BMI 55 and over

Do you have first hand experience of the treatment in the states?  Just wondering.

Yes. As patient and Health care provider- worked as RN in Miami for several years.

You know Louise, when a person with starting BMI of 35 passes judgment on people with BMI over 60 it sounds exactly as ignorant and judgmental as comments of naturally skinny folks about you.

Being an RN you probably know what metabolic effect has injecting 700 units of insulin daily... How much fat burning process is affected and how much hunger a person with such an advanced diabetes has... Also you definitely know how easy it will be to drop these 30-80 libs for a person in a wheel chair and/or having 70% lung restriction/failure and/or severe sleep apnea like 135 episodes per minute (NOT 35  BUT 135, it's not a typo). How well can handle prolonged optifast dieting a person who fought clinical depression for years and just managed to take control and works very hard to function normally... Let's put such a person on optifast for 4-6 months and get them ... to the edge of suicide. Let's declare these people unfit for the surgery and keep statistics up.

All these "scary facts" are taken from real lives of real people (they replied to this post). If you read this forum about a year or two back (archive allows it), you would have learned A LOT about wls, OHIP, "what was before" and maybe understood a thing or two about us - the people who had been that heavy and got a chance to live a normal, healthy life.

And don't tell me about tax $$$ going to the states. I pay almost half of my paycheck to taxes and have right to say how they should be spent. And I don't think that MIS group surgeons, incompetent to operate on people with BMI over 55, are better investment than Barix, Graber, Harris, etc. I don't want MY money to be wasted on salary of a MIS group nutritionist who knows NOTHING about VSG and feeds WRONG information to patients. Read this board and learn a little before you start passing judgment on other people.

As for the challenges of life with DS... It is challenging. Having A1C 4.1 after 9.7 is a challenge, I mean it is scary to be CURED FROM DIABETES. Jogging 5-6km almost daily and taking kick-boxing classes is brutal, especially for me as I've got a man as my sparring partner and gotta punch twice harder... And these horrible BMs... I take 3000m of calcium citrate which constipates like crazy and only whipped cream with splenda unplugs me... or KFC - that's the king. Yea, so to be regular I drink coffee with cream and it's very challenging to ask every morning "large with triple cream no sugar" at Tim's and get dirty looks from the folks in line. Life with DS is a challenge, here you are totally right. And these annoying neighbors... they just  must ask me very friggin day - what are you doing to lose weight? Don't you guys see - I eat KFC!

Fair enough? I think so.

But with today's rules and regulations I wouldn't qualify for the surgery, he?

F$$K them!

 

 Well said Nata!!!
I don't understand how a person that only has 50-60lbs to lose would even qualify for WLS.   If we're talking money that seems to be a waste to me.
People with very high BMI's and are being told to lose 50-60lbs before they'll be able to have the surgery.  
The 'Centre of Excellence' label is a joke.   Why are those hospitals not able to operate on BMI's over 60?
Thank goodness I was able to have my DS in the States!! 

PS Nata we need to see some new pics!!

Let me help you understand- if I don't have this surgery I am at very high risk of Barret's Esophagaus- esophogeal cancer. If I get that, I will lose lots of weight and probably never be able to eat again- be fed through a tube, and then die. Is that a good enough reason? I will be able to wear tiny clothes though. Oh, and I have 75-85 pounds to lose. I can lose it - have done several times- keeping it off is the problem.
Talk about being judgemental.

Excellent post!!

Nata, you forgot to metion eating all the KFC and whipping cream while your cholesterol levels drop...and drop...

Challenging!!  How do we cope?

I did not intend to, nor do I think I passed judgment, if I did, my apologies- it was not meant. 
Just sharing my thoughts into why it appears that over 55 BMI guideline is in place. This thread has been interesting but also disappointing. If I can't share without creating a storm, having people swear and flame, it really feels unsafe.

As for diabetes- my parents were both diabetic. Type 2 and my dad his own special type - due to an congentially abnormal pancreas. On insulin for weeks- months, then off for weeks months- no physical reasons. I also teach diabetics every day. So I have two very good reasons along with my active co-morbidites for this surgery. BMI should not be the only factor when evaluating need for surgery.

Oh, and about smelly sh*t. I am an expect in sh*t,  major part of my job. Not going to get into a discussion of the varying degrees of smell as that will stir up a sh*t storm.

I don't know, maybe telling us not to be so pushy with our DS info, might be considered, ummm OFFENSIVE.   HELLOOOOO  go back and read your post. 

Why is that, when I pipe in and tell people about their options,  you decide that it's being pushy?  As a Nurse, would you not want patients to be fully informed of all the options?