Gastric Bypass - I dont understand

For all those screaming for people not to judge unless they have been in their shoes, you guys do know this is a site to assist in losing weight andgetting fit, right? Most of us are here because WE HAVE WALKED A MILE IN THOSE SHOES.

I have also sat many hours with a friend of mine while she gets iron infusions because one of the side effects from her surgery is severe anemia. She also has had a host of other bad side effects that has landed her hours and hours and hours in the dr office or hospital than she should have been. So this is why I am against it. But then again, there are those people that refuse to eat right and exercise, so if having that surgery is what keeps them around a few more years to maybe watch their son graduate college or see the birth of their first grandchild, then so be it.

Perhaps I can help with this. I had Gastric Bypass 2 yers ago. Have lost 90 pounds and am still losing - although much more slowly now. IF people have a bariatric surgeon who is worth his (or her) salt, they will have made sure that not only is the patient physically ready for surgery, but mentally and emotionally as well. I was required to have a phychological exam as well as meetins with a great nutritionist before surgery. Before surgery I had diabetes (type2), hight blood pressure, high cholesterol and suffered from sleep apnea. I am happy to report that I have none of these co-morbidities now. Weight loss surgery isn't the easy way out a lot of people think it is. YES, it does help you lose weight quickly. BUT - after the initial drop in weight, you have to do the work yourself. Sometimes it takes that initial weight loss to help you continue. PLUS, even though I am 2 years out, I am still not able to eat the way I did pre-surgery. On the rare ocasion I try to 'push it" and eat something I shouldn't or more than I should, I get a reminder in the way of nausea, vomiting, sweating (just like having the flu). SO - weight loss surgery isn't for everyone, but it does work for people who take it seriously, lose the initial weight and co-morbidities with that help, and then CONTINUE to lead a healthy life style.
I hope this helps you understand why some people feel they must have surgical intervention. I guess it would be wonderful if everyone was born with the motivation and knowledge it takes to maintain a healthy life style, but the fact it that most of us were not.

Nicely said! Keep up the great work!!

What some people don’t understand is that for some eating is an addiction. With most addictions the addict can get off of the drug and then stay away, they can go a couple years clean and then and use it they are back on square one. The difference with being adictied to food is we actually have to eat. We can’t stop eating and just stay away. I have never been addicted to crack or heroin, but I am I recovering food addict. I was 533 lbs., I was constantly hungry, I would eat a 60 oz. steak bowl of soup large salad and then eat desert. When we got home from dinner I went right for the fridge and would be looking for something to snake on. The hunger was never ending.
I was able to start eating right and lost 240 lbs. Then I ate a donut thinking it’ll be ok just once. That one donut turned into a dozen, and then it was hitting 3 drive thru on the way home from work again. I ended up weighing 560 lbs. After being down to 293 for almost 2 ½ years. I had yo-yo’s similar to that for about 15 yrs... 5 years ago I had rny bypass and now I am down to 185. The bypass is a very helpful tool for me if I eat too much sugar I get really sick. The smaller stomach helps keep me from eating the eating the 60 oz. steak I’m lucky if I can eat a whole meal that is much bigger than ¾ of a cup. I still think about wanting to eat like I used to but then I think about what will happen if I do.

If you have never been addicted to something like that I always tell people to hold their breath for as long as they can. When you feel that you can’t hold it anymore keep holding it and don’t stop. That same thing that is telling you to breath is kind of like the same thing telling an addict to do the thing that’s killing them.

Youre friend is in for a long and painful journey. I hope he gets his addiction managed before it kills him.

This is my stepfather, both of his parents and his sister died in their 50's (all diabetic and morbidly obese) He is 56 and has already had 3 stents put in, has diabetes, and has been overweight for as long as I've known him. Surgery will not help him with his food addiction.

This is the same man that quit smoking cold turkey - the will power is there. I dont get it.

Apparently food is his addictive drug of choice. The statistics show poor outcomes for those who remain food addicted. The incidence of medical problems is higher after the surgery than before. There can be a lot of complications during and after the surgery itself. I have worked with addicts for much of my career. I know from first-hand experience that it can be very frustrating to try to get them to even recognize their addiction: "I like to have a good time---so what if I drink a few too many sometimes?" "I can't imagine doing without the foods I love. I know I'm a bit fat but life is short." This last was from an enormously fat person. She has at least 450-500 pounds to lose. The irony is that her life will likely be much shorter than she expects, if she doesn't get her eating under control. The doctors have told her that she needs to lose at least 100 pounds before they will do a gastric bypass but she continues to eat enormous amounts of sweets (ex. a half-gallon of ice cream for breakfast), so it is unlikely that will happen. Sad but until they decide to do something--all the exhorting in the world will be ineffectual. Overeaters Anonymous has had some success in getting people to turn away from food addiction. You might suggest this to him.

Hey, good luck with WLS I say, but don't be like my coworker who checks in (on Foursquare) from McDonald's every day. You can totally have an iced coffee and a milkshake when you've had surgery. Fits in that little tummy nicely. Doesn't let you lose weight though.

That's why some people judge. It does work sometimes, but it doesn't seem to work any more consistently than dieting without major surgery. The success rate is ... poor. If you feel you have to, that's your choice, but I would not want to be cut into if I didn't have to be.

the milkshake may fit but for most the enjoyment will be VERY short lived

Gastric dumping syndrome, or rapid gastric emptying is a condition where ingested foods bypass the stomach too rapidly and enter the small intestine largely undigested. It happens when the small intestine expands too quickly due to the presence of hyperosmolar (having increased osmolarity) food from the stomach. "Early" dumping begins concurrently with or immediately succeeding ingestion of a meal. Symptoms of early dumping include nausea, vomiting, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, dizziness, and fatigue. "Late" dumping happens one to three hours after eating. Symptoms of late dumping include weakness, sweating, and dizziness. Many people have both types. The syndrome is most often associated with gastric bypass (Roux-en-Y) surgery.

Rapid loading of the small intestine with hypertonic stomach contents can lead to rapid entry of water into the intestinal lumen. Osmotic diarrhea, distension of the small bowel (leading to crampy abdominal pain), and hypovolemia can result.

In addition, people with this syndrome often suffer from low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, because the rapid "dumping" of food triggers the pancreas to release excessive amounts of insulin into the bloodstream. This type of hypoglycemia is referred to as "alimentary hypoglycemia."

These surgeries just sound horrendous to me. I mean you are forced not to eat normally forever. I would much rather eat right and be active 98% of the time and enjoy that 2% then have that surgery any day. I really think it would have to a life or death situation to consider that kind of surgery. It would greatly reduce my quality of life.

I had gastric bypass 25 years ago. It is not "an easy fix" and I am not lazy. There were many contributing factors to my decision to having the surgery and I have never regretted it. Yes, some people do regain the weight but many others keep it off. It's like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it.

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This is the same man that quit smoking cold turkey - the will power is there. I dont get it.

As a slight aside, as an ex-smoker and currently morbidly obese (but at last doing something about it) I get it. On a very simple level to stop smoking you just don't pick up a cigarette and smoke it. The same isn't true for food, you can't just stop eating and so the temptation is always there to eat too much or the wrong thing. Plus for many people like me food is intrinsically linked with emotions be them good or bad - who's Mum used to cook their favourite meal for their birthday? Who when felling down reaches for chocolate? Who has 'comfort' food for when they aren't feeling well or its cold outside? This is much more so than with smoking because it goes right back to childhood. So I understand why someone can stop smoking but can't beat a food addiction.

Personally (and its just how I feel for me) I'd never consider surgery to 'fix' my weight problem as I know for me I have had to sort out my head with regard to my emotional view to food. Now I think I have, losing the weight through diet and exercise feels like the way to do it. In part to truly learn what I can eat and how much I can eat and in part to prove to myself I can lose and keep of the weight.

And this is exactly the reason why the food addicted/morbidly obese person must cut out sugar and wheat to begin the process of getting control of body fat. Both of those substances contribute a LOT toward food addiction and sending blood sugar/insulin surging. When you don't eat them, it is fairly easy to keep daily carbohydrates to 70-100 grams--the "sweet spot" for loss of body fat. When I lose all the body fat that I want to, I will increase my carbs to 120-150 grams per day, but I will never again eat sugar and wheat as more than just an occasional indulgence. Going wheatless and sugar-free, it is easy to maintain and lose weight gradually. Not that I don't watch the calories and exercise--I do. I lift weights as well. But if I was still eating sugar and wheat, I am convinced that I would be working against all my hard work.

I am 13 years out from surgery and I do have dumping whenever I eat poorly. It's one of the reasons that the weight loss is still working for me. It's simply not worth it to eat junk and get sick!