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Tag: weight loss surgery

  • Corey Harrison Of Pawn Stars Loses 192 Pounds

    It looks like “Big Hoss” isn’t so big anymore!

    Corey Harrison of the History Channel’s Pawn Stars recently revealed his dramatic weight loss- 192 pounds to be exact.

    At his highest weight, Corey weighed approximately 400 pounds. The doctors realized that Corey’s weight could have tremendous side effects on his health, so they put him on a preventative medication for diabetes in 2010. Corey said this was an instant wake-up call that he needed to make a major lifestyle change.

    “I literally drove straight from the doctor to the lap band center and had the surgery almost immediately,” Harrison told PEOPLE of his weight loss procedure. “Back then, the surgery was too expensive for my bank account, so I had to pay with four credit cards, but it was something I had to do – I was not going to get diabetes!”

    Harrison underwent a gastric band procedure, and was able to drop 50 pounds in the first six weeks post-surgery. Within the next year, Corey lost another 100 pounds. “I could never go back to weighing as much as I did,” he said. “It made me realize what I ate, how I ate and what I did to myself. It was a WOW moment.”

    Corey now weighs in at 210 pounds and continues to live a healthy lifestyle. “I’m actually excited to go to the gym now. I box 12 rounds a day five days a week,” Harrison admitted. “When I was a teenager I loved snowboarding, but in my 20s I was too big to strap my feet in the boards. Being able to finally touch my toes made me realize I could snowboard again, so I went out and got new gear immediately.”

    Corey’s extreme success has inspired the rest of the Pawn Stars cast to change their eating habits as well, including Corey’s best friend and co-worker Austin “Chumlee” Russell. “It was time for me to get healthy,” Russell said. “I started at 320 lbs. and now I’m down to 225. When I first began, I eliminated all processed foods except mustard. Now, ‘everything in moderation’ is my motto.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Rosie O’Donnell: ‘I Feel Less Shame’

    Rosie O’Donnell: ‘I Feel Less Shame’

    After losing a whopping 50 pounds, Rosie O’Donnell is looking and feeling better than she has in years.

    During a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Rosie opened up about what it took to reach her weight loss milestone, and how she currently feels about herself.

    Rosie did undergo weight loss surgery, but it was not the gastric bypass that most people are familiar with. “I had a thing called the vertical gastric sleeve. It’s very different than when you think of bypass surgery. It’s newer,” Rosie explained.

    “They remove two-thirds of your stomach but everything else stays intact, and as a result of that you can’t hold as much food. But the very interesting part is that in that other two-thirds are where all the hunger hormones live.” she continued. “There’s a technical name. It starts with a g, it sounds like gremlins… that’s the biggest surprise, is that you’re not hungry, right?”

    Rosie also gives herself credit for losing the weight, as she did not rely solely on the surgery; she also adhered to a strict diet and exercise plan. Although it is a slow process, the combination has led to her losing nearly 50 pounds of body fat. “[I’ve lost] 44 pounds. Almost 50 pounds,” Rosie said. “Some days it’s 46. It’s a lot slower than it was at the beginning.”

    While she doesn’t feel sexy yet, she says she does feel much better about herself. “Sexy? No,” she added. “No, I feel better that like my tummy’s not in the way, you know, when everybody’s naked. But no. I feel maybe less shame a little bit.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Weight Loss Surgery: Why Do So Few Qualify?

    Weight Loss Surgery: Why Do So Few Qualify?

    One of the hardest challenges for individuals struggling with obesity is to lose weight. For these persons exercise often doesn’t help and neither does dieting. “Yo-yo dieting”, where weight is temporarily lost and then regained, can make weight problems worse.

    The weight loss industry continues to be made up of companies pandering non-FDA approved pills and questionable programs with short term success…but few long-term testimonials. The result is an industry that reaps billions of dollars in profit off of the frustration and disappointment of millions of overweight and morbidly obese Americans.

    The one medical alternative that many wish to turn to is weight loss surgery. However, many find that they simply cannot have the procedure. In fact, many obese individuals are unable to qualify for weight loss surgery.

    The reason is that unfortunately surgery to help individuals lose weight tends to not be covered by a number of health insurance providers.

    The amount of patients who have had surgery for weight loss reasons has remained steady at past few years, hardly going above 160,000. Roughly 18 million adults in the U.S. physically qualify; the issue is getting coverage that can make the medical procedure happen.

    Dr. John Morton is a professor of surgery at Stanford University. He is concerned with the dismissive manner in which surgery for weight loss is treated.

    “If we were talking about breast cancer, no one would be content with having only one percent of that population treated.”

    Morton feels that obesity-related health problems greatly impact life expectancy.

    Morton considers obesity, “by far one of the most dangerous conditions we have in public health.”

    If this is the case then why don’t more health insurance companies feel the same way?

    “All major surgeries are risky,” says Susan Pisano who is a spokesperson for America’s Health Insurance Plans. “This one is life altering, and if there is an approach that’s less invasive and less risky for the patient, you want to try that one first.”

    It is true that there are major health risks associated with weight loss surgery, but for many Americans who need it, the option isn’t available, even as a last resort.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Two Million in UK Could Use Weight Loss Surgery

    It’s well-known that millions of Americans are overweight or obese. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has even classified obesity as an epidemic within the country and the American Medical Association now considers obesity a disease. Now it appears that obesity is becoming a larger problem in the UK as well.

    A new study recently published in JRSM Open has found that two million UK citizens are now eligible for bariatric weight loss surgery. The number has surprised the study’s authors, as it is much higher than previous estimates for eligibility. The new figure also puts current weight loss surgeries in perspective, showing that very few of those eligible for such procedures actually undergo them.

    “Despite clear guidelines outlining who can undergo such surgery with the NHS, and evidence that these procedures are cost-effective in the long run, less than one per cent of those eligible have weight loss surgery each year,” said Dr. Sonia Saxena, a co-author of the study and a researcher at Imperial College London. “This raises questions about why more procedures are not currently being carried out.”

    The study found that those who qualify for bariatric surgery are likely to be retired women with lower socioeconomic and education statuses. This could mean that those most in need of weight loss surgery are part of the same demographics that use medical services at a lower rate. Also, the study’s authors believe that cutbacks in required pre-surgery weight loss programs could be contributing to low surgery rates among those who qualify.

  • Weight Loss Surgery Now Possible for Alexis Shapiro,Thanks to Crowdfunding

    At the age of 10, Alexis Shapiro developed  a craniopharyngioma. A craniopharyngioma is a rare benign brain tumor that affects about 1 in every million child a year. Luckily Alexis was able to undergo surgery to remove the tumor. However, she developed hypothalamic obesity. Hypothalamic obesity is a rare disease that causes hypothalamus damage.The hypothalamus controls appetite and metabolism. As a result of the condition, Alexis’s body thinks it’s starving despite her constant eating and weight gain.  More than half the children who have similar tumors develop this disease.

    Alexis at  only 12 years old, and 4 feet 7 inches, weighs 198 pounds. Her doctor fears that if she doesn’t receive surgery soon, she could get up to as high as 400 pounds. Alexis’s family wants her to undergo a gastric bypass operation to potentially save her life.

    Since the extreme weight gain, Alexis has developed other health issues, like kidney infections and type-2 diabetes. Despite Alexis’s serious health problems, her health insurance company has denied the family’s request for her gastric bypass surgery.The insurance company that supplies health care for the family, TRICARE’s spokesperson Austin Camacho said,in an email to NBC News, that “in general, our Managed Care Support Contractors are required to approve or deny coverage based on TRICARE policy. We have an appeals process in place specifically designed to give our medical professionals the opportunity to examine the details of any special cases when coverage is denied.”

    The main reason Alexis was denied surgery because TRICARE’s policy only allows people over 18, or those with full bone growth, gastric bypass surgery. Dr. Thomas H. Inge, a Cincinnati expert on Alexis’s case believes that the health insurance company should make an exception, because this surgery could be the only thing to stop Alexis’s unhealthy eating habits. Alexis’s parents have tried everything from restricting her diet to locking up food at night to stop her weight gain,but nothing works.

    To try to get the surgery without the insurance’s help, Alexis’s mother, Jennifer Shapiro, started a GoFundMe campaign. She hoped to raise the $50,000 needed for the gastric bypass operation.  Alexis’s GoFundMe page currently has raised more than it’s goal and growing. This is great news for the Shapiro family. Now, hopefully Alexis can receive the life saving surgery she needs.

    Image, Via GoFundMe

  • Weight Loss Surgery May Make You Younger

    Weight Loss Surgery May Make You Younger

    It would be a beauty and youth-seeker’s dream come true: Weight loss surgery not only getting rid of excess pounds, but perhaps making you younger in the process. This was the preliminary result of research released by Stanford University. The belief centers on the lengthening of telomeres. Telomeres exist at the ends of DNA strands and protect them from being destroyed. Over the course of our lives, these telomeres shorten. The aging of the human body overtime has been seen as the main cause.

    For half of those who submitted to research, a year later finds that their telomeres have lengthened significantly. This highly irregular development suggests for the very first time that it is possible to influence the body’s aging process through surgery.

    But aging isn’t the only positive benefit that could be noted. Dr. Jaime Ponce, the former president of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, told Aljazeera that it’s very possible for depression levels to be impacted. He adds that a follow-up has shown that even four years after major weight loss procedures, many patients have more positive scores regarding depression levels than they did prior to their surgeries. As it turns out, telomeres are also linked to depression.

    Patients with high cholesterol and inflammation prior to weight loss surgery saw major improvements over time. Again, telomere levels were affected. It’s enough to suggest broad benefits, but nothing directly linked to a visible reverse in aging.

    Which is why skeptics say it’s too early to draw any major conclusions. There are too many factors that could cause telomeres to change. And before ushering obese patients into weight loss procedures, it’s good to remember there are major risks. These risks, which include infections, blood clots, and possible heart attacks, often cause many to forego weight loss surgery altogether.

    Researchers hope to develop safer and less controversial alternatives to the invasive surgical procedures which could deliver the same results as observed in the studies.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons

  • Morbidly Obese 2 Year Old Has Weight-Loss Surgery

    In 2010, a Saudi Arabian boy became the youngest person in the world to have weight-loss surgery. At that time, the boy weighed 72.7 pounds and had a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 44.1. That would be the equivalent of the BMI of a 6 foot tall man weighing 325 pounds.

    When the child was born, he weighed a normal amount. However, by 14 months of age, the boy weighed 46 pounds. At that point, doctors decided to place the child on a diet. However, during the next 4 months, the child managed to gain 17 pounds. Why, you ask?

    “Although the parents were informed about the importance of a strict dietary regimen a full compliance cannot be ascertained mainly due to the different socio cultural habits and the absence of the practice of calculating the calorific value of the diet.”

    Essentially, the parents were killing the kid because they couldn’t follow a diet regimen. Granted, the report states that calories are not monitored as they are in western cultures, but common sense would dictate that doctor told the parents what foods they should have been feeding the kid.

    So, doctors in Saudi Arabia ran tests to determine if this weight-gain was caused by genetics, heredity, or a brain tumor; the results came back negative. Because the child was suffering from severe sleep apnea and a bowing of the legs, doctors decided to take a risk and perform a Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG).

    LSG surgery differs greatly from a gastric bypass or lap-band surgery. In a lap-band surgery, the doctors essentially limit how big the stomach can get with a rubber-band-esque contraption. A lap-band surgery is reversible. In a gastric bypass surgery, a small pouch is created next to the stomach which is attached directly to the esophagus and a portion of the small intestine. This procedure allows for food to bypass a portion of the small intestine, leading to faster digestion and less absorption of fat. In a LSG procedure, doctors remove the right portion of the stomach and create a smaller stomach, which is then stretched out and stapled to resemble a banana.

    The surgery was performed in 2010, and since then the child has seen remarkable results. In a 24 month follow-up, doctors witnessed a weight reduction of 52 pounds, and the child’s BMI had dropped to 24%.

    Doctors are still curious as to what a long-term follow-up will show. For now, though, doctors are fairly optimistic about the benefits of performing bariatric surgery on children:

    LSG may be used in very young children provided they have co-morbidities and no improvement with medical and conservative multidisciplinary management. In our patient, the weight reduction was significant and his associated symptoms resolved with time indicating its safety and efficacy.

    Before this child, the youngest person to ever have weight loss surgery was also Saudi Arabian. Perhaps Saudi Arabia should start labeling food with the amount of calories it has? Just a suggestion…

    Image via YouTube

  • Diabetes: Weight-Loss Surgery May Not Reverse Disease

    Diabetes can be shed like so many unwanted pounds thanks to the advent of weight-loss surgery. However, according to a recent study, these procedures may not a permanent solution to their problem. In about one-fifth of the individuals who elected to have the surgery, diabetes returned within about three to five years. This, of course, is definitely bad news for those folks who endured the many side effects in hopes that the procedure would give them a new lease on life.

    In order to determine just how frequently the disease returns, researchers poured over the medical records of nearly 72 obese patients who were living with Type 2 diabetes at the time of their gastric bypass surgery. The results are a tad alarming.

    Following the procedure, 66 patients soon said goodbye to their diabetes. Unfortunately, 14 of these individuals saw the disease return within five years time. However, those who did not experience another round of diabetes contributed their good luck to losing more weight following the procedure. These folks also kept a lower average weight than their counterparts.

    The study also found that people who had diabetes for an extended period of time before embarking down the path of weight-loss surgery were more likely to see the disease return than those who had it for a much shorter period. As such, the sooner obese individuals address their weight and diabetes problems with weight-loss surgery, the higher the chance that they won’t see the disease return years later.

    “Providers and patients need to be aware of this information, to have a better idea of the expected outcome and be able to make an informed decision about pursuing gastric bypass surgery,” lead author Dr. Yessica Ramos explained.

    The study was recently presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Houston, Texas. Until the these findings have been published in a peer-reviewed journal, they should be considered as preliminary.