The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise (Texas) ran a story today about a woman who underwent bariatric surgery for obesity. Specifically, the woman had a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Story excerpt:

The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass results in a 1 to 2-ounce stomach pouch with an outlet about the size of an M&M candy. Patients can lose from three to five lbs. of weight per week, with a 75 percent loss of excess body weight by 18 months. It also results in an 89 percent decrease in mortality rates over a five-year period.

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View an image of Roux-en-Y bypass (National Library of Medicine)

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A recent article on the Detroit News website covers the story of Vanessa Bell Armstrong, famed gospel singer and weight-loss surgery patient. Vanessa underwent a gastric bypass surgery a few years ago, and since then she has lost nearly 60 pounds.

Story excerpt:

Now, shortly after releasing her latest album, “Walking Miracle,” Armstrong is publicly discussing the surgery for the first time. While Armstrong wasn’t 100 pounds overweight, the usual benchmark for the surgery, she qualified because of her high Body Mass Index (BMI) and other health issues.

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We have written before about the connection between diabetes and bariatric surgery. Here’s an update on that topics.

A recent story over at DiabetesHealth.com talks about the positive effects of bariatric weight-loss surgery on patients who have diabetes. This story focuses on gastric bypass surgery and cites a study of thousands of gastric bypass patients who, as a result of their surgery, had a reversal of their type 2 diabetes.

Story excerpt:

Researchers initially thought that weight loss caused the remission of type 2, but new findings are pointing to hormonal and metabolic changes caused by the surgery.

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There’s a story in the Monterey Herald about a man who turned to bariatric surgery (specifically, a gastric bypass) to lose weight for health reasons. Largely as a result of his weight, the man suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes.

I thought I would share this article because it goes into a lot of detail about his reasons for choosing bariatric surgery, details about insurance coverage, etc. It’s very informative and would be good reading for anyone considering weight-loss surgery.

An excerpt:

At 32, Potts already had been diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes — due largely to his 300-pound weight. So the Keller, Texas, man decided two years ago that his survival depended on shedding the extra fat. His solution: gastric bypass surgery that enabled him to lose 100 pounds in six months.

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