I'm posting this on the main board because I think this information could be useful to the wider BBW/FA community.
My best friend's mother just died at the age of 65, less than two months after she had a gastric bypass. She was diabetic and one of the primary reasons she had WLS was to control her diabetes -- another, ironically, was so that she could live longer for her grandchildren.
Its well known that diabetes affects circulation -- most commonly impairing circulation to the feet and lower legs. What is less commonly known is that diabetes can also adversely affect circulation to the internal organs. This is exactly what happened to my friend's mother. The circulation to her stomach and intestines had been compromised by her diabetic condition so that after WLS her stomach did not heal. Instead of healing her stomach basically disintegrated. This eventually led to peritonitis, then sepsis, and shortly thereafter a very unpleasant death.
WLS is being sold as an almost instant cure for diabetes these days. Hopefully surgeons who are operating on diabetic patients (especially those who are not young or who have had diabetes for many years) will know enough to evaluate internal vascularity before surgery. Unfortunately at least on doctor did not.
My best friend's mother just died at the age of 65, less than two months after she had a gastric bypass. She was diabetic and one of the primary reasons she had WLS was to control her diabetes -- another, ironically, was so that she could live longer for her grandchildren.
Its well known that diabetes affects circulation -- most commonly impairing circulation to the feet and lower legs. What is less commonly known is that diabetes can also adversely affect circulation to the internal organs. This is exactly what happened to my friend's mother. The circulation to her stomach and intestines had been compromised by her diabetic condition so that after WLS her stomach did not heal. Instead of healing her stomach basically disintegrated. This eventually led to peritonitis, then sepsis, and shortly thereafter a very unpleasant death.
WLS is being sold as an almost instant cure for diabetes these days. Hopefully surgeons who are operating on diabetic patients (especially those who are not young or who have had diabetes for many years) will know enough to evaluate internal vascularity before surgery. Unfortunately at least on doctor did not.
