Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alright, because I'm very familiar with this procedure, I figured I'd get y'all's opinion on it.

In October 2001, my mother got this surgery done. There are different ways to go about doing it, but the outcome is always the same. The idea is to shrink the stomach to a capacity of two ounces. The surgeon will either staple the stomach closed, or actually remove parts and reattach the stomach to the intestine. The latter is what my mother had done.

When you ask about getting this done, there are several requirements. You must be a MINIMUM of 100 lbs overweight, have tried and documented many, many different dieting and exercise plans, have legitimate health problems resulting from being overweight, and see a psychologist before your consultation. When mom went in, she'd tried every diet, done every kind of exercise plan, even hired a personal trainer. And even after all this, many insurance companies refuse to cover this procedure, claiming it to be a strictly cosmetic procedure.

Because her thyroid is out of whack, our doctor said that the only way she'd ever lose weight was to have surgery for it. She is 5'4 and was a little over 300 lbs. Her ankles were constantly swollen, she had sleep apnea, horribly high blood pressure, and painful arthritis. Four years after the surgery, she maintains at between 130 and 140 lbs. She lost the weight quickly at first, then it slowed and eventually stopped, save for the fluctuating few pounds.

The biggest dangers from this surgery are, if you've been stapled, stretching your stomach and popping the staples. Only being able to eat a small amount at a time, you must get almost all protein. That means, of your allotted two ounces, roughly 1-1/2 ounces needs to be high in protein. Many women get very sick, lose hair, and end up hospitalized because they don't intake enough protein. You also shouldn't drink while eating, because that takes up space. It is possible to restretch your stomach, slowly a bit at a time, so that you gain all your weight back. It's happened. Also, gastric bypass carries the same risks as any other invasive surgery. It's a long procedure and involves many major organs.

Upon recovering, it takes several months. The hardest thing to learn is exactly how many bites is right, and what bite is one bite too many. Mom spent a month in bed, and after that, three months wearing only sweatpants and not lifting anything. For almost a year she would eat, eat too much, and throw it back up. To this day, if she eats one bite too many, she vomits everything back up. Foods that are greasy, like fries, sausage, or anything of that nature make her sick. She can no longer tolerate dairy, as it treats her like it does someone who is lactose intolerant. However, her health has improved tenfold.

Another factor is the excess skin. If you don't exercise after the surgery, as you're losing weight, there can be pounds of excess skin. Everyone who followed Carnie Wilson's gastric bypass knows she got hers surgically removed. Most people can't afford this, and insurance companies don't consider it a necessity. If you have naturally elastic skin and tone yourself up as the pounds shed, you should be fine. If you don't, or you skin has almost no elasticity, you're going to be left with bags of skin, generally around your stomach, hips, thighs, and upper arms.

Requirements for post-surgery include frequent bloodwork to check various values and a yearly check-up with your bypass surgeon to chart progress and health. Even though she eats her protein as she should, and takes a daily multivitamin, my mother was forced to begin giving herself daily B12 injections in her hip, because each time she had bloodwork done, the values were very low. There are other values which could be down, and that includes iron, calcium, and various electrolytes.

So, with all that said, here are my questions.

1. Would you ever consider the surgery or have you ever considered the surgery?
2. Do you know anyone who has had it done, or will have it done?
3. What's your general opinion of this procedure? Is it something only vain or lazy people do, or is it legitimate for people who cannot seem to lose weight after years of trying?