20-30 years after?

 The other day I was on here reading and someone wrote about how they have lost several friends to gastric bypass years after surgery, and that no doctor has ever had a patient live 20-30 years after the surgery.

While I don't know if I really believe that, it was enough to scare me. So, has anyone known of anyone living that long? Why would so many people die? And why did they have to post that and scare me!

 My sister had open gastric bypass in the mid 1970s.
I don't have any idea if the surgery was the same as what they do now but she's still alive.
She did have lots of complications and needed to take all her supplements in liquid form. 
She's also had lots of bowel issues but she's still here and still thin.

I haven't heard that story.

However, if you're my age - 20 to 30 years post RNY would be about a normal lifespan!  Think of what I will be able to do in the next 20 to 30 years!  I wouldn't have been around for sure before losing 120+ pounds.

My mother had a form of gastric bypass in 1977 so there are people that live more than 20 years after surgery.  The procedure she had is not the same as it is today. She passed away last year and it was not related to her bypass. 

First of all, I personally know a woman who had the old fashioned procedure around 1980 and she is still alive and kicking... so, in addition to the general rule of NEVER believing ANYTHING that has absolutes, clearly that statement is BS.

There have been a number of studies that show that, on AVERAGE -- which means taking into consideration those who die after WLS regardless of whether the death is somehow related to the surgery or from conditions not able to be reversed by surgery (e.g., heart conditions) or from getting hit by a beer truck(!) -- women live 2.5-5 years longer after WLS.  (See http://sri.sagepub.com/content/13/4/265.abstract fro one of those studies... most are available by subscription only).

The more important question, however, is how long will you live being MO or SMO if you do NOT get the weight off (and I am assuming that if you are considering surgery you have given up hope of ever getting the weight off any other way).  Even if you do "only" live another 25 years, though, that might still be 10 or 15 years longer than you will live if you stay obese.

Lora

Sorry... I also meant to add that having the surgery and losign the weight is not even so much a question of longevity of life but of QUALITY of life.  If my choice was living another 15 years at 330+ pounds (with all the emotional and physical distress that accompanied it) or living only another 10 years at 145-150 pounds, I would gladly give up the 5 years for the increased quality fo life I have now.

Lora

I was thinking about this today, how much better my life is now, even if I only live another 20 years.  I figure I will live long enough to get into the nursing home, where they will not feed my the appropriate diet anyway!!!  Can you imagine them making my protein shakes and making sure I take all my vitamins? 

It will be 3 years on Thursday that I had my surgery.  Before the surgery I would not say I was suicidal because I am too big a chicken, but there were many days I would think if I just got a terrible disease I would refuse treatment and just leave this world.  This surgery gave me a new lease on life and a break through in my depression.  I walked 3 miles this afternnon after work - enjoying all the blooming trees and bushes, listening to the birds, greeting neighbors and other walkers - just loving life and creation - all thanks to this surgery. 

I would gladly trade 10 years off of my life expectency to live it to it's fullest versus how I was living before.  That's the honest truth!!

 You all make good and valid points! I am 24, so the idea of only being in my 40s or 50s is scary lol.

The way the procedure is now, is different than it was in the 90s, 80s, etc.  It's probably not that people DIE, but it just hasn't been 20 years since it's been DONE.

Hey neighbor! Don't believe what you read on the internet all the time...so many people consider themselves experts and have no idea what they are talking about. Go with what your doctor says! My friends dad had bariatric surgery in 1975 and he's still kicking!