The Top Ten Reasons why Weight Loss Surgery is NOT “the easy way out”

[Guest guest]

The Top Ten Reasons why Weight Loss Surgery is NOT " the easy way

out "

10. It's very expensive. Many health insurance companies don't pay

for the surgery, and even when they do, co-payments and other costs

add up quickly. Also, it can become very costly to constantly

replenish wardrobes as the weight comes off.

9. Recovery can be very painful. Besides the pain from the surgery

wound, patients may experience nausea or severe gastric distress.

Patients with sleep apnea may become sleep-deprived, with all of the

associated adverse affects, when they must discontinue use of their

CPAP machines to avoid disturbing the staples creating their tiny

new stomach pouch.

8. Recuperation can take a long time. Patients may be " out of

commission " and absent from work for a prolonged period of recovery

time. In some cases, patients may not be able to return to work or

normal pursuits for up to 10 – 12 weeks.

7. It's hard work and a major time commitment. For optimal results,

patients should engage in aerobic exercise for up to an hour daily.

For bodies unaccustomed to vigorous exercise, this can be very hard.

It's also a real challenge for WLS patients to learn all they must

about nutrition so they can assure that their food and vitamins are

sustaining their body. Finally, it can be exhausting to consciously,

carefully and painstakingly chew every bit of food that enters your

mouth.

6. Vomiting isn't fun. Nor is diarrhea. It may take patients many

months (and frequent episodes of vomiting or diarrhea) to identify

incompatible foods and to learn the practical limits of their newly

reduced stomachs or digestive systems.

5. It takes extraordinary courage to consciously limit food choices

for the rest of your life (and potentially limit social

opportunities built around meals). For many patients, life after WLS

means treating food as a fuel, not as a source of drama, excitement,

comfort or a central life focus: i.e. eating to live rather than

living to eat. While some procedures may be reversible, for most

patients WLS is a lifetime commitment, requiring a lifetime of major

lifestyle changes.

4. Weight loss surgery can be dangerous. As many as .5% of surgery

patients may die from the procedure, and up to 5% may experience

debilitating medical complications (especially if they listen to

their peers' advice more carefully than their doctor's.)

3. It takes great bravery and strength to deflect other people's

judgments and society's myths about obesity. Fat people are often

blamed and shamed by family and friends with simplistic advice,

unrealistic solutions, and uninformed prejudices. Whether it's for

genetic or metabolic reasons, diet and exercise, willpower and

discipline have never, by themselves, been enough. Our appetite

regulators simply don't work. Without WLS, we don't know when we're

full!

2. What gives anyone the right to judge which path is right for

another? Is a person who runs a 10K taking a " better " or " tougher "

route to wellness than the person who walks vigorously every day? Is

working with weights better than water aerobics? Different strokes

for different folks. Each of us finds our own right way, and how

dare others judge our path to health and longevity! By their

reckoning, the most courageous thing would be for us to suck it up

and die young.

1. For many morbidly obese people, WLS may be the ONLY realistic

alternative for achieving a long, healthy life. The newest research

provides irrefutable evidence that body weight is largely a function

of genes — just like height or a family propensity for cancer. These

genes help regulate appetite and metabolism. People prone to obesity

seem to gain excessive weight easily, while finding it difficult or

impossible to lose it. That's why diets almost always fail and why

WLS is currently the only viable weight loss option for many

morbidly obese people, according to endocrinologist Cummings

of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System. Most people

can lose no more than 5-10% off their " natural " body weight by

exercising and eating wisely. Decades of diet studies show that more

than 90% of people who lose weight by dieting gain it all back

within 5 years. " There are exceptions, but when you are speaking of

general rules, the only people who are able to lose more than 10

percent of their body weight and keep it off are people who have had

gastric-bypass or other bariatric surgery, " Cummings notes.

Copyright, © 2003, Glenn Goldberg. All rights reserved.