Question:
Slow healers due to diabetes

a friend is having surgery too and heals very slowly because of diabetes. should hestill have the surgery? he was told if he lost the weight he might not continue having the diabetes. How long would a person with that kind of problem take to heal?    — nnnnnnnnn N. (posted on February 26, 2003)

February 25, 2003
Oh have the surgery. My port sites healed slowly. Diabetes type 2 goes away or is mnuch improved for the vast majority of us.Most get off all meds inckluduing insulin.
   — bob-haller

February 25, 2003
A couple of my port sites got infected and it took just over a month to heal. My non diabetic wife in less than half that. Today I can hardly tell where the port sites were.
   — bob-haller

February 25, 2003
I had this surgery because of my diabetes. I was taking four shots a day and three different oral meds and my blood sugars were still high. I left the hospital still on insulin although just one kind once a day. I had open and didn't have any problems with infections and if I healed slower, I didn't have anything to compare it too. At 7 1/2 months, down 93 pounds with 70 more to go I'm off all diabetic meds and feeling great. So YES, YES YES, your friend should have surgery. It's the only "cure"
   — Sunny S.

February 25, 2003
I've had Type II diabetes for 12 years, and most of my sugars were high enough, which made my diabetes uncontroled. I had my wls Feb. 10...they monitored my sugars while in the hospital, I only required 5 units R twice a day. Since being home, my sugars have ranged 85-174...I called my PCP 10 days out, reported my sugars, and she took me off ALL diabetic meds. This is the great! I highly recommend this surgery for anyone with diabetes. Good luck.
   — Sweets

February 26, 2003
The best thing your friend can do is to get his blood sugars under the best possible control pre-op. If that means taking insulin, then that's what he should do. I would highly recommend he consult an endocrinologist to help him. Post-op he will probably be able to discontinue or at least decrease the amount of any meds he's taking for his diabetes. Of course, I am assuming that he has Type 2 diabetes. However, either way, what causes slow healing is not diabetes, in and of itself, it's blood sugars that are too high. I have Type 1, insisted on having an endocrinologist monitor me when I was in the hospital, and had no problem healing at all.
   — garw

February 27, 2003
I am a diabetic who had surgery in September 2002, and I healed in 8 weeks
   — Leslie A. J.