Weight-Loss Surgery and Type 2 Diabetes Is bariatric surgery a shortcut to a "cure"? (Also, Beth's in a magazine!)

I've pasted just the snippet that I'm in - the entire article which is super-informative - is at the link!  Please check it out and subscribe.

Weight-Loss Surgery and Type 2 Diabetes Is bariatric surgery a shortcut to a "cure"? 

Diabetes Forecast Magazine March 2010 -

 

 

"Still, bariatric surgery isn’t without risks. Beth Sheldon-Badore, 31, was 320 pounds but free of diabetes and other risk factors associated with obesity when she underwent gastric bypass in 2004. Now, six years after the surgery, she experiences frequent hypoglycemia that has changed her life. (Her husband, Robert Badore, who had the surgery around the same time, also has hypoglycemia.) “I started out healthy,” she says. “I was fat, but I was healthy. It wears on me, and I’m sick of it.”

Now, she’s under doctor’s orders to eat frequently and get 15 grams of carbohydrates or less per meal. Refined carbs make her plunge the quickest. “If I eat two frozen waffles, I can guarantee my blood sugar will be 40 [mg/dl],” she says. To blunt the reaction, she eats a mix of protein, fat, and carbs at each meal. She tests often, keeps a glucagon kit on hand, and tries to maintain a blood glucose level of at least 80.

The bottom line: Get informed, be cautious, and understand that surgery can have side effects and that it demands follow-up effort. Miller, Haggerty, and Kapulskey all echo the same mantra: Weight-loss surgery is a tool—not a magic wand. “You also have to make good choices” about diet and exercise, says Kapulskey. “It’s not a quick fix, but it’s a tool that’s amazing.”

Immediately after the surgery, Sheldon-Badore felt well—even though she says eating certain foods caused her heart to race. “It’s sort of a honeymoon feeling,” she says. “You don’t care how you feel because you’re losing weight so quickly.” But nine months after getting the surgery, Sheldon-Badore began feeling worse. She researched her condition, then bought a blood glucose meter to confirm her suspicion: Her blood glucose was dropping after meals."

Read the ENTIRE ARTICLE here.