Warning to a Patient About To Enter The Gastric Bypass Meatgrinder

I am new here and just starting the process of informing myself. I went to one informational meeting and am waiting for my first consultation.
Boy, can I relate to all your feelings! The before/afters are so inspirational, and I'm so impressed by the hard work & success I see here. However, it is a huge ordeal. The drawbacks are very real. Many of the side effects (dehydration, malnutrition, kidney stones, possible gall bladder removal, constant heartburn...) make me hesitant.
We obviously wouldn't be considering this of we hadn't already tried and tried and tried other methods. I work out a lot and, if I do this surgery, I suspect it might be a long time before I can do an hour of high impact cardio several times a week like I do now. I'll really miss that. I'm afraid the surgery will make me feel really unhealthy for months but hope it may mean years and years of better health. I still haven't made up my mind. I just want you to know, you're not alone in being unsure. Hugs.

1

Get your facts Gretta from an unbiased nonindustry source with no dog in the fight.
You are right to be reluctant Gretta. Weight loss surgery is EXTREMELY lucrative and it has a high rate of complications and mortality. You also should look into exactly how effective it really is and again get that information from a nonindustry source. Gastric bypass average cost is $32,500 in the US. Some surgeons do 4 or 5 a day. It's a money tree. The 32,500 in just the beginning. Then you have the gallbladder surgery in 1/3 of the cases CHA CHING! Then there is the the sagging skin surgery and the breast reductions. Then there are the complications and trips to various MDs for little or no help. Then there are the revisions surgeries. Then there is the cost of the shakes and vitamins you will be on for the rest of your life because of the malabsorption. Then there are the trips to the ER from the dumping syndrome.  CHA CHING CHA CHING CHA CHING!!!

RELATED: OBESITY HELP SITE DOWN  Yippie!

The essence of the Hippocratic oath is "first do no harm". Another precept is for MD to ask others for help. I know how to fix the cause of overeating aka caloric poisoning. I have offered my program for free to physicians. They won't even look at it, Arrogance. Do you think that MDs damaging a perfectly functioning digestive system and rejecting my help is compliant with the oath they took?

The Hippocratic Oath Modern Version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:...

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. (They don't generally these days)

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.(Not even close in many cases.)

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. (This is a joke. Google Doctors Are and then put a letter of the alphabet after Doctors Are and watch the Google suggestions.)

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery. (So many of them are so arrogant and greedy that they will reject any treatment that actually can cure something and they will exploit any ailment for maximum profit) 

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God. (They think that the letters MD mean Me Diety)

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. (They exploit illness for maximum profit and that is why the have cured no diseases since polio.)

I will prevent disease whenever I can but I will always look for a path to a cure for all diseases. (ROFLMAO!!)

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. (ROFLMAO!!)

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help. (ROFLMAO!!)

Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.