My 600 lb Life - Laura

This week's, "My 600 lb Life - Where are they Now" featured a lady who lost most of her weight and ended up in the 180's after skin removal surgeries.

Interesting to note was the massive loss and new style of eating, took its toll on her relationship.  Sadly it was a "common law" marriage i.e. they were living together as husband and wife but not legally married (common law marriages are no longer acknowledged as legally binding in most states).

And one might ask "why".  There are hints in the show. First of all, the husband has Multiple Sclerosis, a serious neurological illness which only a few years before TV checked in on the couple, paralyzed him at one point.  The show said Laura had "nursed him" back to health but he obviously was disabled to the point of not being able to work - always a strain on the marriage to begin with.

Second, Laura was very addicted to food and had used food all of her life to "feel better" in the presence of adversity and certainly, having the burden of supporting the couple and other stresses she alluded to (probably connected with her partner), were difficult for her to deal with, without the help of the food which had helped her in the past.  Her weight loss had come to an standstill, so the good doc revised her gastric sleeve to a gastric bypass, which, of course, zapped her strength because of the non digestion of nutrients (we need some 100 micro-nutrients a day and that's in addition to macro-nutrients, most of which cannot be digested by gastric bypass patients since the very important digestive organ, the duodenum, the first several feet of small bowel, is bypassed in this surgery.)

Less than 25% of surgeons still do the bypass because of not only, the short term repercussions, but long term ones as well.  The inventor of the gastric bypass, stopped doing them in the early 90's, pointing out the numerous issues with this surgery.  But of course, the 72 year old doctor "Now" on "My 600 lb Life" is likely not up with the current science and doesn't realize that people who get pretty sick (as Laura DID after her bypass  - she suffered a lot of nausea and most things she ate didn't stay down), may need a takedown immediately.  I'm sure that she felt badly did not help her patience with her husband.

The show put out a note that 85% of bariatric patients end up divorcing their spouses.

Let's hope Laura gets herself to a doctor who is more up with the science of digestion and realizes she badly needs a takedown NOW.

More Weight Loss Surgery ads on TV disguised as shows

Filmed in High Def and artistic cinematography and certainly scripted (as all "reality TV" is), the show, "My 600 lb life" is certainly watched by many and the producer who is the son of a Houston weight loss surgery surgeon, is definitely going to the bank.  A great improvement on earlier shows like the old series "Big Medicine", artistically speaking, one can be certain these shows have the same effect on the TV audience as the earlier offerings.  After every show on weight loss surgery, more than one weight loss surgery clinic remarked that their phones were "ringing off the hook" with prospective buyers.

  People featured on "My 600 lb life" i.e. the patients, not only do not get compensated for their appearance on the shows, but they also, have to pay for their weight loss surgery and/or skin removal surgeries.  There has been some speculation that the patients get a bit of a discount on the procedures but a couple of thousand bucks off on surgeries which can cost from $15,000.00 and up, isn't much of a financial aid.

This season, a new show has been added.   They call it, "Skin Tight" and is ostensibly about the plastic surgery that weight loss surgery patients (who lose the weight too fast for the skin to respond) often need.  Truly (and as the show portrays), many weight loss surgery patients have so much loose skin that they feel their bodies are more uncomfortable than they were when they were at their starting weight. 

The photography in "Skin Tight" is interesting.  The so called "skin surgeries" are long and very painful, a fact which is (of course) omitted from the show. Most patients I've talked to, describe it as more painful than the original weight loss surgery.  The skin surgeries involve long incisions and long hours under anesthesia and long healing.  But of course, the patients seen on "Skin Tight" all smilingly say it was totally, worth it because they "look so good" now.

However, if you watch the cinematography closely, you will notice that the patients who have undergone "skin surgeries" (most of them, have multiple procedures), are photographed from the front in the before photos and from the side or even covered up in  clothing in the after photos.  So even though the smiling patient says (according to the script) how wonderful life is, I wonder if the long scars and months of pain are really so wonderful.

It bothers me a lot how much of a business, the medical field has become.  Often, more expensive procedures are sold when a less expensive procedure (or no procedure) would do fine.  And often, despite the glowing reports we see on TV, the end result is fraught with problems and/or repercussions. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the public wants these surgical procedures because being of size in our society is considered worse than anything else.  But it seems that surgeons face a rather interesting dilemma.  Either they do invasive surgeries like the gastric bypass  which, albeit causes a large weight loss quickly (mostly muscle - good tissue you don't want to lose), can, in the long run, cause patients,  to suffer, many complications and can even shorten lifespan because of the malnutrition of fats and proteins and the lack of some 100 micro-nutrients a day which no longer can be digested.  Or they do the safer weight loss surgeries like the lap band or the gastric sleeve which do not offer the desired quick weight loss but also do not cause the complications of the more invasive surgeries.  

Surgeons who do the latter, often have to offer their patients diet plans including shakes etc.  But the truth of the matter is, that all weight loss surgery patients will not lose the weight unless they diet and exercise - these two things which, of course, cause a weight loss without surgery.

Best to remember the Buddy Valasco ("Cake Boss") statement, "It's TV, Baby!"

Or to recall a testimony by one of the major TV networks in the 1950's when they were caught cheating on the quiz shows.  Said one of the CEO's, "Well, the people were entertained, we made money and no one was hurt!"  

Unfortunately with today's shows, featuring weight loss surgeries, although the public is entertained, many people are hurt.  A sad thing to sacrifice a human's quality of life and longevity, for entertainment.

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