Gastric Bypass Surgery

Do any of you know someone who has had this surgery? My best friend just called me...He just left the doctors office and the doc is recommending gastric bypass surgery for him. He is 53 years old and has had a heart attack...prostate removed due to cancer. He is not in real good health. He is fat but maybe 70 pounds fat not 100 -200 like you'd think for the bypass. He has a lot of $$$ and is a hypochondriac, I think the docs are looking at the $$$. My sister had the surgery ( lost over 200 pounds) and said it was a piece of cake. A customer had it months ago and is still eating through an IV and in and out of the hospital on a weekly basis. This guy has the time to eat right and exercise but will NOT do it. SO if any of you have any info I could pass along to him I'd appreciate it. I don't know if you can tell but I am TOTALLY against this surgery for him.

[QUOTE=OHIOSTEVE]Do any of you know someone who has had this surgery? My best friend just called me...He just left the doctors office and the doc is recommending gastric bypass surgery for him. He is 53 years old and has had a heart attack...prostate removed due to cancer. He is not in real good health. He is fat but maybe 70 pounds fat not 100 -200 like you'd think for the bypass. He has a lot of $$$ and is a hypochondriac, I think the docs are looking at the $$$. My sister had the surgery ( lost over 200 pounds) and said it was a piece of cake. A customer had it months ago and is still eating through an IV and in and out of the hospital on a weekly basis. This guy has the time to eat right and exercise but will NOT do it. SO if any of you have any info I could pass along to him I'd appreciate it. I don't know if you can tell but I am TOTALLY against this surgery for him.[/QUOTE]All I can say is I know many people who have had gastric bypass, banding etc. Oddly enough the vast majority are nurses or others in the medical profession. I have seen many lsoe weight and I have seen all to many that don't lose because if you don't have the will to lose you can and will devise ways to cheat. I mean think about it for a minute. If surgery makes you eat less (essentially it does), are you going to lose weight if you eat 2 ounces of ice cream 8 times per day? A lifestyle change is what people need and not a quick surgical fix that can and does lead to other problems. Think about it again, in gastric bypass how long is your body given to absorb nutrients through your stomach? Conversly how long does it normally have? Also, speedier gastric emptying (a symptom of gastric bypass) leads to a more frequent feeling of hunger. Is that a good thing?

I don't know if this will help but I would tell him to check it out at some of the sites where people talk about the pros,cons, and horror stories of the procedure.
I think the best piece of advice you could give him would be that once it's done there is no going back.
I personally think it would be horrible to never be able to have pizza and beers at least once a month..Just the thought of that scares me.:eek:

[QUOTE=Dash Riprock]I don't know if this will help but I would tell him to check it out at some of the sites where people talk about the pros,cons, and horror stories of the procedure.
I think the best piece of advice you could give him would be that once it's done there is no going back.
I personally think it would be horrible to never be able to have pizza and beers at least once a month..Just the thought of that scares me.:eek:[/QUOTE]Horrors...there are too many to mention.

Steve,

Your amazing progress is a good example of how to drop weight properly. Keep working on convincing him to follow your route to health.

I'm with you in my dislike of the surgery. My fathers friend had one about 10 years ago and nearly died from compilcations. Either way he's taking a risk but society seems addicted to quick fix, no effort, solutions.
I don't see how gastric bypass is supposed to reduce risk of heart attack since it's the ratio of good to bad fats that makes a difference and simply lowering absorption won't change the ratio.

Our brains seem hard-wired to make minimal effort for maximum gain and advertising plugs right into that impulse. Being a victim is easy and takes almost no effort at all. I know because I struggle against that impulse every time things get tough. The only way I know to fight it is to surround yourself with the opposite message.

Kind of reminds me of a show I saw recently called "The Gym" where this guy hires a personal trainer to loose weight but doesn't want to lift weights or break a sweat.

Steve, Have him read this.

[url]http://www.local6.com/news/5283632/detail.html[/url]

A quote from the article,,(Researchers from Washington University found 1 in 50 gastric bypass patients died three months after the procedure.) Those odds don't sound very good to me..

Ewl!

To be quite honest I am totally against it unless it is a question of life and death.

Especially if he's "only" 70 lbs overweight...it's kinda the lazy way to do it don't you think?

Why exercice? I'll get my stomach stapled instead! or lipo! or whatever

You're one of the best people to explain to him the proper way to lose it... if he doesn't want to exercice then he simply doesn't care enought about his own person!

This is so very sad to me. Yesterday I buried yet another dear friend who always joked about that every time he thought of exercise he lay down until the thought went away. He got his wish.
I have only two old buddies left now on this planet. (my wife smoked herself into astroke at 56) One has diabetis and the other smokes even after his heart attack. I no longer preach to them having learned that it is in the end a waist of time and energy. I now give them love and support and let them steer their own course.

[QUOTE=OHIOSTEVE]Do any of you know someone who has had this surgery? My best friend just called me...He just left the doctors office and the doc is recommending gastric bypass surgery for him. He is 53 years old and has had a heart attack...prostate removed due to cancer. He is not in real good health. He is fat but maybe 70 pounds fat not 100 -200 like you'd think for the bypass. He has a lot of $$$ and is a hypochondriac, I think the docs are looking at the $$$. My sister had the surgery ( lost over 200 pounds) and said it was a piece of cake. A customer had it months ago and is still eating through an IV and in and out of the hospital on a weekly basis. This guy has the time to eat right and exercise but will NOT do it. SO if any of you have any info I could pass along to him I'd appreciate it. I don't know if you can tell but I am TOTALLY against this surgery for him.[/QUOTE]

I have two friends @ work who had gastric bypass surgery. One of them nearly died as a result of complications in surgery.

Both are still overweight.

Surgery cannot change the lifestyle. I recommend Cognitive/Behavior Therapy as a first step.

[QUOTE=Baldsnake]This is so very sad to me. Yesterday I buried yet another dear friend who always joked about that every time he thought of exercise he lay down until the thought went away. He got his wish.
I have only two old buddies left now on this planet. (my wife smoked herself into astroke at 56) One has diabetis and the other smokes even after his heart attack. I no longer preach to them having learned that it is in the end a waist of time and energy. I now give them love and support and let them steer their own course.[/QUOTE]


You are wise beyond your years my friend. I've preached to my father and mother, both EASILY 100 lbs overweight, until I'm blue in the face. They make iced tea, 2 cups of sugar in a pot, 2 pots a day. I've resigned to the fact that my dad and I will have precious little time on this planet together and I will fight with him no more to quote Cheif Joseph. My mother always looks for a fight when I go over so I don't go over for very long because I don't need all of the bull****. For one time in my life, I'm losing the battle, not something I'm proud of at all.

Steve, I have 3 friends that have had the surgery, 2 are doing great, 1 is in misery from it and it's been almost 14 months after the surgery. You and I both have lost a hell of a lot of weight, probably 175 lbs between us and we know it can be done IF YOU PUT THE WORK INTO IT!! There in lies the problem, nobody wants to put the effort into it, plain and simple . In my opinion it's the easy way out for those with no will power.