Is Cutting The Vagus Nerve The Answer To Weight Loss?

Gastric Bypass Surgery News ^ | Monday, May 12, 2008

[wintertime]

Hunger is an addiction?

By the way, I am normal weight and have been for several years.

[wintertime]

People who are normally think aren't worried about high fiber, oatmeal, beans, or Hoodia.

Tried Hoodia. Didn't work.

[Bean Counter]

I’ll tell you what... I’ll trade places with you right now.

I’ve been able to control my weight for years now, ever since cancer left me unable to swallow and on permanent tube feeding. The only way I enjoy food now is through cooking and smell. My taste is intact but I cannot swallow anything other than water and I am in my fifth year of what will be permanent tube feeding. The thing is, I don’t complain about it on the internet.

I wish I had your problem. I wish I had to worry about my diet and exercise self control about what I eat, but unfortunately that decision has been removed forever by cancer and the subsequent “treatments” that kept it from killing me.

Every time I get blue about my situation I cheer myself up by remembering there are people who have it worse than me...and then I read a post like this one. Or someone comes up to me in the store to loudly remark on all of my obvious surgical scars on my face and neck.

Best for me to say no more...

[budwiesest]

What gets me is when I hear someone has lost 100 lbs. or so. I’ve picked up stuff weighing 100 lbs. and can tell you, I’m not carrying it very far (maybe a few yards).

[wintertime]

I hope I am never in your situation.

But...I strongly suspect that if I were I would still be fighting hunger and the overpowering desire to put more in that tube than I needed to maintain my weight.

I am glad to hear that you have won your battle with cancer, and I am sorry that it has left you permanently disabled.

[flaglady47]

“Every time I get blue about my situation I cheer myself up by remembering there are people who have it worse than me...and then I read a post like this one. Or someone comes up to me in the store to loudly remark on all of my obvious surgical scars on my face and neck.”

You indeed have a “stout heart” Bean Counter. I admire your fortitude. Keep up the good fight.

[Selmore]

My idea worked. I lost 15 pounds. Try this.

I got rid of all of the big plates in my house. I only use the smaller plates (I think they are called salad plates.)

The big plates are prolly 10" these are maybe 6".

I load that puppy up with food but i don't go back for seconds.

[ExGeeEye]

I remember hearing about the vagus nerve a few years ago. I believe the story was that a soldier had had his severed as a result of battle wounds, and he had been rendered impotent as that is the nerve that carries the impulses for the primary sexual response in the male.

Could it be that there is a difference based on where it is cut, much as severing the spinal cord can result in instant death or varying degrees of paralysis (depending on whether it's in the neck or the lower back)?

[Rome2000]

Stop eating food all the time, and count the calories when you do eat.

1 hard boiled egg for breakfast, throw away the yolk.

Eat soup for lunch, drink water and no calorie juices all day, go a couple of days a week without chewing at all.

Have a half pound of boiled shrimp for lunch or dinner.

You'll lose 10 pounds a month minimum.

[palmer]

magic combinations of food

There's nothing magic about not combining foods. The only natural way to eat food is to find one food and eat it until you feel full. Any combinations of food of any sort are unnatural and won't digest properly. Also avoid processed foods like processed grains and sugar. I am not naturally thin, I am a bit above because I eat quite a bit of sugar, but otherwise follow the natural diet.

[Reeses]

The mortality is 1%

That sounds low but is it really? The cost of failure is high: no more being alive. If gastric bypass were a drug treatment with those odds, the FDA would not approve it. Gastric bypass should only be used as a very last resort, when all other options have been exhausted. It shouldn't be on billboards, radio, and TV, advertising for the casual customer.

[Kieri]

There are a number of different operations that have been proposed for weight reduction. These include the jejunoileal bypass (now decidedly out of favor), vertically-banded gastroplasty, roux-en-y gastric bypass, and the more recent gastric banding procedure.

I have the roux-en-y, but my husband has a biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) because his triglycerides were off the charts. We're both doing extremely well because of those surgeries.

I understand my situation may be unique but when I weighed 308lbs, my health overall was good but I had low blood sugar, low blood pressure and ran anemic. VERY odd with a huge family history of diabetes and heart disease.

With the roux-en-y my surgeon left me with the usual 7ft of small intestion when sometimes he goes as low as 5. I was used to running food through 40ft so the 7 was as drastic as he wanted to take it. Also with a roux-en-y no intestines are removed (at least he left them), just rerouted.

I'll never forget the conversation with him after I got out of surgery:

Me: "You left in all 40 feet? What the heck am I gonna do with 40ft of small bowel??"

Doctor Mac: "You never know! You might be in Detroit and get shot!"

[Kieri]

I have been like this ever since I was a little kid. I never have succeeded in losing any serious amount of weight for any sustained period of time. For about six months two years ago, I was going for 2hr+ bike rides every single day (something I cannot do all time because of work/family commitments), and did manage to lose about 20 pounds, but promptly gained it all back when the weather turned cold and rainy and I couldn’t ride every day anymore.

I was born overweight and stayed that way until I was in my late 20's and had the gastric bypass. You work your butt off -- literally -- and the weight stays. I was in the gym three days a week on the bike and weightlifting as well as watching my diet and the weight stayed.

First off check to make sure you're healthy. Blood sugar, pressure, heart, vitamin levels, etc. If those are in the normal range then you're dealing with genetic factors you can't do much about.

I've heard of the lap band but don't know how successful it is. If your vitals are good it may be the perfect option for you. Surgeries are for those who need to lose a LOT of weight.

[stayathomemom]

For many, they are a compulsion. (Gambling, Food, Anorexia, etc)
Except food compulsions are harder because you gotta have food.

Exactly. There is no such thing as going "cold turkey when it comes to eating, unless you are talking about a true fast. But that has to come to an end, unless your intention is to die.

[corkoman]

There has not been any empirical evidence to suggest that Adkins is harmful. Not sure where you heard that, but the first two weeks of Atkins is extremely taxing on the kidneys. The problem comes in when you start adding more carbs - most people fall off the diet at that point, or stop losing. (From my personal experience and trying several times, I could lose exactly 7 pounds on Atkins. Then, no matter how long I stuck with the diet, I couldn't lose any more.) So the urge is to just do the strict meat only portion, and that's where you can really do damage. A friend of mine ended up in the hospital close to kidney failure after a year on strict Atkins. Her docs told her it was the diet. Personally, I don't know how she could stand it for that long.

Your story is interesting but anecdotal - the point is that there are no documented studies that show a deleterious effect of the Atkins diet. With the chumming that the PETA people have done there is a ton of junk science out there so you may find that when searching.

But the enemy is carbs and fat intake is far less damaging than sugar. Cut out the sugar and so many things fall into place. Atkins was a hero who fought against the madness of substituting sugar for fat in all those "Diet" low-fat products.

[svcw]

Yea. What is your point? The poster said they need more protein than the oatmeal.

[svcw]

Agreed. Sausage - ymmm.

[Centurion2000]

bump

[svcw]

Gastric by pass is the last chance.

[wintertime]

The point is that people who are **normally** thin are not exercising in a special way or using special foods or diet programs.