Hypoventilation: Obese individuals often breathe shallow and slow. This creates a situation that deprives the bloodstream of necessary oxygen. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood. Symptoms vary, but generally include leg swelling, heart failure, sleep disruptions and sleepiness during waking hours.

Carpal Tunnel: This syndrome occurs when nerves in the wrist become compressed. It causes numbness and muscular weakness. It feels like your hand and arm continuously fall asleep. Obese individuals are more than twice as likely to suffer with this ailment.

Hirsutism: This condition causes an increase of terminal hair where it doesn’t typically grow. Terminal hair is the thick, dark hair that grows as you enter puberty such as leg hair, underarm hair, or the hair on your face. This hair is controlled by hormones, so obese women with insulin resistance are more likely to experience the problem.

Incontinence: Incontinence occurs when an individual cannot control urine leakage. It’s highly associated with obesity.

Dementia: This term describes those who experience diminished cognitive abilities such as memory, problem-solving skills, attention deficits and language problems. Obesity is often responsible for increased risk of dementia.

Gout: More common in those who are obese, gout occurs when uric acid crystals become elevated in the bloodstream. The result can be swollen joints and skin deposits that become aggravated if a strict, healthy diet is not followed.

One hundred fifty people were included in the study. Of these, 109 were planning weight loss surgery and the other 41 were obese people who were included as a control group. Twelve weeks after surgery, the participants who had weight loss surgery showed improvements in memory and cognitive ability. The researchers said that they chose weight loss surgery patients because this is a group that generally loses weight quickly. This rapid change allowed doctors to study how weight loss affects cognitive function. They will continue to study the participants, checking back at the one year and two year points to see their progress.

The researchers believe that the health problems that can come along with obesity, such as high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes, can also cause problems with memory and cognitive function. Weight loss surgeries such as the lap band procedure, have been shown to improve diabetes and high blood pressure, so it made sense that losing weight could help with memory, as well.

The doctors are also planning to see whether patients who lose weight through medically supervised behavioral weight loss programs also see an improvement in memory and cognitive ability. The doctors are hopeful that they will see positive results in those who are able to take off excess weight in that way as well.

If you feel that your weight is affecting your health and well-being, talk to a Carrollton area bariatric surgeon to find out if weight loss surgery is appropriate for you.

However, continuing research is bearing out the advice many doctors give their patients: surgery alone is not a cure. Lifelong changes are needed in order to benefit fully from bariatric surgery. In a recently-concluded long-term study, researchers found that ten years after weight loss surgery, only 36% of patients still had healthy blood sugar levels without medication.

This is why patients must be committed to the new healthy eating and regular exercise habits recommended by their doctors. Pay attention to dietary recommendations, and ask your doctor to help you design a meal plan that is appropriate for you. After bariatric surgery, you will only be able to eat small amounts of food at one time, so, you will need to make sure that you get ample nutrition from the food that you eat. You will also have to carefully guard against over-eating, as this can cause your stomach to stretch and decrease the effectiveness of the procedure.

Talk to your doctor about what physical activities are appropriate for you. If you have any mobility restrictions, look into the low-impact exercise programs that are offered at many health clubs in the Dallas area. For instance, water aerobics are a good fit for many people who are unable to take much stress on their joints. Try different activities until you find one that is a good fit for you.

Weight loss surgery involves making huge positive changes in your life. Talk to your doctor to find out more about whether it is appropriate for you.

Researchers believe there are many reasons that some people see great success from weight loss surgery while others don’t. It begins with the psychology of losing weight. The bariatric surgery provides the means while your mind helps achieve the rest. The state of the patient’s mood, level of self-esteem and disposition can have dire effects on many of the factors that contribute to weight loss after bariatric surgery.

To be successful following weight loss surgery patients need to follow strict diets consisting of healthy foods that are low in sugar and fats. High fiber foods and beef products are curtailed and exercise needs to become a regular part of everyday lifestyle. It takes a great amount of will power to approach and attempt everything all at the same time. If the patient’s mindset, such as disposition or mood affects the amount of will power they can expend, then weight loss results can suffer.

Other factors that researchers believe affect the results of weight loss surgery are gender, age and level of education. Body habitus as well as binge eating can affect weight loss as well. To be successful in weight loss researchers recommend meeting with a medical team prior to weight loss surgery. Discussing the series of events that follow bariatric surgery such as diet plan, weight loss expectations, off limit foods, required exercise and necessary supplements can go a long way to boosting self-esteem, and confidence levels following surgery.

Weight loss surgery can produce results that are more dramatic than diet and medications provide alone. Going into the surgery with the right expectations and the knowledge of the best way to achieve maximum results can make all the difference.

Weight loss surgery is increasingly being recognized as the most effective way for morbidly obese people with Type 2 diabetes to lose weight and improve their blood sugar control. This is as true in the Dallas and Ft. Worth areas of Texas as it is across the country. Until recently, it was unclear whether or not there was a long-term improvement in the psychological status of patients who choose to undergo this type of weight loss surgery.

That question was answered in a study in which 25 lap band patients (four men and 21 women) participated in psychological testing. The participants of the study, ranging in age between 30 and 58 years, had BMIs (body mass indexes) that put them in the morbidly obese classification. Furthermore, 16 of the participants had Type 2 diabetes, while the remaining nine did not. Prior to surgery, the study’s participants underwent psychological testing that measured areas such as quality of life, depression, social anxiety due to weight and general anxiety. The same tests were completed both six and 12 months after the surgery.

At both the six and 12 month post-surgery tests, Lap Band Surgery patients showed improved psychological scores. In addition to better physical health, participants also reported reduced general anxiety, social anxiety and depression. This study, as well as other studies, shows a decrease in A1C, which is a measure of blood sugar control over a period of time. The results of this study show a parallel improvement between psychological health and physiological health during the year following lap band weight loss surgery.

As with men, excess abdominal fat in women is an indicator frequently seen in conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Facts from the Women’s Heart Foundation say that 8.5 million women suffer from heart disease, and under age 50 heart attacks suffered by women are more likely to end in death.

Couple these facts with a recent study by doctors from Harvard who found that excess belly fat is not the same type of fat that is distributed throughout a women’s body, and there is additional cause for concern. This study of 50 women who had not reached menopause showed that abdominal fat was a key indicator of developing osteoporosis.

As in the past, healthcare practitioners in Dallas and around the country recommend that these women lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle to reduce their risk of fatal diseases. Specifically, experts say these women should lose fat around the abdominal area because of its relationship with increased fat in bone marrow that can increase the chances of the bones becoming weaker and more brittle.

The effort to exercise, eat right, and live a healthy lifestyle reduces fatty acids in the body that scientists believe have a direct correlation to heart disease, pancreatic disease and bone mineral density.

The researchers are not suggesting that gastric bypass surgery is the answer for anyone with a sweet tooth. Instead, they suggest that identifying the underlying mechanism that changes the brain’s taste response after bypass surgery may lead to other treatments that mimic the effect without having the surgery.

According to a leading expert in the field of bariatric surgery, Andras Hajnal, M.D., Ph.D. associate professor at the Department of Neural and Behavioral Science and Surgery, gastric bypass is the most common and effective treatment for the morbidly obese and many patients who undergo the surgery report changes in the taste of different foods.

This study confirms a neurological change in the brain’s response to sweet tasting foods but not to salty, sour, or bitter foods. Prior to the surgery, the rats showed a marked preference for sweet tasting substances that was higher than non-obese rats.  The researchers theorize that this craving for sweet foods may contribute to a vicious cycle that contributes to weight gain in the first place.  Altering the response to sweet substances so that less pleasure is obtained from eating them, has potential benefits for anyone struggling with weight control.

Current recommendations to reduce the risk for developing these cancers include avoiding weight gain by establishing healthy nutrition and exercise habits.  The extent to which cancer can be avoided if an obese person loses weight is still debated.

Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine were interested in this question and designed a long-term research study to examine it.  The study looked at almost 7000 gastric bypass patients who had their surgery between 1984 and 2002. The occurrence of cancer and cancer-related death of this group was followed until 2007 and compared with a group of 9,600 people who had not undergone bariatric surgery. 

The study showed a 46% lower incidence of cancer related death in the surgery group and the chances of developing cancer to begin with were 26% lower.

These results were more impressive than similar research involving gastric band, vertical banded gastroplasty and gastric bypass patients.  This study showed a 30% lower occurrence rate of cancer in women but no significant difference in men.

Further research is necessary to determine if procedures other than gastric bypass can achieve similar reductions in cancer incidence and death rate. There is no reason to expect that the type of weight loss is significant in lowering cancer rates assuming that the patient adopts a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy nutrition and exercise.

Researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor analyzed data from 15,275 bariatric patients who had weight loss surgery between 2006 and 2009 in Michigan. The study included data from three common procedures performed by 62 bariatric surgeons at 25 different hospitals across Michigan.

Researchers found that 3.6% of gastric bypass, 2.2% of sleeve gastrectomies and 0.9% of laparoscopic gastric band surgeries resulted in serious complications. The most common complication was infection, which occurred among 4.4% of gastric bypass patients.

People considering weight loss surgery may be interested to know that bariatric surgeons and hospitals with the most procedure volume had the lowest rate of complications. “Risk of serious complications was inversely associated with average annual bariatric procedure volume,” the researchers noted, adding that, “Serious complication rates were about twice as high (4 percent) for low-volume surgeons at low-volume hospitals than for high-volume surgeons at high-volume hospitals (1.9 percent).”

Obese people investigating weight loss surgery and bariatric surgeons are often advised to ask potential surgeons about how many procedures they have performed as well as inquire about their individual complication rates. Other bariatric surgeons who reviewed the research data agreed that frequency and repetition often improve weight loss surgery results.