Sunday
19Nov2006
STOMACH STAPLING ON THE NHS....
Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 11:58AM 
I note that "dangerously obese children" will be entitled to stomach-stapling surgery on the NHS.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) is finalising its recommendations for the treatment of obese children and adults to be published next month. Procedures including stomach-stapling would be offered to children who would otherwise stand a high risk of developing cancer, diabetes or heart conditions.
How about they just TRY eating a bit less? How about their parents assume a little MORE responsibility here? How about the NHS stops trying to act as the substitute parent to the calorie-devouring masses? I fail to see how stomach stapling can be considered a responsible use of finite NHS resource - do you agree?
View Printer Friendly Version
Reader Comments (17)
I can't say I was totally thrilled about this use of NHS funds, but I love her and of course stood behind her in getting this done, for her own happiness.
Not sure what my point is. Just sharing an experience I suppose. Or maybe it's that even if you DO diet and lose the weight, you may still have to have this surgery anyway to get rid of the left over flesh.
That said - yeah, eating less is a good place to start..
If they get anything like diabetes or anything other obesity related illnesses their parents should be forced to pay for the full cost of their healthcare whether they are poor people or not.
Thank you for sharing that. As always, there are exceptions .. hope all is well with your girl friend.
Surely that is not stomach stapling.
I put on seven and a half stones after my mother was murdered and have just managed to lose it. I could make a winter coat with the lose skin and am considering my options.
The coments such as "Why can't these lazy bastards do something about their behaviour?" miss the point and will do nothing to address the problem.
Yes, it is. They removed the overhang and then sewed the skin back up so that it was flat. It was described to her by the surgeon as a "tummy tuck" or stomach staple so I am inclined to believe that. Granted, I don't know a lot about the procedures but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.
Congratulations on having lost all that weight, by the way; I know it's difficult as my gf's trials and tribulations prove. I personally am on the other end of the scale - I am underweight and find it near impossible to put weight on, no matter how much I eat. But there's not much I can do about that. :)
These are 2 different procedures. The one your girlfriend had was connecting stomach flesh together after the removal of the excess. The stomach stapling job which David refers to is an internal procedure which reduces the size of the stomach thereby not allowing much food to pass through and making it actually physically impossible for a person to eat a lot in one go.
As I understand it, stomach stapling is when you actually staple the stomach to make impossible to eat as much.
I don't think that there is enough known about what actually works in tackling obesity.
I am convinved that a very significant degree of the problem is down to carb addiction and that is to do with the way your body deals with insulin.
The traditional eating less exercixe diets don;t work for me and if they did I would little else to do than to be tinking about it. The only thinks that do work are those that tackle the cravings.
I lost 5 of the seven and a half usung the lighter life diet, It was about a stine a month for five months and although it was very strict, as it deal with the cravings (i.e. I had very little) it was easy. I also lost 2 and a half stones on the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, which again dealt with the cravings. I was getting through more calories a day than when I was putting on weight and there was nothing off limits. The key think was not really what you ate but when you ate it.
If anyone is interested, check out the readers somments for the book on Amazon. It is The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet.
Basically you eat two very low carb meals a day with one hour where you can eat whatever you like and as much of it as you like.
Unfortunately, we were thinking along U.K. lines for the size of a sundae, but when we were faced with three enormous plates, we just couldn't finish them at all! Everyone else did!
The queries in David's post are crucial, in that there are many people, from Ruth Kelly through to Jamie Oliver all holding their hands up in horror at the numbers of obese kids and people, but in the end, it all boils down (I know, terrible pun) to checking what you eat! Eat too much, and don't consume it by exercise, and you're gonna' get fat! I know, I'm slowly coming down the scales, but it's a battle!!
"Eat too much, and don't consume it by exercise, and you're gonna' get fat!"
not true necessarily.
As I said in my last post, I managed to lose weight by eating more that I did when I was putting it on and it was nothing to do with exercise.
I'd have no problem in agreeing with the premise that for most the problem is eating too much, or too much of the wrong food, or of too little exercise, or all of the above. The somewhat sudden rise in youth obesity I'd attribute to these causes.
The gradual rise in my own weight I'd attribute to an excessive fondness for the brewers' products.
Then we have my buddy Rob. He eats,then eats more. He'll carry back a second full plate from the buffet table, eat dessert and sample yours, then stop at the fried chicken place on the way home.
He's forty years old, and he's skinny as a rail. God I hate him!
I had great results with a low carb, high protein diet. Getting over the sugar addiction was the hardest part but that only lasted for a week or so.
Our government blessed 'food pyramid' here in the US is not working out very well. Heart attacks, diabetes, obesity have all risen as a result of a large part of our population following it.
nothing is good enough for you david.
I am so surprised that you cannot grasp that. You are a smart young man. Mislead in many ways, but smart nonetheless.
Monica
I share your concern. I find it hard to beleive that they have properly explored the options.