The Morbid Me

Weight Loss Surgery OK After Age 60?

What happens if you are 60 years old (or even older) and you are extremely morbidly obese ? Well, first you are lucky to still be alive and secondly, you might have a chance to be accepted for Gastric Bypass.

Many people often confuse the fact that the main complications during gastric bypass surgery are not directly related to the bariatric surgery itself, but to the fact that a “surgery” is underway. So, from a Bariatric point of view, age on adult people is not considered as part of a risk factor.

Weight loss surgery should not be denied to patients based solely on age. With careful and professional screening, it may be safe for patients aged 60 and older.

As per a recent study by Peter Hallowell from the department of Case Western Reserve University's medical school, there are no differences in the occurrence of complications in patients younger than 60 years, or patients 60 years or older. (Read more here)

TLC Big Medicine = Big Marketing

Equally as dramatic as TLC’s “Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic”, “Big Medicine” follows the personal stories of severely obese patients who turn to Houston’s Methodist Weight Management Center as a last resort to their weight problem. There, bariatric surgeons Dr. Robert and Garth Davis are not only the doctors, but also the stars of the show.

I really have mixed feelings about this show. It looks like the real purpose of this weekly documentary is more oriented as a big marketing and self-promoting (but well done) Infomercial.

I have no doubts about the professionalism of the doctors or about the hospital in particular. But there is something in every episode that makes me feel it is 2 AM in the morning and I am watching a 30 minute “As Seen on TV” commercial.

For example, I really feel sorry for Mary Jo Rapini, the groups Psychotherapist. She is never taken into consideration, and no matter what she suggests about her patients, she gets ignored by the surgery-hungry doctors.  I remember when I got my surgical procedure, I had a BMI of about 45 and weighted more than 331lbs, I had diabetes, hypertension and severe sleep apnea. In my mind, I was the perfect candidate for this operation. To my surprise, I was very close to being rejected because my Psychotherapist felt I was not mentally prepared to face a new way of living and to change my obscure exercise and eating habits and addictions.

From a physical point of view, my body was more than ready to even have brain and heart surgery at the same time, so my surgeon was already sharpening his knife. But he stressed-out to me that he would only perform the surgery if my Psychotherapist would give me the green light. Lately she did, but I realized that there is more than surgery in this ordeal.

Gastric Bypass surgery should be approached as a complete professional team effort of specialists. The surgery is performed in the guts, in the part of your being that you can physically touch (aka your body); but it is not performed in your mind, in your soul not even in your feelings and emotions.

So, no matter how successful Dr. Robert and Garth Davis are in performing their operations, by the end of the day, the patient has to live with a modified body but still with his or her unmodified mind.

I’ve lost 110 lbs after my gastric bypass more than a year and a half ago. I have had no complications, and I feel great and I am happy. But my success is not solely based on my surgeon’s ultra-modern laparoscopic tools, but equally on the drastic change in my lifestyle.

Remember that weight loss surgery can last from 30 minutes to 2 hours; but The Rest of your Life is measured in years and decades.

I think Big Medicine would be a better and more realistic and convincing program, if the producers would have walked into different doctors and hospitals every week, rather than focusing on one specific group. But well, we are in America, and we are the kings of Marketing.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love Dr. Robert and Garth Davis, they are not only good physicians but they perform excellent on camera too, very entertaining. I just can’t imagine seeing my doctor on a show like that… how boring would that be!

New Stydy: Many Dieters Keep the Weight Off

A new study just published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, looked at 1,310 adults from the 1999 to 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who were overweight or obese at their heaviest weight, but who had lost at least 10 percent of their maximum weight a year before the survey. Many dieters who lose weight actually manage to keep it off. The results are more long lasting than before. (Read Here)

Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic

I have a new addiction, I have to confess. Luckily, it is not related to alcohol or food. It is related to a great TV show. It is called “Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic”. What a great, well done and addictive program. This program should be an inspiration to get serious about losing weight. These patients are severely morbidly obese and some are on the edge of death. They have significant health problems, (some of them you would never imagine where related to being obese) and most can't even walk.

UPDATE: July 10th 2007 Thanks for all your emails asking about where this clinic is located. I finally found it, click here!

Bariatric Surgery must be Studied in the Long Term

I found this open letter from David D. Richardson, M.D, a doctor in the Mississippi area to the Clarion Ledger paper. It is interesting to read, because it exposes another side of Gastric Bypass. I also agree with him in that there have to be more studies on this issue. Also, this type of surgery should be analyzed on the long term.

I am more than a year and a half post op. And my results are by the book. Did I succeed? Well, so far yes I have. But, to be conclusive I will have to wait a couple of years. So, in the short term (2 years post op is considered short term!) I have succeeded. But since I expect to live a long time, it is the long term success rate that really should give me a conclusion. Now, while I am waiting for the years to go by, I still have to change and adjust my eating habits and change my lifestyle, and this is forever.

Fat: What No One Is Telling You. On PBS.

I am so excited, I can’t wait to watch this new promising program… Finally a documentary about obesity and weight loss, from another, much real perspective.

With 66 percent of U.S. adults either overweight or obese, our girth is a serious public health issue. Yet many of us still view being overweight as a character flaw, a lack of self-control, or even a moral crime.

But does fat really equal failure? “FAT: What No One Is Telling You” explores the myriad psychological, physiological and environmental factors that can make it so tough to shed pounds and keep them off. In this documentary, Executive producer Naomi Boak and producer/director Tom Spain, both Emmy Award honorees, share new scientific knowledge about hunger, eating, and human metabolic operation. This film also explains our psychological responses to food, and shows how external pressures (such as oversized restaurant portions and the unending barrage of food advertisement) make fighting fat so difficult, both on the personal and national levels.

"Fat: What No One Is Telling You" a new 90-minute PBS documentary airs today. (Click here for schedules and more info).

Half-ton man Manuel Uribe on a High-Protein Zone Diet

Manuel Uribe, the famous (and now former) “Half Ton Man” is back in the news. This time because he has lost 395 pounds not because of Gastric Bypass, but because of using a high-protein Zone diet.

Las year he was offered Weight Loss Surgery, but he opted out of it. This is weird to me. At 1,235 pounds last year, he couldn’t me a better medical candidate for that operation. Also, almost all studies show that if you have been extreme morbidly obese for so many years, it is extremely hard to diet with willpower alone. It is not impossible, but difficult.

Anyway, good luck to Manuel and I will be writing about him in the new future again. (Read Here)

Lipozene Weight-Loss Drug: Another fiasco

I have never believed on all those Weight Loss drugs. And I always love to read about investigations that prove me right. Here is a quickie from TV station KMBC in Kansas City about Lipozene Weight-Loss Drug. Oh, and by the way, the makers of Lipozene, Obesity Research Institute LLC., has been in trouble before.

Obese Teens need Guidance, not Surgery

Finally someone that understands me! Diane W. Mufson, a licensed psychologist just wrote a brief opinion in the Hearld Dispatch (Huntington, WV) about Teens and Weightloss Surgery. Yes, that topic that is driving me crazy lately… Kids do not suddenly become morbidly obese; it takes years. Parents need to realistically guide their children's food consumption and activity levels. (Read Here)

Restaurants serving up Discounts after Weight Loss Surgery

Now this is a great idea! Folks at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas are handing out special “ID Cards” to weight loss surgery patience, so they can go to participant restaurants in the area, and get “kid sized” meals, therefore, not having to order full meals they will not be able to eat anyway.

Other institutions issuing restaurant cards to bariatric patients include Twelve Oaks Medical Center, Memorial Hermann Memorial City and Baylor College of Medicine in conjunction with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. (Read more Here)