I m 5 51/2 242 pounds and am thinking about the surgery, but a little hesitant. There are several people in my office who have had it and they have all lost tremendous amounts of weight, but some of them have lost their thick heads of hair, some have lost so much weight in their faces that they have that haunted look and some have what I call the gastric by-pass stutter-step. I don t want any of these things to happen to me, but how would I avoid them, I mean you eat food by the teaspoons after the surgery. And what about that terrible hanging skin? What if your insurance won t pay for it. Also, they say you have to go through a weight loss program for a year and fail at it before you re approved. But I want to tell my doc that I want the surgery to help manage my diabetes, and this surgery can rid you of diabetes. Do you think stating this as a reason for having the surgery would speed up the approval process?
First of all let me say, having personally had gastric bypass surgery was the best decision I ve made in regards to my health. Yes things change but when you look at what can happen as you age and gain weight the things that change are minute in compared to getting your life back. Some people do lose some hair but it will grow back the reason you lose hair is because first of all, anesthesia causes hair loss so any surgery can cause this. Secondly, the reason you lose hair is because of the rapid weight loss, this happens because your body assumes you are dying if you are losing weight this quickly and so your hair dies off but it does come back. As far as looking haunted it is also something that will pass as time goes by. You cannot go through such a drastic change without experience some drawbacks in the beginning. It could be that the people in question have lost too much weight which would make them look that way but in the long term things will even out. I don t know what the stutter step is so I can t comment on that.As far as the hanging skin what alot of people don t realize is after you have lost your weight and have maintained for a year you can have insurance covered plastic surgery you just have to document the pain and discomfort that this skin has caused you with your gastric bypass doctor and when he sends you to a plastic surgeon he will word things appropiately so that they will be covered. Not all doctors require the year long weight loss program in fact in several cases including my own there was no pre-op diet whatsoever and I even gained 10 lbs. before surgery eating all my last favorite foods. Some doctors and some insurances do require a pre-op diet but you can ask these question of the weight loss doctors prior to choosing one. You can also call your insurance company and ask them what their guideline is. Having diabetes is a really good reason to have the surgery plus you may also have other co-morbidities to go along with it. Generally, some guidelines state you must have like diabetes and sleep apnea, or high blood pressure, and diabetes, or back pain and sleep apnea...or even need to have a bmi of 40 and above. Different doctors have different criterias as do insurance companies. The process can take up to 6 mos. but there are things you can do to speed up the process. You can make an appointment with your doctor and ask to be put on a diet program now in case that is a guideline requirement, then you can make monthly appointments with him/her to document your weight. While you are at the doctor s office talk to your doctor about weight loss surgery because your family physician is the one who needs to refer you. Things you will need to have done are: A sleep apnea test, cardiac clearance which will require a visit to a cardiologist as arranged by your family physician this will include having a stress test; Pulmonary clearance which again will require a visit to this type of doctor with a referral from your pcp; you will need to have a Non-Invasive Bilateral Lower Extremity Doopler Study to rule out deep vein thrombosis done on both legs to rule out blood clots; a EEG and/or a H-Pylori antibody blood test; You will need a letter of clearance from your pcp stating you are medically cleared for surgery and you have been free from tobacco, drugs, and alcohol for six months to 1 yr. and the letter needs to say diagnosis of Morbid Obesity. You will need at least 12 to 18 months worth of your medical records and you will have to probably be scheduled for a bariatric seminar to learn about the procedure...in my state you have to go through this program in order to even see a gastric bypass doctor. I made sure to have all of this stuff done prior to even seeing my gastric bypass doctor for the first time and because of my deligence I had my surgery within 4 months of attending my seminar. I m sorry this is so long but I hope it helps you! I ve listed a website that will offer you lost of help and knowledge towards making this goal a reality. I have also included my own website which is a work in progress. Good luck to you whatever you decide!
My wife had it done in 2004 and it has had its good and bad results. Good in that she is not longer a diabetic, is off all blood pressure medication and has a lot less problem walking without having to rest every 10 minutes because she was out of breath and had bad back pain. Our insurance won t pay for the excess skin so that s a negative and she sometimes gets sick from eating chicken, steak, rice and pasta. She can only eat a little of those items. She takes a lot of supplements/vitamins everyday to make up for the loss in absorption. She lost 94 pounds but has gained about 15 back but all in all I think she would do it again. she qualified for the surgery because she had tried weight watchers and it helped only a little. She was also having problems where the fat in her upper chest would block the blood flow to her head when she raised her arms and that would cause her to get dizzy. Good luck. Its not for everybody.j
My 21 yr old daughters step-mother had a lap band procedure in Oct. 2006 . she died 3 days later due to complications. I also have diabetes and I am also very over weight but I have lost 32lbs in 2 months doing weight watchers.
Gastric bypass surgeries definitely have some drawbacks. One is dumping syndrome, which occurs when food moves too quickly through the stomach and intestines. It causes nausea, weakness, sweating, faintness, and possibly diarrhea soon after eating. These symptoms are made worse by eating highly refined, high-calorie foods. In some cases you may become so weak that you have to lie down until the symptoms pass. Iron and B12 deficiencies may occur, ulcers may develop (5-15% of the time they do), and nausea and vomiting after eating may occur (happens in 5-15% of patients). Gallstones may also develop. This is definitely a successful surgery in terms of reducing weight dramatically, and patients tend to see immediate weight loss. As for the hanging skin, exercise should help (slightly) to prevent this, but if you lose a lot of weight, hanging skin will still be present. You may need to undergo another surgery to remove the excess skin (and this is most likely not covered by insurance). Truthfully, I m not sure that telling your doctor about the diabetes situation won t do too much. Diabetes and obesity are related to one another, and going on a weight loss program may help rid you of diabetes as well. I would recommend trying a weight-loss and exercise program before undergoing this surgery (because of all the risks and expenses associated with it). Talk to a dietitian and you doctor about other possible options.
Hi. My wife had GB about three years ago. She was 355 pounds, now she s 125.Yes, one of the side effects is losing some hair. You will have to increase your protein intake to ward it off.Yes, you will have a lot of excess skin after the weight is gone. Its just the way it is. My wife had surgery to have it removed.GB is NOT a cure all for diabetes. Yes, you may get over it, but you also may not.There are a lot of other side effects as well. You can t eat as much, and if you overeat, you will vomit a lot. You ll go through a LOT of money constantly downsizing your clothes. You may even loose interest in foods that you once loved. (My wife was a big coffee drinker before. Now it makes her sick to smell it.) My wife also lost all breast tissue when the weigh came off, she had to spend more money for implants.Your best bet is to join a couple of GB online groups and talk to others. My wife is a member of this site and she loves it:http://www.obesityhelp.com/She s still a member even now, helping support others.
Have you heard of the Lap Band system? Its the same concept as the gastric bypass but not has harsh and I have not heard of any approval process for it.
I had the surgery in May 2007. I was 319lbs, now I am 159. You are limited on what you eat at first, but you can eat more as time goes on. I had some complications of a bleeding ulcer 2 weeks after the surgery, but after medication it went away. If asked if I would do it again, I definetly would! By the way, my Diabetes is gone along with my high blood pressure and sleep apnea. On hair loss, I did have some hair loss (not a huge amount), I increased my protien amount and it stopped.
