Question:
how successful is laproscopic surgery?

Is bariatric surgery a permanent solution to weight loss if you go by the rules? i have heard that people that have this surgery dont have very long life spans. please tell me this isn,t true. what is the longest post-op out there?    — patricia M. (posted on November 21, 2002)

November 21, 2002
Sounds like Sue Widemark's site (http://gastricbypass.netfirms.com/) has scared another person... <p> Sue Widemark is a person that is very anti-WLS. Don't let the handful of her stories scare you. Check out some of the tens of thousands of success stories here....JR
   — John Rushton

November 21, 2002
Hi.....I just wanted to let you know that Lap RNY was very successful for me. I had surgery Jan 15th of 2002....I have already hit goal....and have felt awesome. This surgery saved my life and I have no regrets. Do your research!!! GEtting into your car and driving is more of a risk than this surgery. Check out my website and others....take time and read everything you can so you can be informed about this. It is a big step but very well worth it. Good luck on your journey. :-)
   — hawk4life

November 21, 2002
Sounds like you've heard those rumors that are spread by people who know NOTHING about WLS! WLS increases life spans by making us healthy! Read through all the stuff on this site and other sites....you'll be amazed by how healthy the WLS can make you. Had mine last February and lost 100 pounds so far. NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.
   — Kathy J.

November 21, 2002
Five of us in my family have now had wonderfully successful and complication-free laparascopic RNY surgeries. We are from 2-34 months post-op, and all of us except my older daughter (2 months post-op) are at goal and happier and healthier than we have ever been in our adult lives. Pre-op, I had diabetes, hypertension, GERD, joint problems, etc... All of the symptoms related to those co-morbidities were completely gone within two months of my surgery and I was medication-free (except for vitamins and calcium supplements) for the first time in over twenty years. My husband had retired on disability, was nearly bed-confined, and had been told by our internist that he probably wouldn't live another year unless he had this surgery. He is now almost two years post-op, off all medications, and is out-and-about all day enjoying life in a way that had been impossible for him in the past fifteen years. It is true that WLS is a "tool", and that the overall long-term success is up to each of us individually. However, if you take advantage of the behavior-modification opportunities given you in the first 12-18 months post-op when you essentially have no hunger and can only eat tiny amounts, then I believe that WLS can indeed be a permanent solution to obesity. Any of us can "sabotage" our surgeries by returning to "grazing" patterns or resuming our intake of high-calorie and high-fat foods....hopefully we can all remember the misery of morbid obesity and never want to deliberately return to those habits that contributed to our obesity in the first place. Occasionally, the "myth" that WLS shortens life expectancy pops-up and creates a lot of anxiety with pre-op patients. I believe that WLS lengthens life-expectancy because it resolves the co-morbidities that we have struggled with for years. In addition, WLS gives us back true "quality of life" which most of us also have sacrificed over the years. Lastly, I figured that my morbid obesity was going to kill me a lot faster than anything related to my WLS, so it wasn't a difficult choice or decision for me (or the rest of my family). Best wishes!
   — Diana T.

November 21, 2002
Without my Lap RNY I was guarenteed a short life of pain and embarrassment. Now after losing nearly 100 pounds in 8 months I am really alive for the first time in my life. I feel now there there is NOTHING I can't do. This is still major surgery, but if you are approved there is a real medical need for it and you deserve a chance at a healthy, long life.
   — kultgirl

November 21, 2002
My 75-year-old grandmother had a (primitive) intestinal bypass in the 1960's in order to lose weight, or the dr. said she would die soon. Although they did have to reverse it in the early 1990's (she was in her 60's and having a lot of diarrhea and other complications), she's as healthy as an ox and doesn't even have osteoporosis. My mother had a stomach stapling procedure (we are still trying to find out exactly what, since the dr. is retired and I'm doing my research for my own WLS) and hers was in 1987. She's healthy too and is 55. I know hers isn't as malabsorptive as an RNY, probably similar in restrictiveness to a VBG. I brought her to a support meeting and she was the star of the show, everyone asking her questions and I believe she really reassured a lot of people because she looks so good and is so healthy.
   — cddgo

November 22, 2002
There is a study out on long term post ops by Dartmouth, on average gastric bypass surgery will EXTEND your life expectancy bu three years. There is another article I found in the news section of this site. How succesful is laproscopic surgery, well I am only six months post op. But I have gone from a size 24 to a 6. I am down 106 pounds which puts me 6 pounds below goal. I NO longer have diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesteral. I feel like a kid again. I know that Dr. Reinhold in New Haven Connecticut has post op patients 10-15 years out that are still doing great. Without the surgery they may not be here right now.
   — Linda A.