DS Misinformation

[Guest guest]

It isn't just Sue Widemark.

I also belong to the fat acceptance list, where any talk of WLS is forbidden

unless it is to equate it to genocide for fat people. Just this week

someone wrote to Ann Landers about her doctor's WLS suggestion, and there

was an uproar about Ann's relatively mild advice to listen to the doctor

instead of her relatives. Ann didn't tell her not to do it! Didn't warn

her about the dangers of WLS!

The dangers that are always cited by anti-WLS people are things that are

risks of any major abdominal surgery. They include things like infections.

Hernias. Then there are a list of things that are bizarre - like organ

failure. I have seen people post over there saying things like " they die in

horrible pain of organ failure " . Lately I have been writing in asking

people nicely where they get their statistics from. I get answers like,

" the WLS doctors don't publish their failures, they bury them and hope

nobody notices. " Like, where, in the back yard??? None of the numbers they

give ever add up.

None of the probing I've done there, though, has changed my mind that I am

on the right course with pursuing WLS. Hypertension, arthritis and sleep

apnea are enough warning for me. True, not everybody who is fat is

unhealthy...but I sure am working on it.

[Guest guest]

Physicians do not like to reccommend WLS. In fact most of the time it

is like pulling teeth to get them to reccommend WLS. If a doctor

suggests WLS it is becuase he believes that physically mentally and

emotionally this is you last and best chance of getting healthy.

The stigma of the older versions of WLS are still haunting modern

day wls candidates. The best thing that we can do is to educate our

loved ones on the surgery and be living examples of the success of

wls. The problem is that deaths are never blamed on obesity they

are blamed on the Co-Morbites. Many of us have relatives that are

no longer with us as a result of obesity but we say they died from

diabetes, heart attacks, etc. The more I learn the more I am grateful

for this surgery. My uncle died from stomach cancer a few years ago. I

have since found out that H-Pylori causes ulcers which can result in

stomach cancer. I tested positive for H-Pylori. I most likely never

have known that I carried the H-Pylori bacteria if it hadn't been

mandatory that I be tested for it pre-op. I finished the treatement

for h-pylori and tested negative for h-pylori prior to surgery. Now I

will never know for sure if I would have developed stomach cancer but

I have to believe that I dodged a serious bullet.

Final Comment:

If only the naysayers knew the truth, they would rush their loved ones

into the nearest surgeons office.

> It isn't just Sue Widemark.

>

> I also belong to the fat acceptance list, where any talk of WLS is

forbidden

> unless it is to equate it to genocide for fat people. Just this

week

> someone wrote to Ann Landers about her doctor's WLS suggestion, and

there

> was an uproar about Ann's relatively mild advice to listen to the

doctor

> instead of her relatives. Ann didn't tell her not to do it! Didn't

warn

> her about the dangers of WLS!

>

> The dangers that are always cited by anti-WLS people are things that

are

> risks of any major abdominal surgery. They include things like

infections.

> Hernias. Then there are a list of things that are bizarre - like

organ

> failure. I have seen people post over there saying things like

" they die in

> horrible pain of organ failure " . Lately I have been writing in

asking

> people nicely where they get their statistics from. I get answers

like,

> " the WLS doctors don't publish their failures, they bury them and

hope

> nobody notices. " Like, where, in the back yard??? None of the

numbers they

> give ever add up.

>

> None of the probing I've done there, though, has changed my mind

that I am

> on the right course with pursuing WLS. Hypertension, arthritis and

sleep

> apnea are enough warning for me. True, not everybody who is fat is

> unhealthy...but I sure am working on it.