New ‘official’ recommendation puts type 2 patients in grave danger
It’s now official. Doctors can confidently tell their type 2 diabetes patients that bariatric surgery is recommended as a “standard treatment option” for the disease.
That’s right — standard.
Having your stomach resized to that of an egg has just been endorsed by 45 of the world’s top diabetes groups. They’re talking about one of the riskiest operations out there, and now it will be rattled off by physicians along with diet and exercise.
But you know how these things go. There’s always a catch that the mainstream doesn’t bother to tell us about.
Because if they did, people with type 2 would be heading for the hills, not under the knife.
I really hate it when I’m right about some things. And this is one of those things.
For years I’ve been warning you about bariatric surgery becoming the new trend in “treating” type 2 diabetes. Why, the June issue of Diabetes Care is loaded with no less than 11 articles promoting it to diabetics!
And now, it’s just been declared as the diabetes treatment of the future by dozens of organizations, including the American Diabetes Association and even its counterparts in China and India.
And like any good infomercial, it’s got a big selling point: The surgery might free patients from having to take diabetes drugs.
Sounds good, right? Well, you haven’t heard the rest of the story. Because even if you can ditch the diabetes meds, you can then say hello to a long, ugly list of new drugs.
According to bariatric specialists at the Cleveland Clinic, a post-op patient must immediately start up on the most side-effect prone drugs on the market, including a proton pump inhibitor such as Nexium. That will be needed to protect the gastric pouch from ulcers.
If it were just PPI drugs alone, that would be bad enough, but here’s where the list starts growing.
You’ll not only have a higher risk of gallstones (for that, the Cleveland guys recommend a drug called Actigall that can cause nausea and diarrhea), but ones to treat post-operative diarrhea, gas pains, constipation, and “Reglan and Zofran for nausea and to assist with bowel movements.”
Next, if patients don’t take the right amount of absolutely essential fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, they risk malnutrition.
But it doesn’t stop there. There’s also extra calcium, iron, folate, and vitamin B12. And none of these supplements are optional. They’ll be required for life.
And don’t forget about antidepressants. Research shows that depression and suicide are shockingly common after gastric surgery. After all, who wouldn’t be depressed about having to eat birdlike meals of crumbs for the rest of their life?
Of course on top of all of this, some patients will still need diabetes drugs.
But even if you do get to ditch the blood-sugar meds, don’t expect your new life to be blue skies and sunshine, either.
Common side effects after the surgery include urinary and fecal incontinence (what happened to Al Roker when he “pooped (his) pants” at the White House), and a 30 percent increased risk of malnutrition, anemia and osteoporosis. And around 20 percent of gastric surgery patients need additional operations to treat other complications.
Look, if you need to get your blood sugar under control, there are numerous options, including the very effective one of diet and exercise.
But one of them shouldn’t be a gruesome and dangerous operation that can take you from the frying pan straight into the fire — no matter who recommends it.
Sources:
“Specialists call for gastric surgery to be standard diabetes treatment” Kate Kelland, May 24, 2016, Reuters, reuters.com
