From: Mark_in_MO [#1]
17 Feb 14:13
To: ALL
I know there has been some rather inflated announcements about how certain bariatric surgeries (lap-band and gastric-bypass) seem to "cure" diabetes in a large percent of the people undergoing those operations, or at least cause their diabetes to go ino "remission" of some type.
While I am aware that there are potential risks associated with bariatric (gastric-bypass) surgeries, have any large trials been completed showing that bypass surgery is an acceptable "cure" for Diabetes? Are there any insurance companies that are willing to cover the costs of gastric-bypass surgery as a valid treatment for Diabetes? Finally, is there any consideration to allow individuals who do not fit the regular gastric-bypass requirements to undergo this type of a procedure? e.g. if you are not currently "morbidly obese" (defined as being at least 100 lbs over normal weight) would any medical professional agree to do the bypass surgery when the intent is strictly control of Type 2 Diabetes?
One of the comments in a recent article indicated that “The difference between the 84% of people whose diabetes disappeared after bypass surgery and the 16% who remained diabetic, was the length of time they had the disease.” In other words, if you have the surgery done, the sooner the better; potentially because longer term Type 2 diabetes results in the increasing loss of functional beta cells.
Lots of articles on the internet, but nothing conclusive. Does anyone have any solid infomation?
From: Geri in Co:Byetta(3-06) (GERI) [#3]
18 Feb 10:23
To: Mark_in_MO [#1] 18 Feb 11:15
I'm not sure if there have been any formal studies done on this but I do know they have over 20 years of people getting the surgery done to look at. I also know that most people leave the hospital without their diabetes meds.
I'm not sure these procedures are the cure all end all for diabetes because I know people who have had them done and still their diabetes came back mainly due to increased eating. Even with support groups some minds are harder to change how they think about food than others and the bad habits will come back along with their diabetes. I know insurance will pay for someone whose diabetes is causing major complications, like blindness, with only 50 lbs to lose, but it took a long time for them to agree to pay. Lots of different types of drs letters, at least for the one person I know who had it done 2 yrs ago because she was going blind.
Sorry I don't have concrete evidence to give you but just experience from people I know who have had the procedures done on them. Hopefully someone else will have better info for you.
From: Sue (SUEFIRST50) [#5]
18 Feb 16:09
To: Mark_in_MO [#3] 18 Feb 19:21