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> In May 2016, however, Benari received a procedure known as a gastric bypass, a laparoscopic surgery that gave him something few of the 30 million diabetic Ame
by stephengillie 8y ago
> In May 2016, however, Benari received a procedure known as a gastric bypass, a laparoscopic surgery that gave him something few of the 30 million diabetic Americans ever have—a life free of insulin therapy and other medications.
The article keeps calling this a "cure" to diabetes. If anything, it's a cure to the "never feeling full" sensation that leads some (usually mildly autistic) people to constantly eat. And this constant overeating is what leads to the diabetes.
Having known people who had gastric bypasses, it's far from a miracle cure. The procedure causes many issues, from intestinal discomfort to life-threatening complications. Treating the procedure with such rose-colored glasses could be considered harmful.
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Part of the reason nobody wants to pay for it is it costs as much as a Model 3:
> The estimated average cost of bariatric surgery is around $15,000, according to a 2017 review. But even these estimates might be underselling it. Benari recalls that his surgery, with expenses before and afterward, was about $35,000 without insurance. The price tag kept him from pursuing the procedure for almost a decade.
And an interesting reaction - the person briefly considered gaining 40 pounds, but instead of considering losing 40 pounds, they guilt-tripped their employer into paying for it.
> “Obviously I couldn’t gain 40 pounds so I could get surgery—that’d be suicidal. I just held off, trying to not think about it,” he said. “Eventually, through a lot of back and forth, nagging and whining, I convinced [Microsoft’s] HR department to overhaul their policy and allow people in my situation to get the surgery done.”
- jeffdavis 8y agoFrom the article: "For over a decade, Cummings and others have tried to reframe the very concept of bariatric surgery (they prefer “metabolic surgery”). Their work has shown these procedures just don’t change how much food the stomach can fit; they trigger a cascade of metabolic and bodily changes, many of which help people with type 2 diabetes naturally get their blood sugar under control. Some changes even start happening before a patient loses weight, such as higher levels of peptide production in the gut that seem to restore a patient’s sensitivity to insulin."
- perl4ever 8y agoI have never heard of an association of obesity with autism. Claiming the converse wouldn't startle me as much, but surely the incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes are far, far greater than autism. Do you have any particular reason for your statement? Lately, I've been noticing frequent mentions of autism on the internet in weird and novel (to me) contexts.
- martin_bech 8y agoNope it really is a cure. I know people involved with diabetes research, and it really is a cure, and they dont know why. Its not because of the weight loss, because it is instant! They day the get the surgery, the loose the Diabetes II. (The people I know, work at Novo Nordisk, i would think its the world leader in diabetes and diabetes related research.)
- xinyhn 8y agoAs someone rather interested in the subject that has been my general understanding. The refusal for people to look beyond "eat less and fast etc" is rather disheartening.
- kmundnic 8y agoWhat if they gain weight again, months or years after surgery? Does diabetes come back?
- martin_bech 8y agoIm not doing the research, so I cant answer, but it dosent seem to be weight related, as they loose the diabetes on same day as surgery. They loose none of the weight on surgery,
- mark-r 8y agoCould it be a side effect of some part of the surgery procedure? Anesthesia perhaps?
- jonknee 8y ago> Part of the reason nobody wants to pay for it is it costs as much as a Model 3 That's a bargain compared to paying for a diabetic! http://www.diabetes.org/advocacy/news-events/cost-of-diabetes.html http://www.diabetes.org/advocacy/news-events/cost-of-diabete... > People with diagnosed diabetes incur average medical expenditures of $16,752 per year, of which about $9,601is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.