have.
I don't look down, I have honestly caught myself saying (my friend had it done not that long ago) that she cheated, but I know that I'm just putting a bandaid on a wound with those words, it's better than eating my emotion, right?
My insurance won't pay for it, and my insurance is also ****ty enough that if you mention weight loss in a doctors visit, they will not pay for any of the visit, regardless if you went in for a cold or a broken toe, if the code for weight loss or weight related anything is written in the transcript you owe at least $300.00 - the price of the doctors visit. They are rabid about not allowing anything weight related into the plan.
So I'm doing this ignorantly, all by myself and listening to everybody say I should do this I should do that....when 1 tool, worked for someone who had the surgery.
I believe I'm healthy, I really do - from where I was 8+ years ago I'm damn healthy....but I'm not. I'm at the highest weight I've ever been.
So we are proud of you for losing the weight but we are rabid crazy jealous that you got there and we didn't. Period.
That's what it's all about, getting there. Who fn cares what it took you to get there, you just have to get there. I hate this society.

Congrats on your success!

You don't get it because you've never lived it. Everyone's personal decision is simply that...theirs, and not yours to analyze. Surgery saved my life.

I too have never understood how one could not lose weight on their own, but could lose weight to have the procedure. Makes no sense to me. :frown:

I have always been able to lose around 20 lbs, which when you have to lose 120 is just a splash in the bucket. There is a huge difference btwn losing that same 20 lbs that you can't seem to break past and losing an entire person.

I think that these days we are really used to "take pills for this" and "get surgery/procedures for that" and we believe it will magically make us happy and give us what we want, *even if we don't really know quite what we want*: to 'be happy' or 'look good' or 'be young forever' or something even more drastic like 'show everyone how great I really am' or 'get people to love me' etc. Surgery for any reason is hard on the body, and one lady I knew had it, lost a lot, had surgery again to remove extra skin (again, so hard on her!), and they screwed that up so that she was almost dead from internal bleeding by the time her fiance pointed out to the doctors that she was just zonked out and unconscious. I know a lot of people who have eventually gained it all back and were even more depressed, plus those who developed eating disorders as a result.

If it genuinely helps people, then it can be good for them. If it messes with their bodies and health and mental health and makes them worse off, then I think it is sad (and I'm a psychotherapist who knows a bunch of psychologists, so that is part of what I am basing it on). Surgery to me is not good or bad on its own, just is just an activity that can help people especially in accidents etc., and can also kill or harm them for life, and at any rate requires healing of the body afterwards and risks.

dumb question: why do they have to cut? why not put IN a balloon or some other device that would take up space? is it because of acids possibly destroying the material of the device?

edit: hunh - looks like they are starting to do that in some places: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bariatric_surgery#Intragastric_balloon_.28gastric_balloon.29

nyt article on it (from that wiki link): http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400EED61030F930A35752C0A9609C8B63&sec=health&pagewanted=all

^^ apparently the balloon can be fitted via a tube, and inflated in the stomach, in 15 minutes, no cutting. Seems like a safer 'boost' than taking out or damaging entire portions of the digestive tract. no FDA approval yet for the US though

OK, 0.002 incidence of serious complications:
: "In a recently completed clinical trial involving more than 2,500 patients in Italy, serious complications occurred in 5 patients when pressure from the balloon eroded the stomach wall and caused it to burst. Two of the five patients died."

would depend on the engineering/materials of the balloon

Another article: a Canadian clinic that offers nutritional and psychological counselling with this balloon thing. The idea is that the balloon gives people initial help with appetite suppression, while they learn to eat/live differently. Costs $8000, including a year of counselling, vs $15000-25000 for the more drastic surgical options. Apparently, they serve US patients as well..

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/gastric-balloon-offers-weight-loss-hope/article4327646/

I don't understand it either... If you can't teach yourself to eat healthy and maintain healthy habits, I would think that the weight will come back eventually. I think people are too quick to take the easy way out. In my opinion if its too easy, it is not going to work. I know someone who has the lap band. The healthy habits are not there so therefore, the weight does not come off. Just lots of throwing up b/c their stomach can't handle the crap they are putting into it.

wth? i thought the surgery was for people who were several hundred pounds overweight. when i started getting back into shape i was over 100 lbs overweight and never once thought of doing it through surgery. seems unnecessary for only 100 pounds.

So my brother in law got bariatric surgery in Mexico yesterday. He is in his 30ties, and obese, not morbidly obese. He has no insurance, and no plan to have checkups when he gets back. I have problems understanding bariatric surgery, but doing it in Mexico, with no prep and follow-up plan???? I don’t know what to say.