Question:
DOES ANYONE KNOW EFFECTS OF RNY YEARS AFTER THE FACT?

I WAS WONDERING WHAT THE RISKS AND POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS ARE YEARS DOWN THE ROAD WHEN YOU BECOME A SENIOR? I KNOW THAT WHEN PEOPLE GET ON UP IN AGE THEY NATURALLY HAVE HEALTH PROBLEMS FROM THEIR AGE. ARE THERE ANY KNOWN ADDITIONAL RISKS FROM RNY FOR ME WHEN I GET OLD?    — Tracy S. (posted on February 2, 2003)

February 2, 2003
Actually, the risks from having RNY are probably way less than the risk of having major health problems down the road due to obesity. I don't know of any long term studies, but look up Michelle Curran's profile. She had her surgery in 1994 and her husband had it in 1995. They are both doing very well, except for osteoporosis, which they attribute to having taken calcium carbonate instead of calcium citrate for many years.<p>And, just to clear something up, we don't necessarily have more health problems as we get older. Certainly the longer we live, the more likely we are to have some health problems, but, again, staying morbidly obese increases the risks of future health problems dramatically.
   — garw

February 2, 2003
Tracy, I don't think there are any answers for you. The population of seniors with the modern day RNY are just not there yet. Gar refers to Michelle who is 8 years post-op, but beyond her,there aren't too many more out there. There are lots of 5 years and less post-ops out there and many of them are having post-op problems and in many cases you can trace it back to their not taking proper care of themselves. We have some tradeoffs when we agree to this surgery and two of them are to eat right and to take supplements/vitamins EVERY day for the rest of your life. If you slack off on the calcium citrate, or don't take enough, you WILL develop osteoporosis/brittle bones, a lack of protein in the diet can lead to other problems (hair falling out for one, sickly looking skin etc). I think as more and more people have the surgery, the doctors will start studying and pooling their knowledge on how we can remain healthy as we age. On the good side, without this surgery, most of those diagnosed as morbidly obese develop all sorts of life threatening diseases and do have shortened life spans as a result.
   — Cindy R.

February 2, 2003
At least now we have a chance to get old. How many morbidly obese senior citizens do you know?
   — Leslie F.