Teen Weight Loss Surgery

A guy who developed osteoporosis at 26??? Whoa. Even now he has to get shots and take a "bone-building" drug. What shape is he going to be in by 66, I wonder...

Adrienne, you assume he's going to be alive at 66?

Heh, yeah. It says he's a construction worker, too. Not the smartest career choice for someone with bones that break and fracture easily. Construction workers frequently suffer job-related injuries. What would be a minor injury for a regular person could probably be a critical injury for him.

i am continually amazed to discover more and more side effects of this surgery. i really am shocked. talk about the cure that kills. never eat normally as long as you live? osteoporosis at 26? b-12 shots? just to be less fat? do people think this is really preferable to being fat? it's cosmetic surgery! i am especially peeved about the way the article frames the girl's surgery - glossing over "a month of near constant vomiting" because, hey - BOYS are checking her out!! isn't that worth it! the Starbucks kid said she looked good! that is worth a lifetime of disability and illness and possible death. as long as the boys are checking her out. i so badly hope that she does ok, i hope she can go on and have children if she wants, and that she survives into a healthy old age, but really. a girl's place in the world is more than going to football games and looking hot in the yearbook.

I agree this surgery is not for childern but the other stuff??? Come on folk's this is life SAVING surgery to most people and yes SOME pople have a bad time BUT did they follow the diet? I would guess not. Now I understand that fat people ARE discrimminated against most of the time. That pisses me off to no end. But you can not tell me that you believe that being 200 lbs plus overweight is healthy? Really?? Those of you that are a mear 30, 40, 50, and even some 100 lbs over are NOT in the same league as those of us that are 150 lbs plus over. Yes some people that big are healthy thats not what I'm saying.

I agree that WLS can be life-saving for some people, biggie. But given all the unknowns about its long-term effects, I too cringe at the thought of youngsters having it, especially when they are still growing and developing. The article mentions that the surgery often stunts their height, for instance. Osteoporosis at 26 is a really scary thought, not to mention the need for B-12 shots for the rest of his life. It sounds like that poor guy had too much of his intestine removed.

Adrienne has a very good point - it is very scary. Biggie, mind you that BFB is not a place that is friendly to gastric bypass.

Let's put WLS in perspective here. It is not a safe, long term, effective way to "cure" fatness. First of all, it has one of the if not the highest mortality rate of any elective surgery done in this country, which is 1 in 200. Secondly, the majority of patients who have the surgery suffer serious repercussions and side effects including vomiting, sometimes several times a day, "dumping," which is a syndrome where even a small amount some kinds of of food causes a reaction in the body which causes the patient to have to lie down until the pain and dizziness passes; inability to absorb nutrients on one's own; and constipation and/or diarrhea. In one Isreali study 40% of those in the control group gained back enough weight within ten years of the surgery to be considered morbidly obese again. Some people gain back all the weight they lost and more, e.g. Susan Mason who died recently from complications she suffered for years after her procedure. This is not a solution, people! And to perform this operation on kids is just unconscienable.

Someone I know who had the surgery a few years ago has had horrible complications. She eventually had to have the surgery reversed, has gained back any weight she lost plus some, and has experienced ongoing health problems (such as hernias, scar tissue, infections) that have resulted in several more operations, and at least one close brush with death. She personally knows a few people (from an online WLS support group) that have died within a few years of the surgery from complications. Yet her doctors are still pushing the "new" WLS on her. :-(

I guess my biggest problem remains the long-term effects. As pseub notes, it's damned risky surgery. I know that not everyone is getting hit with the option of gastric bypass, but as was pointed out here the last time it came up, it's starting to be touted as the next "magic pill". One thing that concerns me is, of course, this is an appetite-supression technique above all else. What if you're not fat because of that? What if you just happen to be fat? Especially in kids - they're still growing, and their bodies need such a different set of nutrients than adults do. I can't imagine a doctor turning around and saying that this is the best option. Yes, some fat people (including teens) have physical difficulties. Those should be addressed independent of weight. Gastric bypass still sounds like it's just trading one set of problems (some potential, some not perhaps) for a set that is nearly guaranteed, and potentially worse. But, as Michelle noted, the girl gets the boys now. Sigh.

And regarding the "health" issue of being large, doctors in the Victorian era believed that it was "unhealthy" for women to become sexually aroused and performed clitoridectomies. People believed that it was "unhealthy" for women to pursue higher education because they believed it would cause their ovaries to shrivel up. WLS for "health" kind of reminds me of this.

There has been research into WHY these deforming procedures work. There are two portions. #1, the stomach physically fills quicker, making it physically impossible to eat. This was the intention of the procedure. #2, when a stomach is physically full, it releases hormones informing your body is it full (this creates that 'oh, I couldn't POSSIBLY eat another bite sensation') Obviously a tiny tummy sends this signal quicker, if the procedure leaves the gland intact. Interestingly, if animals are administered this hormone, the weight loss is identical to having their stomach deformed! I know this is a little counter BFB, but at least if people feel they are in dire straits that they have to mutilate themselves might have an alternative. Lord knows what happens if you take this hormone too often, but lets hope they do the research. Certainly if people have genuine psychological or physical issues that must be addressed, this hormone could be used on a limited basis while other issues are resolved.

The idea of doing this to ANY youngster is insane. It is purely cosmetic and the result of hate, prejudice and ignorance of our society. Surely history will project this surgery compared to the burning times. We ridicule and butcher the bodies that are not 'acceptable' to us. The pain, disease, and death these tortured bodies endure is done in the name of 'maybe' preventing future disease. Astonding numbers of ladies all around me (no men I know yet), are having this surgery done. Each one so far confesses to horrible problems after the sugery, but they are thinner now! This surgery was originally designed for only those in the REAL DANGER of imminent death as a last resort live-saving method to prolong life a very short time. Now it is easier to get done than a hair cut. My aunt died this from surgery after several years of needless suffereing. Fat was her only pre-operation health 'problem'. After the surgery she became horribly sick and died slowly and painfully. Even after this, many times I considered WLS because of 'new and improved' claims. Seems so simple and tempting to just 'fit in', even for a short time. However, each time personal research reveals the real ugly truth about this barbaric mutilation. I am so glad I chose my large intact body over approving glances of strangers. It is much nicer to live life as is (yes, even fat). It is far wiser to change our views and approches on health than to condem and mutilate childrens bodies. How do you think we really will be remembered?

as sick as this choice is for adults, it's far sicker to do on children. What a world we live in! Can't child protection agencies step in?

Welll, if a dr. is recommending the procedure, I don't see how CPS could justify blocking it...especially if the kids themselves want it and beg their parents for it, which they are starting to do more and more, unfortunately.

How about a new, simple method for selecting people elligble for this butchering. Make them follow the diet for a month (a season?, a year?) Once they fully understand the commitment they are about to make, THEN they can do it. Oh wait, they'll have already lost weight. Huh. I guess it just plays into stereotypes if people try the surgury because they're too lazy to try any other weight controlling techniques first (balanced diet, regular exercise).

i've often wondered about that too - how 'appetite supression" can work when the person did not have an appetite issue to begin with. however, gastric bypass is more than just appetite supression; these people are *starving*, plain and simple. but that also explains why you rarely see someone get WLS and then become "thin", and also why so many regain weight after an initial drop. what bothers me is that teenagers can't possibly make an informed decision - social pressure to look the right way is at its highest, and teens are notoriously "immortal" - they take huge risks and have a difficult time believing bad things can happen to them. the surgery is irreversible, and it seems always leads to massive nutrient deficiencies! if this is about "health" and saving lives - why is the malnourishment problem so easily glossed over? it is frustrating because often when a person developes a health problem after a WLS, the fatness is still blamed in a, "well i guess i didn't get the operation soon enough, the fatness already infected me!" kind of way. Sharon Osbourne blames her colon cancer on being fat despite having WLS years ago. maybe its the crappy diet she has to live on?? (maybe her family is just prone to cancer? maybe alcohol had an effect?)

Perminantly disabling a child is beyond comprehension. I don't understand how WLS can be performed on adults under medical ethics, but that it is performed on children is simply sickening. At least an adult has the capacity and authority to perminantly disable themselves, although we know that doctors have a pattern of downplaying the risks and overstated the benefits and exaggerating the need. To do this to a child is simply criminal, no matter how much the child has been duped into thinking its a magic pill, nor how unethical the doctors are. The parents do need to step back and get a clue. They are hardly without responsibility for allowing and surely often encouraging the butchering of their children. I can see no medically viable reason to destroy a health body system, but to do to children just shocks me to my core. It is frightening and sobering to consider the lives ruined or lost to these flagrent abuses of the medical community. Ultimately, it IS their job to say no. But their condemnation of fat is so blind that any means will justify the ends of weight loss. No matter how unlikely their success. Sickening.

Gastric bypass isn't even "only" mere starvation. In effect, it's doctor-sanctioned bulimia, as much of what is eaten winds up getting either thrown up or shit right back out in the form of killer diarrhea. (People who have this operation must smell faaabulous.) Almost anyone will lose weight under those circumstances, at least temporarily, since you probably lose plenty of water in addition to lots of muscle and, oh yeah, fat (titter). My heart breaks for those kids who actually want this surgery. Adults who don't "fit in" have a lot more recourse to reject their rejectors than kids do; if kids have to go to school or camp, they get hit with it every single day. Enough exposure to shunning and rejection and you start thinking anything must be better, even dying young. "At least if I get sick I'll get some sympathy; if you're fat all they tell you is that you're out of control and disgusting." That being "accepted" isn't exactly a stress-free existence either, especially for girls, probably never occurs to them. Whereas they once had to deal with being laughed at and avoided, they now must deal with sexual pressure and jealousy and the attendant double-standardizing, not to mention having to worry about clothes and other possessions (and skin and hair and athletic ability) passing muster. School, for most people, is basically twelve years of nonstop hazing, regardless of body size. Conformity kills.

You people are not friendly to any one onless they have the same twisted thought process's that you have. If you folks want to return to the middle ages be my guest! I for one want the discrimmination against large people to end but NOT at the cost of warping other peoples minds. I will gladly NEVER post here again!!!! [I hate phony martyrdom. And, if you're going to say something, at least spell it right. - Paul]

I dunno, WLS seems pretty barbaric to me, not unlike some of the "medical" procedures of the middle ages. Leeches, anyone? And as far as "warping people's minds", I think our fat-phobic culture and medical establishment has done a darn fine job of that, thanks very much.

Wow. This is really shocking. I have always thought that WLS seemed completely barbaric and counter-intuitive to anything anyone might do to stay healthy and alive (surgically mutilating yourself so that you will slowly starve to death seems against the Hippocratic oath to me), but I never thought that doctors would ever sanction preforming this type of procedure on children. Even for people whose weight has severely affected their mobility and health, I still feel that there are viable ways to deal with the that situation. And while I don't always agree with the ways that are most reccommended on this board, I definitely agree that WLS is not one of them. I am just hoping that sooner than later WLS will finally be seen as the black mark (much like electroshock therapy) on medical history that it is.

This is so sad. It's bad enough adults are getting the surgery, but teenagers really don't know themselves or the world well enough to be making a decision like this-- based on appearances, so young in life. When I was 15, I wanted to fit in. If someone told me the surgery was safe-- and they do underestimate the dangers-- and led me to believe it would be a simple matter of modifying my lifestyle I probably would have been niave enough to do this. Now though I'd have to laugh-- while I ran the other way. But at 15 you're invincible. You live in the present- next year might as well be a decade, and you have a mere 15 years to draw wisdom from, (esp. when you consider that you spent at least 7 of those years believing in Santa Claus), it doesn't really add up to much wisdom! You want to be accepted and at that age you very much want the opposite sex or same sex or both sexes looking at you, including you. You wouldn't have the experience to know how dangerous this is. I work at an eating disorder centre and as WLS gets more popular we get more and more women who come in who've had it and are miserable. Sadly, most are severely damaging thier bodies even more by trying to feed themselves-- because they are starving. My guess is that at least half of them didn't have an eating disorder or unhealthy preocuppation with food before they got the surgery-- they just thought that since they were fat there was something wrong with them and enforced restriction was the only answer. It's very hard to hear their stories because typically, after a large amount of weight loss, they plateau early on and then remain at a large size-- still subsisiting off mere tablespoons of food, or lose weight but rapidly gain it back, plus some, after they start increasing food amounts in miniscule implements, because their bodies have adjusted to the reduced caloric intake and will do anything to get back to what the body deems a healthy weight. They feel betrayed by thier own bodies. The other half binged and wanted a medically sanctioned way to keep them from bineging at all costs. This group knew they had a problem with food and weight preoccupation, but thought they were so out of control nothing less than an extreme method of food regulation would do. As someone who binge eats I cannot imagine having binge eating taken away from me by reducing my stomach to the size of a walnut and having no alternate coping skills. It is no wonder many of these women turn to other methods of dealing. One thing that strikes me is the punishing aspect of weight loss surgery. I know someone who was considering it, (she changed her mind), and she made some joke like, "I wish I could be sent to a desert island and be put on a diet and made to stay on it!" She elaborated: basically the age old idea that she was "bad", "wild" for going off her diets, for bineg eating, and needed to be punished. There's a real self-destructive element to the surgery and obviously to those kinds of thoughts. Most of the people who've had WLS have tried tons of diets and when I hear people who've had it talk about it or are considering it talk about it, the meta message seems to be, "I am sorry I am fat, I know I am disgusting and have no will power and deserve punishment for my behavior, and look, it's okay to hate me, I hate me, too." To me WLS surgery is like a big apology for being fat. Brooke

Brooke, I really want to thank you for your insightful posts about eating disorders. You have such a strong, clear, and compassionate voice, and it has been personally so meaningful to me to read about your experiences and views. I have struggled with binge eating for most of my life, and after discovering fat acceptance, I still struggled with trying to figure out where my eating to numb out my feelings fit in with my new attitudes. I knew that I was legalizing food and not dieting, yet I still binged at night when the pain of whatever got to be too much to bear, and I didn't know what that meant. Your recent posts have really helped me clarify where I've been and where I'm coming from. And I have always been exceedingly punitive toward myself about my eating, yet reading your words has allowed me to start thinking that I could begin to treat myself with compassion and kindness. I've been so grateful reading your contributions and wanted to publicly thank you!

((((((((Aimee)))))))) And I thank you again, Brooke, for all the insight & sanity, compassion, & good solid information you bring to these discussions. I would love nothing more than to see the day that we all stop being, as Julia Child has said, afraid of food, ashamed of & at war with our bodies, when we can all enjoy eating & love our own unique, beautiful selves as we are. I also hope that more of us understand that we are not being "weak" or "bad" when we find ways of coping with our pain & unhappiness & that eating some ice cream or chips is not a sin. I wish health, happiness, a peaceful relationship with food, & bodily integrity for all of us...& people like you, Brooke, help to make it a little bit more possible.

Wow Aimee, You've made my day-- my week! Thank you for sharing your experiences, too. As you read, I can relate to that "feeling" in the evening. I hope your able to make peace with it-- I have a feeling you will! And thank you, too Patsy. I love reading BFB and now that I've taken the plunge and started posting I have thoroughly enjoyed all the feedback and conversation the interactions generate. This is such a great place to connect and learn new things, I am happy to be here! Brooke

As if we needed more evidence how screwed up the world is....let me put this simply: The problem: Bullies and mean people ganging up on the fat kid to make him/her feel ashamed, excluded, sad The solution that makes sense: Punishing the mean kids for their actions, sending them to therapy to figure out why they're so aggressive, teaching kids from infancy onward to be accepting to others even those who, for whatever reason are "different" than themselves The current solution: carve up the fat kids' physically while ignorant of the future complications, sell parents on allowing a surgery for their kids with a death rate of 1 in 200 (imagine if 1 in every 200 teens who drove had an accident and died...there would be a massive public and governmental outcry...and if your kid had a o 1 in 200 chance of dying behind the wheel, would you hand over the keys to the car?), continue to allow aggressive marketing of this dangerous surgery which shows all the benefits while not showing what happens when complications arise. I'm not the only one who finds this insane, am I?

A friend of mine just had WLS and I'm worried about her. She'd tried a bunch of diets and none of them worked, and she's got genuinely bad knees, but I wish she'd simply gotten her knees replaced.

I come to BFB often, but I was sad to hear Paul say that he and this site are not WLS friendly. I recently had WLS (I even posted that I was considering it) and I am still on the fence about it. I agree that it is sad that there doesn't seem to be a lot of choices for people who choose this option. I had serious issues with "messing with God's original design" and wasn't crazy about rearranging my plumbing, but I wasn't losing weight any other way and I was on the road to some serious health problems. I went into the procedure with a set plan. I would try this procedure for 18-24 months, monitor my body through tests and make a decision to have a "takedown" or reversal performed. It does sadden me that people are not doing research prior to having this surgery done. It is not a quick fix and anyone who has had it will tell you it's not the easy way out. I agree that this surgery should not be done on children. It shouldn't be done on anyone unless they are morbidly obese and in a situation where rapid weight loss may improve their health. I say MAY, because everyone reacts differently to this surgery. Like I said, I'm still on the fence about this surgery. It is not something to be taken lightly. It requires a lot of research and some tough internal review. This has been one of the most trying experiences of my life mentally. I understand an opposing view to WLS and like anything; I believe everyone is entitled to their opinions ... just as everyone is entitled to their own choices. I hope in the future that the medical establishment is able to find a non-invasive method to help curb obesity. I don't want to ramble on, but I hope that BFB will continue to be a place to come and express opinions, feelings and thoughts for everyone. I'm not here cheerleading for WLS, but I'm not a detractor either. I'm like everyone else, trying to deal with the curveballs that life throws me and trying to gain as much knowledge, information and experience as I can. Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts and feelings.

Omar: thanks for stopping by. I don't want to ramble on, but I hope that BFB will continue to be a place to come and express opinions, feelings and thoughts for everyone. I'm not here cheerleading for WLS, but I'm not a detractor either. That's fine, really. My main response is that I won't let BFB become Yet Another Site That Condones Weight Loss, because there are so very many already out there. BFB is to be the oasis - the place where people can go without that hanging over their heads. Like anyone else here, I don't wish you any ill will just because you had WLS, and in fact I hope it all works out fine for you. You've brought in some fine opinions in the past, and I do hope that if you have something to say, you continue to do so.

Paul - Thank you for your comments and support. I understand completely where you are coming from in trying to keep this site as a place where people can come and share thoughts and feelings without having to worry about being discriminated against. It is an oasis for those of us that continue to struggle with issues of obesity or being overweight. Unfortunately, it seems that we are gaining more of an audience by the minute (no pun intended). I am appreciative of this site and the information that it provides and will continue to visit on a regular basis. Thank you again for your words and support.

I thought this might be as interesting to some of you as it was to me. Last night I viewed a National Geographic special on Foot Binding. This practice is nearly dead (not completely) even after being outlawed less than one hundred years ago. However the practice was legal and encouraged for over a thousand years at which was forced upon over a billion children (see links below). This is a horrible practice that prevents normal growth while causing disablity and even death from complications. Foot binding children was considered for their own good and all in the name of social acceptance. We can look at this now and see clearly the health and social costs of foot binding. Yet, our own society mutilates it's children and ourselves to be socially accepted, and "for our own good". Instead of a small foot, we are sacrificing ourselves for a small waist. Instead of a binding cloth, knifes are now the preferred method. Giving it a pretty name still doesn't change the end results to the body or society. For more info on the practice of foot binding, here are just a couple of the vast amounts of websites available. (http://www.angelfire.com/ca/beekeeper/foot.html ) and (http://www-ec.njit.edu/~jkc1763/fb.htm)

Opps, I almost forgot this one that says foot binding "promotes health" and done out of love for their children. From link below: "Sanctioned by tradition and exaggerated over time, the practice was supported and transmitted by women and believed to promote health and fertility, although the reality was that bound feet were malodorous and virtually crippling. Although the bound foot was described as aesthetically pleasing compared with the natural alternative, complications such as ulceration, paralysis and gangrene were not uncommon, and it has been estimated that as many as ten percent of the girls did not survive the "treatment".[15] An old popular saying was that a mother couldn't love her daughter and her daughter's feet at the same time, and this seems to be carried out when considering what awaited a girl with unbound feet within the context of her society." http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/studpages/vento.html

WOW! It seems as though all of you forget how high school felt, i would have risked my life a thousand times not to feel like that.

Paul and the rest of you, I want you to know as an overweight person I do understand the purpose of this site-I hope--'accept me for who I am--even at this weight' don't come to change me. If I am mistaken, please correct me. It upsets me that the stigma of being obese would drive anyone--young or old--to allow a doctor to mutilate their body. Like most medical practices of today (including drugs) sucking out fat, gastric bypass--or such only makes the doctor rich and at best is temporary for the patient. If losing weight is a person's priority rather than acceptance of their body as is---if approval of their peer group is more important than their health--then they need serious help and this group could and would love them into accepting who and what they are--my applause to you BFB. Likewise, I believe BFB would support their decision to lose weight for health reasons--in Other WAYS rather than these artificial ways.