MSNBC Artice

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26076054/

Feel free to dscuss.

Enjoy.

Hey, Blair:  Thanks for posting the link.  Interesting reading.  I think what it all comes down to is this:  The surgery (whichever type you choose to have done) isn't for everyone.  It is major surgery with associated risks.  You have to weigh the pros and cons and go into it with your eyes wide open.  There are many, many success stories out there, and there are also, unfortunately, stories with bad outcomes.  That said, most major surgeries, elective or not, have many of the same.  My hope is that because of the increase in the number of WL surgeries, the many good surgeons who genuinely care about what they are doing and about their patients, the continued research into WLS and the effects of it (short term and long term), that we will all continue to benefit from it. One day, who knows, maybe there will be no need for WLS because there will actually be a CURE for obesity.  Wouldn't that be nice?  (Maybe then, too, people will finally have an understanding that obesity, for many people, is not a result of lack of willpower, eating too much, laziness or a myriad of other ridiculous ideas regarding the causes of people being "fat!")  Just a thought....

I agree with Cindy! All surgeries have positive and negative consequencies - more positive than negative - and we can always find people who had issues - but there are far more people who have had positive outcomes - and as always the press chooses to focus on the negatives of anything!

I am sure,  one day, that obesity will be seen as the terrible disease it really is and a pill or simple surgery will cure it forever - but, in the meantime, these surgeries are the best weapon that we have against it...... and I, for one, am thankful every day - no matter what lies ahead - nothing could be worse than the way I was missing out on family life  - or better than the full life I am now participating in.....

Good topic Blair!

Jackie

Well here is my theory...and I don't want to sound too terse, BUT....

When the gal says, she did EVERYTHING right, I don't believe her. Now that being said, I am sure there are exceptions, but most of the time when I talk to post-ops who tell me they have done everything right, and you push them a little bit, they back off and let it slip that maybe not EVERYTHING.

Now here is where I want to temper my comments. You can't expect anyone to everything right. And there are the people who have real problems, but my theory is that they had other problems pre-op. I regularly see people at my support group who are looking at surgery and who are being rolled in and are on oxygen. No one in the owrld should expect that they will ever get back to a 100% normal existence. But they will get to a much better one. Perhaps from non-functioning to low level functional. And that is a good thing.

I am bothered by the all-or-nothing part of this article. Now I am not an Auburn trainied doctor, but it does seem that a study like this doesn't factor in the problems a person had pre-op. It just seems to me that if you were in porr before you had surgery, merely losing weight isn't going to solve eveything. I was pretty lucky to be in decent health, just really fat. So dropping the weight allowed me to get back to active. But I also took it from there.

I also know that people do gain weight back, but I have to say it goes back to my doing everything right theory. There is simply no way in the world I could gain the weight back if I contnue to work out like I do even with increased food. But it is totally possible to gain back if you graze all day and do not exercise. So, a study like that lacks that control too.

It does seem that there is an attempt within the surgical industry to paint too happy a picture of the surgery and it seems that some want to paint a dismal picture of the failures. Well I am a success story. It gave me my life back. But I am also a pragmatist and I see the downside.