I just read the most horrifying story I've read in a long time. It is a journal by a woman who had bypass surgery to lose weight, plus follow up surgeries to get rid of the loose skin on the "apron" and butt.

This woman, Patricia, has documented her whole ordeal down to graphic pictures. She went from 400 lbs down to slim. The whole senerio plays out in only about 2 years. She did this because she felt it was her only chance for survival. She was 44 with two small children and she just passed away from all this.

Read this whole story at her web site. If you have ever even considered surgery, this should change your mind.

www.angelfire.com/tn2/Patricia/

This has made an impact on me that will last forever!

Carol

Thanks Carol, my sister is considering the surgery right now. She just can't stop how much she eats and won't even try low carbing. She is waiting for insurance approval right now. Maybe I'll send her this link. Then again if she thinks this is the only thing that can save her life, how do I take that last light of hope away?

It's horrible that this seems to be becoming the "hip" way to lose weight. The media touting the success stories but never the downside.
Cheri,
Good luck with your sister. I hope that for her safety she doesn't go through with it.
On a side note, another LC board that I used to read had a woman who was seriously considering the bypass surgery. She went to the meeting and they were discussing the meal options and plans for post surgery and they were giving them LC menus. I don't know if this is the norm with that or not. (BTW the woman figured "I'm on LC already, so why have a surgery just to go back on LC." She also told the other people at the meeting the wonders of just LCing and the clinic lost a lot of potential patients. )

Good luck!

Melissa

Carol,
I just saw 20/20 the other day that had a lady on there that was 359 lbs. and had stomach stapling done. About 10 of her friends and family did it after she had success with it. It really burned me because the story never really touched on the risks involved or the fact that it's not healthy to lose 220 lbs. in a year. Let alone be reduced to eating such tiny portions for the rest of your life. I wonder if you can even get enough nutrition with such tiny portions, or even if it stays in your body long enough to be absorbed and utilized. After this lady lost all this weight they showed her in the grocery store buying groceries. She had CANDY in her basket. UGH! The thing that upset me was they don't really learn to eat right after the surgery...just smaller portions. And if she ate too much she would throw it up. Doesn't this sound a bit like bulemia?

Well, anyway...I tried to look on the link. But it was busy...will have to look at it later. It's so sad what happened to the 44 year old who died from all that. I'd like to see 20/20 report on that and be a little more objective in what they report. Victoria

This is really sad - I wish I would have caught that 20/20.

One of my livejournal buddies just lost a close friend from the same surgery. I think she died a month or two post-surgery because of a blood clot. She was only 30, I think.

I know I'm a carb "addict" myself, but are there really some people who are so far gone that the only thing left is to screw up their body permanantly? You can't cure the mental aspect - the addiction or binge eating disorder - with that surgery. I read (I wish I remember where) that a common problem is that the people still can't control their portions and *binge* afterwards - then puke. So Victoria, I guess the bulimia analogy is perfectly accurate. One woman died this way post-surgery - it ruptured her stomach.

Sad, indeed.

When I saw my doctor in early January, he told me it was time to consider the surgery...

...and that he would handle all the necessary insurance forms for me. He told me his brother (who weighed 450) had just had the surgery and had lost 85lbs super fast. He told me the surgery is 99% safe and effective and that it would probably save my life.
I really like my doctor, so I followed his advice and did some research. He also told me he would hook me up with local folks who had the surgery so that I could learn more about it.

I visited many web sites and read as much as I could. I decided to gave myself one more chance to get things under control. And that's when I began Atkins and LCing again and so far I'm down 56.5lbs in just 3 months.

I was really scared by the recovery stories I read and by the idea of never eating normally again. I also read about pain people get when food that hasn't been adequetly chewed gets lodged in the tiny opening that it passes through on its way out. Or about having to have the surgery again in future years to make sure things are still OK from earlier surgeries.

But I also recognize that there are at least 2 sides to every issue. Lots of people have benefited from surgery. Like all of the issues raised here, it's wrorth educating ourselves about.

Donald

My brother was always heavy and he was in the Army Reserves and had only a few years until he could retire. They told him that he would have to lose weight or he would be out before he received his retirement. So he had the operation. I never knew my brother to be thin, but when I saw him after the surgery, he looked like a skeleton. He said all he could keep down was ice cream, creamed soups and potato chips. I guess the fats would coat his stomach. Well, maybe this was all unrelated, but he got throat cancer and was in the hospital for 3 months waiting for surgery on his throat, but he was too weak and sick. He passed away just days after my son was born.

I also remember Montel Williams had women on his show one time that had had the surgery. A young woman wanted to do it and he interviewed her first and sent her to the green room to listen to the other women. One woman walked with crutches and leg braces, because the weight loss had eaten all the muscles in her legs. It was only through intensive pt that she was even able to walk again, but will always have the braces and crutches. Another young woman was crying because she had small children and she knew she was dying. She could keep no food down and was starving to death. A third was still in the losing stages and she was thrilled with the progress. I can't remember the fourth. I'll never forget that show, because when he brought the first woman back out, she still was determined to have it done.

Cherio, I hope your sister reconsiders it. Of course she sees stories like Carni Wilson and thinks that life would be perfect, but that web site was an eye opener. I hope they get it back up and running. The pictures of her getting slimmer were amazing. She looked like a different woman. And the pictures of her naked body after all the surgeries were as firm and tight as my 21 year old daughter, but the pain and scars must have been awful to bear. Even she, at first, was saying it was wonderful and she would recommend it, but as time went on, she said she would only recommend it for severly obese people. I'm sure she could see the mistake. What a horrible way to die!

I didn't mean to slight you. I think it's wonderful that you decided not to have the surgery. You are doing great. You will be healthy and will live a long and happy life. And you will be able to enjoy your meals.

I would be curious as to how that doctor's brother is doing in 10 years. Sometimes doctor's advise patients to have surgery because that is more money in their pockets. That is a terrible thing to say, but I've had my share of medical problems and I was only getting worse as time went by. It wasn't until I took my situation in my own hands that I started to improve. Now I feel great!

Carol

I saw the 20/20 piece as well and was very dismayed by it.

Here were people openly admitting that their problems came from poor eating habits - none of them even tried to claim heredity or disease - and yet this clinic that cut them up obviously didn't even consider non-invasive approaches first. Eleven people asked and eleven people got whacked on.

I, too, reached the point of considering this surgery (thank God I found Atkins) and this is some of what I found while researching it:




And people are taking all of these risks because they want to be healthy? Having to take more medications and supplements for the rest of your life because your body can't get enough of them from your diet any longer? Having about one-in-eighteen to one-in-fifty people die on the table! No thank you big time.

Also, many people that have the surgery do so because they think of it as a simple fix that will solve all their problems with no effort required on their part. Yet it is emphasized over and over how this will only be successful if you make permanent changes in your lifestyle including eating right and exercising regularly. Gee, sounds rather familiar, huh?


Are there people that this procedure is absolutely appropriate. I'm sure there are at least a few. Are there people that probably didn't really need the surgery but benefited greatly from it and really did change their behaviors permanently for the good? You bet - a lot of them. But I am equally convinced that this procedure is pushed all too quickly by many unethical doctors and that for most people diets such as LC should at least be tried first - after all, can even the most anti-LC docs really claim that the potential adverse affects of just trying LC are worse than the potential affects of unnessary, major abdominal surgery?

BTW: There are a lot of (probably even most) docs out there that are quite ethical. Many of the sites I visited indicated that they would not even consider a patient a candidate for this surgery unless they had been unsuccessful for at least five years on medically supervised weight loss efforts. But the people that don't want to wait five years (and how many of us could if we have already decided to pursue this drastic a route) can easily find docs that will schedule their surgery for a week from Wednesday.

Excellent point, Kristine. Seems to me there are a number of options to pursue first. Since most of these surgeries result in having to eat LC afterwards anyway (if you can only eat a small amount, you need to limit yourself to nutrient rich foods like protein and green veggies), why not start with LC? And prescribe psychotherapy with a therapist who knows their binge-eating stuff. Get the person involved in daily OA meetings for support. Heck, even WW (if it can be successfully managed for a lifetime) is better than risking death and lifetime of disability! Seems to me that years should be spent supporting a patient through these options first . But of course that presumes that patient health is more important than profit, which I suppose is not so.

Thanks for starting the discussion, Atrsy. I hate thinking about these poor folks, but I know they're out there.

Supposedly this procedure is reversible. If that is the case, then why do we have all of these people that are being crippled and dying as they slowly starve to death? It is as reversible as they would have us believe? Or is something else going on?

OH MY, all the horror stories. My sister is only 29. She weighs about 270 pounds (I think). She has PCOS. She says she does not eat that much but when I have seen her eat, she eats very large quantities. Till she is ill. Personally I think she has some past issues she needs to deal with in order to get the rest of her life together. Sometimes problems that you have come out in other ways. This is all so sad. She just ask me the other day if she could go on vacation with me in June so that she could get her "head together." Maybe I can approach the dangers of this surgery then. Otherwise, I have to support her. I just don't want her to die weather it is from the weight or the surgery.

Cherio, before I started LCing, I ate humungous amounts of food at each meal. Since it was all carbs, I couldn't tell I was full. Half an hour later I would be miserable. And even though I knew the cause, it didn't really register because of the time delay.

Now that I am LCing, my portions are getting smaller and smaller because I am more easily and quickly satisfied. And I don't feel miserable half an hour later.

Maybe you could make a deal with your sister to try LCing for a certain amount of time, like 3 months, to see how it goes. Sometimes it is easier to make a change if, initially, you don't see it as permanent. Once she gets going and starts to feel so much better, her self-esteem and confidence will increase and her reliance on food will decrease. I know, that's how it is going with me.

As I have been exposed to many doctors and laymen who think that LCing is dangerous and not sustainable, I understand that she might be resistant. But she must see that you are doing well and feeling so good. Hopefully, you can be an inspiration for her.

BTW: I have PCOS also and everything I read on the net about it stresses that one of the best things you can do for it is go on a low-carb diet. That's half the reason I got started.

:-Deb

Carol, I just got into the sight and read the whole story. Could you please tell me WHERE it says that she passed away? Or do you know this from another source? Just wondering.

Deb,

Thanks for the suggestions and sharing your story too. My sister has tried different diets and even when she loses they don't seem to keep her motivated. She and I are 9 years apart and not very close. We are taking this vacation together to hopefully get to know eachother a little better. Unfortunately their has always been space between us and it seems like the better I do at something the worse it makes her feel. She even mentioned losing weight before vacation, then dismissed it as it would disqualify her for surgery. Maybe I can make her see that if she could do it for a vacation then she could do it to avoid surgery. I just wish she would realize what a beautiful person she really is and could be.