Two women from the Detroit area are sharing their powerful journeys to better health, and how one decision changed their lives. “I was struggling with my weight loss. I was on tons of medication, my blood pressure was out of control, and I just wasn’t living a healthy lifestyle overall,” said, Carmelita Hassan.
After years of struggling with her weight, she turned to doctors at the Rochester General Surgery. Dr. Robert Acho explains the surgery options they offer. “The two most common types of weight loss surgery that we offer, one of them is called a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, so that’s basically where we take out about 75 to 80% of your stomach. The other one that’s popular is a Gastric Bypass, and for that operation, we make your stomach pretty small, about the size of two of your thumbs put together, and then we reroute your intestines, so you have a restrictive effect and also a malabsorption effect to kind of help promote weight loss, Doctor Acho said.
For Hassan, the Gastric Bypass surgery was life changing, allowing her to lose over 100 pounds in just a year. “I feel great, I can run again,” she said.
The same goes for Debra Metris-Shamoon, who had the Gastric Sleeve surgery. She said she’s now able to do things many people take for granted. “Taking care of my grandchildren, walking long distances, not having to have somebody go with me grocery shopping,” she said. Having the surgery less than a year ago, Metris-Shamoon said she has lost 70lbs. so far, and the only regret she has is not doing the surgery sooner.
Dr. Acho said there are many benefits to weight loss surgery. “The main benefit is going to be to kind of reverse and control their medical comorbidities, so patients who are obese usually suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some cardiovascular things, weight loss surgery actually can reverse this.” Dr. Acho also wants to assure those who may be concerned, that weight loss surgery is completely safe. “It is equally as safe as having your gallbladder taken out and your uterus taken out, which happens all the time around the country.”
He also explains exactly who is eligible for weight loss surgery. “Insurance dependent, but generally speaking, patients with a BMI above 40 usually automatically qualify. Patients with a BMI between 35 and 40 with medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea and other certain things like fatty liver disease will also qualify, and because weight loss surgery has been so effective in maintaining and producing the successful weight loss, some insurance companies actually drop the criteria down to a BMI of 30 and 35 with a comorbid with a medical condition like diabetes,” he says.
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