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Life Changing - Gastric Bypass Surgery

Ann and Leslie are not just best friends, they’re sisters. And both have battled obesity since they were children. "As long as I can remember weight has always been an issue," says Ann Greenberger, who recently decided to have a gastric bypass surgery.

"My whole life I've been told, I’m fat or heavy, or chunky or obese", says Leslie Cohen. Leslie says she felt trapped. "I always felt like I wasn't meant to be in this body," says Leslie. After numerous unsuccessful attempts at dieting, she decided to get gastric bypass surgery. Leslie was inspiration for Ann who then just months later followed suit. Together they’ve lost over 200 pounds. "120 pounds in a year is not so shabby", says Ann. They’re among the thousands of gastric bypass surgery patients who have been able to keep the weight off.

In a recent study published in the Archives of Surgery, severely obese patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery show significant early declines in levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates the appetite. This may explain in part, the loss of hunger sensation and rapid weight loss observed following gastric bypass surgery. "What a gastric bypass surgery does is, it helps people eat less. It doesn’t make them lose weight", says gastric bypass surgeon, Dr. Mitchell Roslin.

 According to the recent data, the hormone ghrelin is a circulating appetite stimulant produced primarily in the stomach, which plays a role in regulating body weight. Ghrelin levels significantly increase before a meal and rapidly decline after eating, which implies that the hormone is a principal appetite stimulant. In gastric bypass surgery the stomach is divided, and what’s left to hold food is a small pouch that is stapled off. The intestine is divided and one loop of the intestine is brought up to attach to the remaining food pouch, while another loop is brought down to be reattached to the intestine. The net result is that food is rerouted. So instead of food going to the bottom part of the stomach, the food goes into this new intestinal loop, which actually alters the digestive process.

 "Diverting food from the bottom part of the stomach changes the up and down cycle of ghrelin. Ghrelin levels don’t fluctuate, and remain low", says Dr. Roslin. Therefore, the stimulation to eat is reduced. According to Dr. Roslin, The next hope is that ghrelin or ghrelin-type targets may be a potential mechanism that can be exploited by the drug industry so that they can have pharmaceutical ways of treating morbid obesity. Ann and Leslie say "the gastric bypass surgery has given them a rebirth". They follow a healthy diet and regularly work-out. They’re both enjoying their newfound figures. I traded one addiction for another. "Now instead of being a food-aholic, I’m a shop-aholic", says Ann.

 Following gastric bypass surgery, most patients lose weight quickly and continue to lose for 18 to 24 months after the procedure. Although most patients regain 5 to 10 percent of the weight they lost, many maintain a long-term weight loss of about 100 pounds. Dr. Roslin emphasizes the gastric bypass surgery is not a panacea. Patients must follow through with proper diet and exercise or else the weight will return.

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