Senior Health Correspondent
Personal Fit Weight Loss Guide
As overweight, including morbid obesity, continues to increase among the population of the United States, and traditional weight loss programs have proven ineffective in stemming the tide, hundreds of thousands of people have turned to bariatric surgery. There were 103,000 bariatric surgeries performed in the United States in 2003 alone. A recent article, "Neurologic complications of gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity," in the journal Neurology described 26 patients with major and disabling neurologic conditions attributed to bariatric surgery.
The study by Juhasz-Pocsine, et al, found neurologic complications in these patients affecting most regions of the nervous system: encephalopathy (degenerative brain disease), optic neuropathy (damage to the optic nerve), myelopathy (damage to the spinal cord), polyradiculoneuropathy (multiple nerves not working properly), and polyneuropathy (peripheral nerves throughout the body malfunctioning). The primary cause appeared to be multiple nutritional deficiencies secondary to bariatric surgery. Their findings indicate that such problems can occur decades after surgery, or may show up acutely.
Proper follow-up care to gastric bypass surgery includes vitamin and mineral supplements, and visits with medical nutritionists. Many who undergo the surgery have no follow-up care. Prior estimates of neurologic complications range from 5 - 16%, but including long-term follow-up (a decade or more) may have the true percentage of patients suffering from such complications be found to be much higher. Keep in mind that the possible negative effects of bypass surgery must be weighed against the possible negative effects of morbid obesity. Careful weighing of the positives and negatives with various options is required of the informed consumer.
We here at PF Weight Loss Guide are committed to bringing you the latest in scientific information. There is so much misleading, and frankly, erroneous information on weight loss that many are led astray. Approximately $75 billion dollars is spent annually in the United States on obesity-related medical expenditures. This represents serious suffering for millions of people.
Finding your own way, with the serious problems associated with overweight on one-side, and potentially catastrophic unintended side-effects of "cures" on the other, presents what has been described as a "horrendous quandary." Some may turn from this quandary, bury their head in the sand, and in effect, give up. That's not a solution we recommend at PF Weight Loss Guide. Finding a guide to weight loss and weight management and making it your own is key.
At PF Weight Loss Guide we will help keep you informed and aware of the latest in scientific information, such as that gleaned from the journal, Neurology. Increasing awareness, including awareness of unintended consequences, is one of the best methods for finding your way in the morass of misinformation on weight loss and weight management. There may not be anything easy about an "easy fix" in the long run.
Personal Fit Weight Loss Guide dx.doi.org/10.2121/Weight-Loss-Guide-060107
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