The latest news on Weight Loss surgery reminds us that the media openly admits they don't feel obligated to tell the truth. And often when they report on weight loss surgery, they do sneaky ads. Weight loss surgery of any kind doesn't really help patients to keep off the weight. After they have invasive surgery to lose weight, they are told that if they don't diet and exercise, they will not keep off the weight. But diet and exercise will keep off weight whether someone has had surgery or not. Medical providers do not give the public "informed consent" for medical procedures. "If we did tell the public about repercussions," a medical provider friend told me, "they wouldn't have any procedures done!" As if this is a valid reason for not warning folks what might happen and especially after elective procedures like weight loss surgery.Lately in the media, we find a questionable study and a story which emphasizes how a couple keeps off weight - one of them who had a gastric bypass and the other who did it without surgery.
The study looked at se/x after weight loss surgery and declared that it's better after weight loss surgery. Anyone who knows a significant number of weight loss surgery patients like I do, will ask, "how can this be when erectile dysfunction is very common and especially after gastric bypass?" Easy answer - the researchers studied women - no men! The women studied were a couple of years post op - and it was a study in which the cohort were surveyed 1 and 2 years after surgery and reported more reproductive hormones and better se/x!
First of all, the study was financed by Ethicon Endo which makes instruments for weight loss surgery - can we say "conflict of interests"? Secondly no men were studied - had they looked at men, they would have found a different story, especially longer term like over 3 years. The news story sounds like weight loss surgery is a great deal, but the truth is more sobering - since men were not studied, the fact that many men get ED after weight loss surgery stays unreported (unless you read the long term weight loss surgery communities). It should be noted that many patients who regain after weight loss surgeries are encouraged to not attend support meetings and not tell those around them that they have had weight loss surgery. Meanwhile many surgeons parade the slim 2 year post ops at support meetings, giving the impression that "everyone" keeps the weight off. One longer term post op who cannot eat more than 1200 calories a day without gaining, also came down with epilepsy after a gastric bypass and found 150 more patients with the same repercussion - this patient is considering having brain surgery rather than having the gastric bypass reversed, despite the fact that the seizures are likely from vitamin deficiencies which would be fixed with a reversal.
As for the weight loss story, in a story entitled "No Magic Bullet for keeping off the pounds", a couple, both of whom lost a lot of weight, are interviewed. The man lost weight without surgery and the story emphasizes how he is having a hard time keeping off the weight. The lady had a gastric bypass and we are told she's kept her weight at 160 lbs for 3 years. In this story, if the reader looks at the photos, s/he will see that even with a slight weight gain, the man is not only slimmer than the lady but he is in better shape also. But if the story is read superficially, the take-away message is that people have a much easier time keeping off the weight with weight loss surgery.
In other words, the story hints that weight loss surgery is "the easy way out". Any weight loss surgery patient will tell you it's definitely not the easy way out and many patients have regained at the 10 years post op point - even with extremely invasive surgeries like gastric bypasses. This is a reality which may never get to the public if they confine their reading to news media. I am reminded of the patient who called me up, crying, after her gastric bypass. "They never told me about the side effects," she told me also adding that her surgeon no longer answered her calls. And for patients who do keep off the weight, how many of them can no longer eat?
Should it really be "buyer beware" when we are talking about surgery after which 2 percent of patients die and 30 percent have serious repercussions including requiring additional surgery?