Thoughts about the TV show "My 600 lb life"

As I watch the TV show, "My 600 lb life", I see many issues .... Elephants in the room, things left unsaid like, the fact that at least 2 of the patients featured on this show, ended up with severe complications such as neuropathy and guillian barre (which the provider attributed to "obesity" even though it was after the gastric bypass that these folks suffered these complications). One  patient uses a wheelchair now (he could walk before his gastric bypass). Another 2 patients that I know of, died a couple of years after surgery which is before they would have died without surgery.  (The bus driver featured in the first or second season, died about two years after his gastric bypass - he had a massive heart attack while driving a school bus.)

First, it seems many of the patients feel the 'before surgery' diet is temporary but in truth, weight loss surgery does NOT fix a damaged metabolism...that is the patient will have to stay on the 1200-1400 calorie diet for life if they want to keep off the weight... it bothers me that many patients don't seem to understand this and so their weight loss after surgery greatly slows down or in some cases, they gain.

Second, with weight loss surgery, there may be a large initial (after surgery) weight loss as the person cannot eat because there is a healing process going on, but after the surgery is healed, the appetite (which is centered in the brain) comes back strongly.

When weight loss surgery was invented in the 1960's, medicine thought the appetite centers were in the stomach and by making the stomach very small, that would control the appetite... Studies and a greater level of knowledge that we have now, have taught us that the appetite centers are in the brain and the size of the stomach makes little to no difference in how hungry most individuals feel... This means that the entire theory upon which weight loss surgery is based, may be outdated.  So one wonders why some providers still do the invasive procedures like gastric bypass?. Well, surgery is a cash cow for providers, unfortunately... and sadly, many patients who have become ill with gastric bypass or have regained, are made to feel ashamed if they speak out.  One of my friends called this a "conspiracy of silence".  She, a weight loss surgery patient herself, died at the young age of 54.  She had been ill with her surgery and bed-bound for several years before her death.

Do providers know that surgery does little to nothing to control the appetite for most folks?  Unclear... They really might think that the surgery helps... To keep up with all the advances in medicine, a provider would have to spend all his or her free time reading...

Most of all, one cannot gain to a very heavy weight, unless one has some serious physical metabolic issues going on.  And no one seems to acknowledge this, although it can be found in medical literature .... And especially not the provider on the TV show, "My 600 lb life"...who assumes that every one of these patients is really stuffing him/herself. However, a revealing study found that members of NAAFA, a fat acceptance group, actually consumed less food at conventions than their thin cohorts!  It's true that people who get very overweight may overeat at times, but basically, most of them eat like many other Americans who do not become extremely obese... And yet these people are made to feel like they are total pigs when it comes to eating. I can't help wondering why providers don't seem to know more about metabolic issues which can cause obesity... 

I stumbled upon my metabolic issue...after spending a lifetime wondering why, if I ate like most around me, I became very overweight... A goodly percentage of folks who had tonsillectomies in the 1950's and 1960's got pituitary damage after surgery... My tonsillectomy was in 1953 and right after surgery, I began putting on weight...That is, before this procedure, I, being very active, was on the slim side, however, after surgery...eating the same amount and with just as much activity as before, I gained weight...

So in digging through medical literature (for years literally), I found the reason why I gain so easily.  Now why don't providers let us know about this, I'm wondering...like those folks on "My 600 lb life", the provider really takes them to task, when they gain weight...

To defend Dr Nowzardan, it's possible he doesn't know about the latest research...he's 72 years old and this may be one reason why people of this age (over 70) should be retired... I am 71 and yes, I do NOT have the brain power I did when I was, even in my 60's, and trust me, it drives me nutz!  To paraphrase Buddy on "Cake Boss" , one might say with emphasis, "It's the aging process, baby!"

Undoubtedly, some of us, like me and those folks on the TV show, "My 600 lb life" have no set point and thus, we can gain easily up to astronomical weights, without especially overeating, at least not more than most Americans who do not gain so easily...

I've tried to explain all this to providers... And most of them naysay what I am telling them. 

Metabolic differences and pituitary damage from procedures like tonsillectomies,  seems  something which, apparently, is not included in the medical school curriculum...

Sue

Weight Loss surgery and dieting

I have heard many folks sign up for weight loss surgery because they feel they will "never have to diet again".  The next step is they go to a "seminar" held by the surgeon they are thinking of hiring. But the seminars are really mostly selling sessions for the surgery (I can only think of one surgeon who actually gives very informed consent seminars, detailing risks as well as benefits - this does not cut the number of people who go to him - on the contrary, they appreciate the info!).

Today, I met a lady who had had a gastric bypass in Oct 2015 and had recently attended a weight loss group meeting. (and keep in mind, most surgeons are doing the less invasive sleeve now).  She had lost 80 lbs but lamented that no one had noticed her weight loss.  "But I lost it fast," she added.  That prompted me to ask her how and that's when she said she'd had a gastric bypass.  I explained that a fast weight loss like that was mostly muscle and that's why it didn't show a lot of reduction in size.  She looked sad and said that she knew that.  She was NOT told that surgery would not take off that much fat and she'd have to diet to do that - and she'd already been back to the hospital because she had developed ulcers after surgery and couldn't keep anything down so had needed more surgery.   I can't help wondering if, had this lady been informed of the risks, she might have gone a different route.

But the sad thing was she really didn't lose much fat with the surgery despite her inability to eat much and ended up joining the weight loss group, even - with having had the surgery.

I gave her my web site and also, some of the informed consent info she should have had before surgery.  "The advantage of a gastric bypass", I concluded, "is, it is reversible and you should probably consider having it reversed."  She told me her surgeon had told her only the sleeve was reversible (it's not reversible, because they cut off most of your stomach and throw it in the garbage i.e. "send it to pathology" as the surgeons call it). I said, "no, it's the opposite - the gastric bypass is reversible" and I told her how they reversed it., explaining that a reversal would still provide her with some restriction but give her normal digestion back.  Hopefully she will consider having it reversed.  I told her she might have to go to another surgeon to have this done.

Some surgeons send pre ops to my website to obtain informed consent information but obviously this lady's surgeon had neither given her informed consent info nor did he send her to my website.  Because the 80 lbs she lost was mostly muscle, she still was very overweight.

The bottom line with surgery is, it really, isn't that effective for weight loss.  This lady told me she thought it would kill her appetite but it hadn't done this and I explained that this is because they now know, the appetite control center is in the brain, not the stomach (as formerly thought in the 1960's when these surgeries were first conceived of).

As for the gastric bypass, it's very effective at greatly diminishing the ability to digest proteins and fats (and yes, we do need some fats) which is why most surgeons have switched to the sleeve which, albeit invasive, is much less invasive than the older surgeries.

Another interesting thing - when I told this lady who had had the gastric bypass that I knew several 300 lbs gastric bypass patients, she looked shocked - she didn't know that so many had regained the weight, although she was already having trouble with this.

All I can do here is *sigh*.  How I wish everyone would have the informed consent information that they need to really make the best decision for them.  Informed consent after the fact, can be bitter but this lady had several friends, also of size and I'm sure my information helped them in case they were considering surgery.... (the photo is of my friend who died in 2006 from the aftermath of the weight loss surgery she'd had in the 1990's. - she spent her last days, before her untimely death, warning folks to not have weight loss surgery.)