Consumer Diet Reviews, Gastric Bypass Surgery Reviews

Description: Also called Bariatric Surgery, is a surgical procedure that will shrinks your stomach. It costs well over $20,000. It is a major medical procedure that makes over- consumption of food impossible, by drastically lowering the amount of food you can eat. The long-term side-effects of having such a radical procedure done to your body are not clear at this time due to the fact this procedure is relatively new as an elective weight loss remedy. A procedure like this should be reserved for the seriously obese with life threatening health problems.

Reviews (17):

Here is my experience
Reviewer: Peggy 07-13-2004
OK, here is my experience. About 20 years ago I had what is known as
an intestinal bypass, which I don't think is the same thing as a
Gastric Bypass. At the time I had the surgery I weighed around 285. I
lost down to around 185, then gained back up to 200, which is where
I've stayed.

If my understanding is correct, which it very well may not be, a
gastric bypass actually reduces the size of your stomach so you can't
eat as much. An intestinal bypass shortens the length of your
intestines, where food is absorbed, so you can eat as much but your
body doesn't absorb it.

I didn't get exactly the results I was expecting - I had a picture of
myself as a size 6, cavorting about the beach in a bikini. (Which
would have been a disaster, I sunburn VERY easily.) That didn't
happen. However, I expect that I would now be about a hundred pounds
heavier than I am if I hadn't had the surgery. I eat exactly what I
please, exactly as much as I please, and my weight never varies more
than a couple of pounds.

Any bad effects? Well, because of the reduced absorbtion of liquid,
diahrea is more or less constant. Some people who have had this
surgery have to take medication to control this for the rest of their
lives; in my case, it wasn't as severe and I have it well controlled.
I didn't have to take medication even immediately after the surgery.

And about eight years ago I had to have my gall bladder out. Increased
incidence of gallstones is associated with intestinal bypass surgery.
My doctor said that there was no way to tell if I would have had the
gallstones anyway.

A good side effect is a cholesterol reading of under 140. I have heard
of this surgery's being done in cases of extremely high cholesterol
just to control the cholesterol, even in cases where the patient
wasn't overweight.

My experience was quite positive, and I'd do it again if I had it to
do over. But I know a young man (well, he's a middle-age man by now)
who had the same operation and who had so many problems that he had to
go and have everything hooked up again. The surgeon doesn't actually
remove the intestine; he just cuts it in two places and then hooks the
two cut ends back up, leaving a large section unconnected but still
there. It IS possible to reconnect it.

I understand that very few surgeons do intestinal bypass surgery any
more. I think probably my experience wasn't typical - I didn't lose as
much weight as some do, but I haven't had any serious problems either.
The doctor told me to take a multi-vitamin every day, since the
shortened intestine will lead to reduced vitamin absorbtion. I've been
doing that faithfully and I have felt quite healthy.

A family member had this surgey TWICE!
Reviewer: Mack 05-29-2004
My Mother -in-law has had this surgery TWICE! The first lasted a few
years, then she returned for further reduction. Horrible.

She now can eat very little. It is annoying and embarrassing to go to
out to dinner with her. She insists everything is 'too big' to eat. She
will eat one bit of chicken a little veg. That's it. She always makes
a big production that everything is too much for her. Then she gives
the leftovers to my Father-in-law - not good for his health! She is now
as thin as a rake. She is only 67, she looks 87. She has no energy, and
she gets ill easily.

This is the truth...
Reviewer: Jeanne 07-18-2004
A gastric bypass can be a very VERY dangerous procedure. I have seen what can
happen to a person when the procedure goes wrong. I know of a 25 yeard old
woman who spent 2 solid months in the hospital post-op. Most of it in a drug
induced coma because of lesions in her intestines due to the surgery and the
subsequent infection that insued. While in the coma, she gained approximately
50 pounds of fluid. She was on a vent for most of her hospitalization and as a
result now has chronic lung problems. This young woman will NEVER fully
recover from this excercise in barbarism (my opinion.) Suddenly, being fat and
22 doesn't look so bad anymore.
I also know another young woman who had it, no complications post-op, and lost
150 pounds. The only problem she has is constant diahhrea, cramping, gas and
bloating. I mean...CONSTANT diahhrea....every hour of every day. She plans
her shopping trips according to her knowledge of the locations of public
restrooms. But, sadly, she says it's worth it....she's tall and thin, left her
husband and little girl..joined a band!!!!.... and dates a different man every
night. I'm not making this up!!!

Opinion
Reviewer: Alexander 07-12-2004
With an experienced surgeon and surgical facility, the post-operative
mortality and morbidity of gastric bypass is not worse than that of any
major abdominal surgery on an obese individual. All surgery entails some
risk, but you have to weigh that against the risk of remaining a diabetic.
As you have probably been told, type II diabetes tends to be a progressive
disease unless insulin sensitivity is restored. Even if you are not
insulin dependent now, you are highly likely to become insulin dependent in
the future unless you significantly decrease your insulin resistance (and
the only way to do that is to lose weight). Once you become insulin
dependent, it is more less inevitable that you will eventually develop
diabetic complications, such as visual degradation (up to and including
blindness), loss of sensation and motor control in the extremities, kidney
failure and cardiovascular disease, if you live long enough. Depending
upon how old you are now and how long you have been diabetic, this
prognosis needs to be given serious consideration in making decisions about
your health. Gastric bypass surgery has been shown to have an 80-90%
success rate in completely eliminating symptoms type II diabetes.

My doctor
Reviewer: Cheryl 06-30-2004
My doctor has subtly hinted in the past few years that my
diabetes would get better if I could just manage to lose
weight. I've talked to her about how many many MANY
times I've tried to take the weight off but she just
doesn't hear me. I even suggested she prescribe Redux
or Fen-Phen (before it was taken off the market). She
wouldn't because of the problems supposedly associated
with them. She did, however, suggest GBS. Can you
believe it?! I was so amazed that my mouth just dropped
open. I asked her how she could suggest such a thing
when she wouldn't even try the Redux! She said that
GBS was very safe.

Well, you'll all be glad to hear that I fired her. Gonna
find myself a new doctor.

GBS Killed MyMother
Reviewer: Enchantra 07-23-2004
GBS was safe enough to kill my mother, plus it damned near killed a
friend of mine as well. Ill stick to water aerobics, chromium, Kava,
and naturlite.

I had gastric bypass surgery done in Jan.
Reviewer: Marianne 04-11-2004
Hi all, I had gastric bypass surgery done in January as a last ditch
effort at weight loss. At one point in my life I weighed 520 lbs. What
with some medical problems as well as the high weight, I just had to do
something like this. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have lost 64
lbs in 9 weeks.

I am scheduled for gastric bypass surgery
Reviewer: Jane 07-20-2004
I am scheduled for gastric bypass surgery in less that 2 weeks. I would
love to hear from anyone who has had the procedure that could offer
support and helpful suggestions in the recovery period and in the future.
Please post or feel free to e-mail me at Ziagianna@aol.com
thank-you

My advice to those considering...
Reviewer: Richard 07-08-2004
I would urge you not to resort to surgical procedures. Nature designed
your gastric system to work in a certan way, and if you alter it,
there could be drastic negative effects on your overall nutritional
balance.

In a nutshell
Reviewer: Del 07-23-2004
The reason gastric bypass surgery works is because it
restricts the amount of food an individual can comfortably eat. The
resulting weight loss is caused by an overall reduction in calorie
consumption, over time.

Ask yourself this - if its just the reduced intake that causes the loss, why
won't reducing my intake *without surgery* have the same effect?

This is a great place for support and information if you're ready to make a
committment to reining in your eating habits once and for all. If you have
a significant weight problem, I would respectfully suggest that you are
consuming many more calories than you think. Keeping a food diary for a week
will help you find out just what's going on. If that's not the case, and
you're living on lettuce leaves and breathmints and still overweight, maybe
you should go to your doctor to rule out any weird health issues.

My close friend had this surgery
Reviewer: Carol 07-14-2004
My close friend had it in May and is doing just great. She has to stay
on a restricted diet mostly eating proteins in small quantities and has
lost over 90 pounds. This woman had been a successful weight loser 25
years ago when I met her and she tried to help me get on track at that
time. But she blew up again when she got into a bad living situation
and also suffered a disability as the result of a fall.

SmartAss
Reviewer: Lisa 07-21-2004
I don't want to be a smart ass (okay, I do)...If you don't over-eat, why
would you need gastric bypass surgery?
Smart assing aside, the proceedure will work becasue you will be forced to
eat only a few ounces at a time, depending on what type of bypass is done.

Will this work?
Reviewer: Will 07-23-2004
Eating correctly for the rest of you life (assuming you dont have any
particular endocrin problems) combined with exercise, is what will work. I
have had people lose over 120lbs after claiming they followed every diet.

Obese all my life
Reviewer: Camorr 07-10-2004
I have been obese all my life and in a constant power-struggle over it with
doctors, so it's no surprise that now that the Gastric Surgery band wagon is
rolling through town I am finding myself being pressured by all-and-sundry to
jump aboard. One more power-struggle to be engaged in, and in the process of
girding my loins for battle I'm trying to research the subject. Only I'm
having an hell of a time finding "con" stories - all that seems to be avail-
ble are reams of information put out there by the very medical industry that
has a warehouse full of goods and wants to move them. So... if anyone out
there has had any kind of bariatric surgery (particularly stomach stapling),
or knows of someone who has had such procedures done, I would very much
appreciate it if you would e-mail me and give me the details, including: post-
surgical complications; state of health before and after; what life was like
then(health-wise)and what it is like now. As it's too easy to ignore the
negatives when in a state of initial hopeful euphoria, I'm PARTICULARLY
interested to hear from people who've lived with these procedures for a while
- say, more than two years.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated -

Stories
Reviewer: kaylie 07-18-2004
I know five people who have had stomach stapling, and all are fat. Four of
them ate until they stretched out their stomach huge again, the other stretched
her stomach out a lot, but still vomits after every meal, or during her meals,
sometimes three times if she goes to a heavy buffet. I know two others who
have had the type of surgery where a portion of their intestines have been
removed so that less food is absorbed, and they both lost about two hundred
pounds in six months. Their hair fell out at first and they looked awful
saggy, but THIN. VERY thin. I would think this would be the better surgery,
but one of them said that this surgery is as dangerous and intricate as open
heart surgery (and expensive) and someone else told me people who have that
done often have health problems and have to have it undone. My doctor has been
talkling about surgery too, but I dont think my insurance would pay for it
since I am not disabled or anything (yet) and I am going to OA where the
message I get is to just do my best and eat as healthy as I can today and if
someone has a problem with my weight then its their problem. I am walking as
much as I can as often as I can and eating no junk food and trying to eat
moderate meals and snacks of good wholesome food and trying not to think about
my weight, about losing weight, etc. , but more about how I can get the most
out of life instead, and turning my focus like that is helping. I know one
woman who came to OA (overeaters anonymous) once that had had her stomach
stapled twice, had her abdomen tucked once and had liposuction about five times
to maintain a weight of about 180. No thanks. I don't want to start carving
on myself at great physical and monetary expense and still be fat. I would
rather be fat and reasonably healthy and learn to love me the way I am.

I feel wonderful after my surgery
Reviewer: Chris 06-23-2004
I had a vertically banded gastroplasty about 5 months ago. To date I have lost
70 pounds and I feel wonderful. I can move without and my quality of life has
been greatly enhanced. I have occassional vomitting...about once a month or so
now. If you want more information I suggest that you subscribe to the Weight
Loss Surgery Support Group

My aunt had it done
Reviewer: Anonymous 08-28-2004
I will let you know if she ever comes out of her coma. She is also on a ventilator and one by one all of her internal organs are failing.
Her family is miserable. She is full of infection. Please try something else.

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