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More people need to get educated on weight loss surgery.
Replies
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Unfortunately the friends and neighbors I know who had WLS admit to having it because they didn't want to try on their own. One asked how I lost weight, I told her my program, she said it was too much, then she had surgery. Another said she was just tired of trying so she had surgery. It seems so easy to obtain now. At my heaviest I was told to gain more weight and then I needed co- morbid conditions, not just sick and tired of being obese.3
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New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »Unfortunately the friends and neighbors I know who had WLS admit to having it because they didn't want to try on their own. One asked how I lost weight, I told her my program, she said it was too much, then she had surgery. Another said she was just tired of trying so she had surgery. It seems so easy to obtain now. At my heaviest I was told to gain more weight and then I needed co- morbid conditions, not just sick and tired of being obese.
Wow, they must have been in for a ride awakening when they had surgery and realized that it's hard, it's not the easy way out, and takes a whole lot of work and trying on their part.
Some people go into surgery looking for the easy way out because the perception is just that. I feel sorry for those people because they are not prepared for the hard work ahead, they have no clue what they are getting into. I hope your friends were able to figure it out after surgery.4 -
bobshuckleberry wrote: »hmmm, I guess my fitness pal Is not a no judgment zone. Ha
See the top of the screen where it says debate? That means this is the Judgey zone of MFP.
Try Motivation and support if you want no judgement.19 -
I think if someone is considering getting the surgery, or has a loved one considering it, then yes. They should become as educated on it as possible. I have no intention of ever getting this surgery, nor do I believe I would ever need it, and I have no loved ones interested in it. So, for that reason, I have no intention of becoming more educated on the procedure beyond the education I currently have.2
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My own personal experience and opinion:
I am superobese (BMI = 46), and have been for several years. Medical factors influencing (and influenced by) this are Fibromyalgia/CFS and clinical depression. I have tried CICO in combination with healthy eating and exercise, many times, and have lost varying amounts of weight that I have subsequently gained back.
I was at a routine check-up a few years ago. As always, my GP and I discussed my weight, its current impacts on my health, and the risk of future weight-related complications. He had always been very tactful about this and that was one the reasons I liked him.
Then, as I was about to walk out the door and seemingly out of the clear blue sky, he asked if I had ever considered weight loss surgery.
I was shocked at his abruptness, and at the sudden implication that I was that superobese, but I just said that I hadn't. He said that I would probably be eligible and gave me a brochure.
So I looked into it.
I'm on Medicare, which requires a period (6 to 12 weeks or so, I don't remember exactly) of medically supervised diet, exercise, and counseling before the surgery; and another period of the same afterwards.
This surprised me. WLS only works for weight loss when combined with medically supervised diet, exercise, and counseling? What potential weight loss method is there that doesn't work at least as well as any other when combined with medically supervised diet, exercise, and counseling? Drinking cayenne-pepper lemonade, piercing that special place on your ear, or just carrying a rock in your pocket would all work reasonably well when combined with medically supervised diet, exercise, and counseling.
I also read up on the surgery itself, its long term success rate, and its potential complications; and decided that it wasn't for me. Intellectually, I don't think its risks would outweigh the benefits in my case; and it also makes me uncomfortable at a level that is, quite literally, visceral.
That's me, myself, personally; and my conclusions and - so to speak - gut feelings. I have no judgement for anyone else contemplating or choosing this surgery: it's your body and your decision.
The thing that really *kitten*s me off is that I would very much like to participate in a period of medically supervised diet, exercise, and counseling to help with my weight loss. It would be a godsend to me, and I am sure it would help my weight loss efforts a great deal. But it's not available to Medicare patients unless they have the surgery.14 -
I have a good friend who had the bypass operation and, ever since, has had to deal with gallbladder and liver problems. She had gall stones, so she had her gall bladder removed, and now gets liver stones. She has a stent in her liver to help it drain but it gets clogged so, ever 3 months, she has to have surgery. It's been terrible. No one told her about all the potential complications until after she had the surgery. I know this doesn't happen to everyone, but it seems like most people I know who have had WLS, if you talk to them long enough, had some pretty major complications they weren't anticipating.2
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I know four people who have had WLS.
First person looks skeletal and frail now so obviously suffers from some side effects.
Second person has regained after two years.
Third person didnt really need WLS to begin with and is now painfully thin and frail also.
Fourth person is looking good one year later hopefully they can sustain.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »I don't need to be educated about it because I'm not interested in it and wouldn't need it for myself, and I could give a rats *kitten* what other people do.
This.
Hearing OP say more people need to be educated about weight loss surgery is like me saying more people need to be educated about grammar. I'm a *kitten* English teacher, so of course I feel that way.
Tell my why I need to be educated in this surgery?7 -
It's easy for one to say if they are not in need of the surgery. I know several people who had many obese related health conditions and needed to have the surgery. Most of these people are living right, taking less medications, eating right and happy not to mention are running circles around me at the gym. There will always be those that fail at it... about 30% but most likely those folks did not have the right "team of doctors" on board. Now days that team of doctors even include having a pharmacist and a nut. I do know they were educated on the facts and had long classes to attend and had to be approved by each doctor on the team. They have support groups twice a month and have a line into the nut Dr. in the event they are having issues.....I say if it's for their health then go for it....... Why do so many people have face lifts?? boob jobs?? ...etc... That is not health related it is??1
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It's easy for one to say if they are not in need of the surgery. I know several people who had many obese related health conditions and needed to have the surgery. Most of these people are living right, taking less medications, eating right and happy not to mention are running circles around me at the gym. There will always be those that fail at it... about 30% but most likely those folks did not have the right "team of doctors" on board. Now days that team of doctors even include having a pharmacist and a nut. I do know they were educated on the facts and had long classes to attend and had to be approved by each doctor on the team. They have support groups twice a month and have a line into the nut Dr. in the event they are having issues.....I say if it's for their health then go for it....... Why do so many people have face lifts?? boob jobs?? ...etc... That is not health related it is??
What is a nut/nut Dr.?
I think when push comes to shove, most people who are not considering weight loss surgery don't need to be any more educated about it than people who need to be educated on an ACL repair or using deep brain stimulation to help manage epilepsy. There are many other health literacy related topics that are far more important for your average person to have at least a baseline level of knowledge about.5 -
It's easy for one to say if they are not in need of the surgery. I know several people who had many obese related health conditions and needed to have the surgery. Most of these people are living right, taking less medications, eating right and happy not to mention are running circles around me at the gym. There will always be those that fail at it... about 30% but most likely those folks did not have the right "team of doctors" on board. Now days that team of doctors even include having a pharmacist and a nut. I do know they were educated on the facts and had long classes to attend and had to be approved by each doctor on the team. They have support groups twice a month and have a line into the nut Dr. in the event they are having issues.....I say if it's for their health then go for it....... Why do so many people have face lifts?? boob jobs?? ...etc... That is not health related it is??
What is a nut/nut Dr.?
I think when push comes to shove, most people who are not considering weight loss surgery don't need to be any more educated about it than people who need to be educated on an ACL repair or using deep brain stimulation to help manage epilepsy. There are many other health literacy related topics that are far more important for your average person to have at least a baseline level of knowledge about.
I’m assuming a psychiatrist or psychologist1 -
I thought it was short for nutritionist.deannalfisher wrote: »It's easy for one to say if they are not in need of the surgery. I know several people who had many obese related health conditions and needed to have the surgery. Most of these people are living right, taking less medications, eating right and happy not to mention are running circles around me at the gym. There will always be those that fail at it... about 30% but most likely those folks did not have the right "team of doctors" on board. Now days that team of doctors even include having a pharmacist and a nut. I do know they were educated on the facts and had long classes to attend and had to be approved by each doctor on the team. They have support groups twice a month and have a line into the nut Dr. in the event they are having issues.....I say if it's for their health then go for it....... Why do so many people have face lifts?? boob jobs?? ...etc... That is not health related it is??
What is a nut/nut Dr.?
I think when push comes to shove, most people who are not considering weight loss surgery don't need to be any more educated about it than people who need to be educated on an ACL repair or using deep brain stimulation to help manage epilepsy. There are many other health literacy related topics that are far more important for your average person to have at least a baseline level of knowledge about.
I’m assuming a psychiatrist or psychologist
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so that you can perform the procedure on me. And also teach me how to conjugate verbs.JustinAnimal wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I don't need to be educated about it because I'm not interested in it and wouldn't need it for myself, and I could give a rats *kitten* what other people do.
This.
Hearing OP say more people need to be educated about weight loss surgery is like me saying more people need to be educated about grammar. I'm a *kitten* English teacher, so of course I feel that way.
Tell my why I need to be educated in this surgery?
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deannalfisher wrote: »I’m assuming a psychiatrist or psychologistHeliumIsNoble wrote: »I thought it was short for nutritionist.
Both of those would make sense, but I'm hoping for the nutritionist option. If it's the former, then a whole other conversation needs to take place with regards to health education.4 -
I have known 3 people personally who got the surgery. 2 of them have kept the weight off past a few years, 1 put it back on pretty quickly after the first year.
But I have no problems with people who do or don't want to do it. It is a very personal decision, and you're right that they go through a lot before even being considered for the surgery. I DO think it is a great option for some people, while others might not need it. I would never judge someone for making that choice for themselves though. That's rude.
Like any "diet" or exercise program or just about anything else with weight loss, it is always going to be a personal decision, and there will always be someone who is against it.
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Agreed. Calling people who need psychological support nuts is not acceptable.deannalfisher wrote: »I’m assuming a psychiatrist or psychologistHeliumIsNoble wrote: »I thought it was short for nutritionist.
Both of those would make sense, but I'm hoping for the nutritionist option. If it's the former, then a whole other conversation needs to take place with regards to health education.
Speaks to how naive I am that I didn't even realise it might not be short for nutritionist, though.
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HeliumIsNoble wrote: »
Agreed. Calling people who need psychological support nuts is not acceptable.deannalfisher wrote: »I’m assuming a psychiatrist or psychologistHeliumIsNoble wrote: »I thought it was short for nutritionist.
Both of those would make sense, but I'm hoping for the nutritionist option. If it's the former, then a whole other conversation needs to take place with regards to health education.
Speaks to how naive I am that I didn't even realise it might not be short for nutritionist, though.
Yeah I definitely didn't guess nutritionist as I've never seen it abbreviated and I've never heard or read "nutritionist doctor". I suppose that makes sense given the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian. That said, I am used to people saying pejorative things about mental illness (overterly and not) which is why my mind was able to quickly go there but was wanting to give the poster the benefit of the doubt.4 -
So interesting to read the posts on this one. Thought I would share my own experience with WLS. In 2008 I had a lapband installed. I decided on the surgery because I was at 251 pounds and 5'5" and thought it was THE ANSWER. I went to Mexico and got the surgery done because it was much less expensive and Oprah had recommended the doctor I saw. I came home to Canada with very little medical support since the Canadian docs didn't want to handle patients who had gone out of the country. I finally found someone who would do my fills. A few months later I had lost about 20 lbs (most of that presurgery) and decided to go back to Mexico because I had some friends going to see my doc for the surgery and I thought I would get a check and a fill while I was there. On the way down I got food poisoning. 2 days later they did a fill and I came home. This was a mistake. Before the plane landed I knew I was in trouble. I couldn't even swallow water. It took 3 days before my Canadian doc was back in town and could unfill me. This is when the problems started. Over a period of months we continued to unfill my lapband and I couldn't eat anything of any substance. Candy went down just fine. So I quit losing weight. To make a long story short I had overinflated my pouch and it wasn't fixable so I had the lapband removed. By then I was about 235 pounds.
Before the surgery I was undereducated and still not prepared to lose weight. I had not dealt with my personal reasons for overeating. In 2016 I lost another 85+ pounds on my own through healthy eating and exercise and am now at a healthy weight without any medical intervention. I'm grateful to have had that thing removed from my body.
I shared all this to explain that while there is a place for WLS, it needs to be with a doctor or clinic that works with the patient on WHY they are killing themselves with a knife and fork. Having been through this process I respect those who choose to do WLS because it is a very hard road but I agree that many (I was one of them) think it is a magic cure. Education on how their lives will change should be given presurgery and several meetings with a psychologist to help them overcome the triggers that cause them to overeat. Don't misunderstand me, not everyone needs therapy but those who get to 250 or 300 lbs or more often have issues causing the overeating that is killing them. If they don't, no harm done. I would have welcomed the help had it been available to me.
I agree that people need to understand how hard it is to do WLS. Part of the difficulty is just the backlash from friends and family when someone does it because they are treated as though they're weak. The other side of it is the candidate needs to have reasonable expectations. I was told it was only a tool and I repeated that back to others but deep down I still thought it was a magic cure. It wasn't.15 -
What the above post also really points out to me is that people need to be educated about any non-emergency surgery that they are having beforehand. That isn't unique to WLS. I've had I think 8 surgeries, 9 if I include the emergency(ish) wash out of a hematoma that was a recipe for infection.
Outside of the washout, the only one that didn't involve a considerable amount of patient education without me asking was a wrist surgery to repair de quervain tenosynovitis. I think people need to realize that all surgeries have risks and that that shouldn't be taken lightly (being under general anesthesia is an inherent risk - though not all surgery involves general anesthesia).2 -
I think you could be ignoring the fact the sometimes the surgery is more necessary than not unfortunately.
The surgery has risks that are well known short and long term, but sometimes the risks of surgery and immediate potential to drop weight quickly will out weigh possibly staying the same weight that is either extremely high risk or more than likely current health conditions that could very well cost the patient their life.
It's the lesser of two risks in many cases of people and you have no clue what they are dealing with outside of just being overweight.
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