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Obesity Surgery May Become Option for Many More
NY Times ^ | December 1, 2010 | ANDREW POLLACK

Posted on 12/02/2010 10:04:56 PM PST by neverdem

Weight-loss surgery, once a last resort for extremely overweight people, may soon become an option for those who are less heavy.

An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration will consider on Friday a request by Allergan, the pharmaceutical company, to significantly lower how obese someone must be to qualify for surgery using the company’s Lap-Band device, which restricts intake to the stomach.

On Wednesday, the F.D.A. acknowledged that a new study by the company showed that people in the proposed range of obesity who had the band experienced “statistically significant decreases in all measures of weight loss.”

If the agency approves the change, the number of Americans eligible for the Lap-Band operation could easily double, ensuring more sales for Allergan and probably more insurance coverage for such operations. But the proposed change, sought at a time when the obesity epidemic in the United States seems intractable, still leaves some people uneasy, in part because of side effects and failure rates. In addition, long-term weight reduction is hard to maintain.

“You’re talking about millions and millions of people who would meet these criteria,” said Dr. George Blackburn, associate director of the division of nutrition at Harvard Medical School. “Let’s make sure by the most rigorous research that this is safe and effective.”

A new generation of diet pills has failed to gain federal approval, limiting options for overweight Americans, and Allergan and other companies are betting that surgery will become more of a frontline option rather than a last resort.

“It would be kind of ironic if people have access to surgery and not medical therapies, where they can go from Weight Watchers to surgery and have nothing in-between,” said Dr. Louis J. Aronne, an obesity expert at Weill Cornell Medical College...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Testing
KEYWORDS: fda; lapband; obesity; type2diabetes
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To: Salamander
"Can I get some fat pumped into me?"

...must...not...say...

ZOT for sure ..... must not .......
21 posted on 12/02/2010 11:47:26 PM PST by shibumi (Wily Pablo lives in someone's head - rent free!)
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To: gunsequalfreedom
And avoid corn syrup like the plague.

I was drinking ginger ale a while back and put on -5- pounds with no other change in diet or exercise.

That stuff turns you into a human sponge and you bloat up something awful.

Quit drinking the pop and the pounds rolled off in less than 2 days.

22 posted on 12/02/2010 11:47:59 PM PST by Salamander (What'd I do? [I did what the voices told me to] What'd I do?)
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To: shibumi

Still getting your mail in the gutter, I see.

[naughty, naughty boy]


23 posted on 12/02/2010 11:49:36 PM PST by Salamander (What'd I do? [I did what the voices told me to] What'd I do?)
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To: huskerjim

Ping!


24 posted on 12/02/2010 11:50:45 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: Salamander

I’ve made some good friends down here, among the things that slither.


25 posted on 12/03/2010 12:01:46 AM PST by shibumi (Wily Pablo lives in someone's head - rent free!)
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To: shibumi

Stuttering
Cold and damp
Steal the warm wind
Tired friend
Times are gone
For honest men
And sometimes
Far too long
For snakes


26 posted on 12/03/2010 12:04:35 AM PST by Salamander (What'd I do? [I did what the voices told me to] What'd I do?)
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To: neverdem

Thanks!

I have type 2 and am loosing steadily, but I had read that gastric surgery would immediately ‘cure’ diabetes...and wondered if it would also ‘cure’ the neuropathy.

I have not tried lyrica. It was once suggested to me that it could also help with my severe RLS/PLMW and fibromyalgia, but, a physician looked into having me participate in a study at University of Michigan and changed her mind when she found that high doses of lyrica needed to treat RLS/PLMW can cause fast growing, deadly cancerous tumors. I hesitate to take it even in smaller doses over a long period of time.


27 posted on 12/03/2010 1:23:06 AM PST by Kimberly GG ("Path to Citizenship" Amnesty candidates will NOT get my vote! DeMint, 2012)
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To: ccmay

Change what you eat and change your mental attitude

eat lower fat foods and eat foods that are not a sugar filled, and thatmeans the carbs

eliminate alchohol, all alchohol is sugar and carbs

eat low glycemic carbs, stay away from Corn and white potatoes, eat all you want of green veggies


28 posted on 12/03/2010 3:12:50 AM PST by RaceBannon (RON PAUL: THE PARTY OF TRUTHERS, TRAITORS AND UFO CHASERS!!!)
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To: Republic of Texas

Private insurance usually covers most of it, depending on your deductibles and co-pay. It makes sense for them to shell out $20-$30k because they spend less on the comorbid conditions that the morbidly obese almost always have later in life.

Medicaid patients (many of whom are more affluent than you might expect) get it for free if they medically qualify. No surprise there. Guess how the success rates differ?


29 posted on 12/03/2010 5:02:59 AM PST by neocon1984
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To: Republic of Texas

Private insurance usually covers most of it, depending on your deductibles and co-pay. It makes sense for them to shell out $20-$30k because they spend less on the comorbid conditions that the morbidly obese almost always have later in life.

Medicaid patients (many of whom are more affluent than you might expect) get it for free if they medically qualify. No surprise there. Guess how the success rates differ?


30 posted on 12/03/2010 5:03:08 AM PST by neocon1984
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To: Kimberly GG

Less weight will ease the symptoms of neuropathy in the feet although it will not do anything to actually reverse it.


31 posted on 12/03/2010 5:15:08 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: ErnstStavroBlofeld
"I had the surgery and was almost killed.He cut an artery. I spent 10 days in ICU and 7 days in a suite room. When I got better, I whacked the doctor with my cane."

Bad things can happen even with simple surgery. I had a hernia repaired, and had an intestinal blockage as a result.

It took TWO trips to the emergency room for them to correctly diagnose the problem (the first doc said I needed stool softeners and the same "colon flushout" done for colonoscopy, which almost killed me and resulted in the second trip to the emergency room).

Spent (I think it was, I wasn't totally lucid all the time) five days in the hospital. They FINALLY got it unblocked non-surgically.

32 posted on 12/03/2010 5:23:19 AM PST by Wonder Warthog
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To: RaceBannon
...stay away from Corn...

GIVE ME A GUN, NOW!

33 posted on 12/03/2010 5:31:11 AM PST by Wilum (Never loaded a nuke I didn't like)
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To: Salamander
Can I get some fat pumped into me?

I'll gladly share some of mine.

34 posted on 12/03/2010 6:08:54 AM PST by upchuck (When excerpting please use the entire 300 words we are allowed. No more one or two sentence posts!)
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To: neverdem
BMI should be called BSi . . .

If you have any amount of muscle on your frame it's all but useless . . .

35 posted on 12/03/2010 6:12:18 AM PST by guitar4jesus (Biofuels, AGW, Globalism, Green Movement -- Strong Delusions! . . . . 2Thes 2:11)
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To: radiohead
I don't hate people who eat vegetables but they don't seem to understand that a vegetable only diet doesn't work for everyone. I tried it. My body needs more protein than I can get that way. But I do hate the term veggies.
36 posted on 12/03/2010 6:22:54 AM PST by Ditter
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To: ccmay
Glib exhortations to "eat less" or look for "root causes" are not just doomed to failure, but downright cruel, stupid, and counterproductive.
I don't really agree with you on this.

Unresolved anger/angst is surely one reason people overeat. So are sins, left unrepented. Not to mention many physical issues that haven't been diagnosed properly. I've seen enough serious health issues taken care of without surgery to know there are answers, like I said, provided one finds a great doctor (priest or clergy) to help them along. That's the tough part. Surgery is not a great choice IMO, unless one is willing to deal with the potential side effects afterwards, which could possibly be very serious indeed.
37 posted on 12/03/2010 6:32:57 AM PST by mlizzy (Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ...)
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To: neverdem; Ditter; Kimberly GG; mlizzy; Salamander; ccmay

Best weight loss technique:

-Eat a 500 calorie deficit per day from your maintenace calories,A 500 cal deficit per day will lose 1-2 lbs per week on the regular person. Lose too much per week and you might get loose skin.

-Consume 1 gram of protein per 1 lb of your lean body mass (not your total weight)every day so you won’t lose muscle during your weight loss.

-Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day

-Consume 40%carbs, 40% protein and 20% good fats. That is avery good Macro level.

-Cardio 4-5 days per week-good for heart and joint health but not so much for weight loss

-Lift weights hard. Lifting is the very best for weight loss
The metabolic increase from lifting last 12-14 hours while cardio only last 2-3 hours. It burns calories like a blast furnace. When I started lifting I had to increase may calories because the weight start coming off too fast.
Most fitness trainers are now endorsing lifting as the very best way to lose weight.

Find a good nutrition/fitness site that weeds out the old wives tales about losng weight. If interested I can send a few to you.

Here is an old wives tale: Don’t eat after 8:00 at night.

This is the worst thing you can do. Digestion consumes 30-35% of your daily calories. Stop eating and your metabolism shuts down. That is why you hear it’s best to eat as soon as you get up. As long as you are on a calorie deficit every day it does not matter when you eat. As a matter of fact, bodybuilders cutting for a contest will get up in the middle of the night several times and eat some small meals to keep their metabolism going 24/7


38 posted on 12/03/2010 6:58:40 AM PST by hoyt-clagwell (5:00 AM Gym Crew)
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To: hoyt-clagwell
-Lift weights hard. Lifting is the very best for weight loss The metabolic increase from lifting last 12-14 hours while cardio only last 2-3 hours. It burns calories like a blast furnace. When I started lifting I had to increase may calories because the weight start coming off too fast. Most fitness trainers are now endorsing lifting as the very best way to lose weight.

..and that goes for women also. As Jillian Michaels of the TV show "The Biggest Loser" tells women.. "lift like a beast" ..and you have seen her bod. Don't wimp out and lift 2 lb curls, your arms won't get like a man anyway. You will get them toned and sexy.

Weight lifting is also the very best for control of diabetes. It is oneof the best regulators of insulin production.

When I lost my weight I started with eating clean and cardio but it then slowed and I would hit plataues. But when I started lifting is when I really saw the results.

39 posted on 12/03/2010 7:06:21 AM PST by hoyt-clagwell (5:00 AM Gym Crew)
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To: hoyt-clagwell

Lift how much and for how long each day? I’d like to lift, but I have a bad back and I’m not sure what effect that would have on it.


40 posted on 12/03/2010 7:08:47 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Save the whales. Collect the whole set.)
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