Much to my amazement the NYTimes ran an extensive page one article yesterday regarding a piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association about a study conducted by Australian researchers in which a number of Type II diabetics (like me) had been re-converted to a pre-diabetic state by using gastric bypass or banding surgery.
The figures cited were astonishing. People who are completely unable to shed a pound despite diet, exercise and drugs (like me -- I tried the Byetta injections for six months, to no avail, live on salads and hang out at the gym way too often for my tastes) were able to lose up to 20.7 percent of their total weight, often within weeks of the surgery (that is for the adjustable band method). People who had full blown gastric bypass surgeries had even more astonishing results in achieving complete remission of the disease, often in a matter of days, (according to the Times ) "apparently because the operation causes metabolic changes that lower blood glucose levels beyond what weight loss alone can accomplish."
For the Times to run such an article was amazing. What's even more amazing was the appearance of an editorial in today's edition, urging the medical community to get cracking on looking into and using the surgical "cure" for diabetes ASAP.
I might even learn to forgive the Times for hiring Bill Kristol (neocon asswipe) to replace Bill Safire.
2 comments:
a friend of our is having the lap band surgery week after next and Ron has agreed to be his proxy and we both agreed to be there for him while it is done. I will let you know how it works for him. I would caution, though, that it is a Very Drastic procedure for people whose health and life are critically threatened by Morbid Obesity and is definitely Not appropriate for those who are only moderately over-weight nor for cosmetic reasons.
Agreed. I'd be interested in having it done so that a) my glucose production returned to pre-diabetic levels and b) I won't lose a foot.
This is only incidentally about weight.
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