Surgical Weight Loss Helped Me

Surgical Weight Loss Helped Me Regain Back My Health

Weight loss can be an often frustrating and discouraging battle. In the world of fad dieting, jucing,fasting and other health trends, while dealing with chronic pain and conditions it can seem like an endless battle.

You eat keto, plant based, paleo, liquid you cannot exercise like the average person because you live with chronic pain, seems like you have tried and tried but still aren’t seeing the numbers on the scale move except up.

So you research and think hmmmm maybe weight loss surgery is an option.

Could it be an option for me? Or you?  Here’s what you need to know about  weight loss surgery and how you can determine your eligibility.

About me

I have bone issues and autoimmune so often the pain hinders me. I’m not allowed to run, in fact I don’t know if I could even if I wanted to. I am not even allowed to do squats. So I bought an elliptical but that hurt my knees so I bought a recumbent bike and eureka I had no pain. I started slow because I am 5’2 and went from 140 lbs to a whopping  284. I doubled my weight and the worst part is I did nothing about it. I knew I got fat but I didn’t see how fat because I no longer appeared in photos, I stayed home more. I isolated myself so others didn’t see me or the pain I was in. I didn’t want to be judged.

I was in a lot of pain at 140 – 175 – 200 – 250 lbs so it wasn’t the weight that caused the pain. The pain slowed me from living my best life and the weight just made me feel worse about myself so I stayed home.

So I checked into weight loss surgery way back in 2016, But I chickened out.

Understanding Weight Loss Surgery

Weight-loss (bariatric) surgery helps you lose weight and lowers your risk of medical problems associated with obesity. Bariatric surgery contributes to weight loss in two main ways:

    Restriction. Surgery is used to physically limit the amount of food the stomach can hold, which limits the number of calories you can eat.

    Malabsorption. Surgery is used to shorten or bypass part of the small intestine, which reduces the amount of calories and nutrients the body absorbs.

Four common types  and one New type of weight-loss surgery are as follows:

    Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

    Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding

    Sleeve gastrectomy

    Duodenal switch with biliopancreatic diversion

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

In Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the surgeon creates a small pouch at the top of the stomach. The pouch is the only part of the stomach that receives food. This greatly limits the amount that you can comfortably eat and drink at one time.

The small intestine is then cut a short distance below the main stomach and connected to the new pouch. Food flows directly from the pouch into this part of the intestine. The main part of the stomach, however, continues to make digestive juices. The portion of the intestine still attached to the main stomach is reattached farther down. This allows the digestive juices to flow to the small intestine. Because food now bypasses a portion of the small intestine, fewer nutrients and calories are absorbed.

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding

In the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding procedure, a band containing an inflatable balloon is placed around the upper part of the stomach and fixed in place. This creates a small stomach pouch above the band with a very narrow opening to the rest of the stomach.

A port is then placed under the skin of the abdomen. A tube connects the port to the band. By injecting or removing fluid through the port, the balloon can be inflated or deflated to adjust the size of the band. Gastric banding restricts the amount of food that your stomach can hold, so you feel full sooner, but it doesn’t reduce the absorption of calories and nutrients.

Sleeve gastrectomy

In a sleeve gastrectomy, part of the stomach is separated and removed from the body. The remaining section of the stomach is formed into a tubelike structure. This smaller stomach cannot hold as much food. It also produces less of the appetite-regulating hormone ghrelin, which may lessen your desire to eat. However, sleeve gastrectomy does not affect the absorption of calories and nutrients in the intestines.

Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch

As with sleeve gastrectomy, this procedure begins with the surgeon removing a large part of the stomach. The valve that releases food to the small intestine is left, along with the first part of the small intestine, called the duodenum.

The surgeon then closes off the middle section of the intestine and attaches the last part directly to the duodenum. This is the duodenal switch.

The separated section of the intestine isn’t removed from the body. Instead, it’s reattached to the end of the intestine, allowing bile and pancreatic digestive juices to flow into this part of the intestine. This is the biliopancreatic diversion.

As a result of these changes, food bypasses most of the small intestine, limiting the absorption of calories and nutrients. This, together with the smaller size of the stomach, leads to weight loss.

Intragastric balloon – NEW

Intragastric balloon placement is a weight-loss procedure that involves placing a saline-filled silicone balloon in your stomach. This helps you lose weight by limiting how much you can eat and making you feel fuller faster.

The intragastric balloon procedure may be an option if you have concerns about your weight, and diet and exercise haven’t worked for you.

Like other weight-loss procedures, an intragastric balloon requires commitment to a healthier lifestyle. You need to make permanent healthy changes to your diet and get regular exercise to help ensure the long-term success of the procedure.

I know scary right!!!

After researching  I wanted the balloon but it wasn’t covered at all by insurance so I  went with the Sleeve gastrectomy in late December 2019.

I will touch base more on this procedure over the weekend !

Stay tuned