Help me Turkish Surgeons!

[Former]

I have been researching Turkish surgeons and looking at their patients blogs.

How do I properly research the hospital and surgeon I am contemplating?

The reviews on various platforms are 5 stars for the hospital but I am aware this can be manipulated. It's hard to find reviews for the actual surgeons unless a vlogger shows their results.

Anyone who has been and knows how to thoroughly research?

Yeah because that's how it works 🙄

Let’s just take this to the logical conclusion: there is a finite budget for burns and other trauma skin injuries, so its cool to push that queue on the basis you’ve elected to have be butchered in a foreign territory? So should your adult and self-initiated injury come above a child burns victim caught in a house fire? These are decisions NHS consultants make everyday. If you’re big enough and ugly enough to elect to be butchered - you should be sent back the same butcher for your aftercare. After all - you are an adult who has made adult decisions? A burns victim did not elect to be burnt.

Whilst I don’t entirely disagree with you in the case of people having elective, unnecessary surgery abroad and expecting the NHS to pick up the pieces, the problem with it is that where do they then draw the line?

You smoked, drank, drove a car, rode a horse or motorbike, took drugs, over- or under-ate? All self inflicted but the NHS spends masses of time and money repairing the consequences.

any reputable surgeon in the uk will not perform liposuction on somebody who is 4 stone overweight. Liposuction is for definition and stubborn pockets of fat.

by all means go to turkey as they will absolutely do it.

@lastchristmas80 When/If you and your loved ones are botched and/or undiagnosed by the NHS, remember how you drunkenly acted here. Considering 1 in 2 get cancer now, I wouldn't be so smug and make fun of people in my family who have had cancer. I'm glad you showed yourself for the abhorrent character that you are.

Do you wish all people with illnesses be shot like a horse as you do vilely put it?

I haven't used NHS for botched surgery. Who else don't you agree to wasting NHS resources?

@1AnotherOne

I think my best bet is to see a surgeon here and see if I'm too fat to be operated on.

I'm not going around feeling uncomfortable for the rest of my life. I'll even get a sleeve in the end if I have to and I really don't want to do that.

@lastchristmas80 I'm not interested in debating you. Your comment was a dick move and I reported it. End of story.

I find it utterly abhorrent that you won’t and haven’t tackled your 4 stone weight loss at the gym. Surgery is for life-limiting conditions - not habitual laziness. Get help, before it’s too late.

Wtf!

You don’t understand how debate works - that’s fine. Child burns victims are real and the cosmetic tourist trade - stealing time form genuine victims is utterly abhorrent.

No I just don't debate one-note bores whose debate technique involves stupid childish insults which fail to add to their argument in any way @lastchristmas80

Saragetssleeved experience has put me off going abroad.

Her case is in January and I am going to follow it.

I have compassion for her and I'm glad the NHS helped her. I'm sure she paid in.

If it were that simple, why is the NHS providing Wegovy at great expense to people with obesity?

What I find odd, is how people tend to research the surgeon, but tend not to research the anaesthetist. I’m married to a retired anaesthetist, and the general public tend to think that they are technicians. Anaesthetists are qualified doctors who have had to go through extensive training and passed challenging post graduate exams. They are responsible for keeping you alive during surgery, by constantly monitoring and assessing you. UK anaesthetic standards are very high compared with other countries.

Probably in the hope the absolute dopes don’t book return flights to Turkey for cosmetic procedures they can’t 💯% afford?

Thank you for changing my mind everyone. I think I should try Wegovy first.

Has anyone tried OrlistaT? That's what the GP offered? But due to my mobility issues she said perhaps not lol!

That's quite sensible. Never go under the knife if there's a reasonable alternative.

@MissConductUS Oh is that on the NHS? I asked for that and the GP offered the Orlistat and then an online weight loss thing. Maybe I should ask again

Yes, subject to specific criteria. Some people are also paying for it directly. There's a Wegovy thread on MN with lots of good information.

https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/04/accessing-wegovy-for-weight-loss-everything-you-need-to-know/

OP, in your position, and I am in a very similar position, I would try Wegovy, not Orlistat. Orlistat is offered on the NHS and stops the fat from being absorbed, but it has to come out somewhere and can end up leaking out (!) Wegovy (the obesity version of Ozempic) slows the digestive system down so you feel full longer and feel less hungry. You don't have that much to lose- 3 or 4 stone is a lot, but not sleeve territory as that's too drastic, and not lipo territory as that's not for all over weight loss. I would absolutely try to shift that 3 or 4 stone by one of the non-surgical methods (Orlistat or Wegovy, my preference would be the latter) and then see how you feel, it may be your 'stubborn' areas are not nearly as bad after that. I get what you are saying, when you are short, those stones look dramatic, but I would absolutely not travel anywhere or even contemplate surgery for that type of weight loss when there's some quite good pharmaceutical methods. With Wegovy you also have to modify what you eat, and move if you can, but it works for less active populations just fine and you can get a private prescription.

This is spot on. You know that "I couldn't possibly eat another bite" feeling you get after eating a large meal? That happens because your gut produces a hormone when your stomach is full which tells your brain to stop eating. The drug molecule in Wegovy mimics that hormone, which makes it much easier to reduce your caloric intake. It does other things too, like stimulating insulin production and slowing the passage of food through your stomach, but that's the main effect. You eat much smaller portions and it eliminates the "food noise" in your brain that has you constantly seeking your next snack or meal.

@MissConductUS @Blinkityblonk

Great advice thank you.

I'm going to go back to the GP first to ask for it as she knows about the hormone related issues that make it very difficult to shed pounds. I think last time I wasn't heavy enough to qualify for medication.

I need to find a weight loss buddy now!

I have insulin resistance though so if Wegovy stimulates it more, wont it just create more weight?

I don't think GPs can currently offer Wegovy on the NHS, only through specialist clinics and I guess for those with severe weight issues; the GP can only offer Orlistat. My guess is it will come onto prescription in the next couple of years or so as it doesn't make sense to have Orlistat and not Wegovy available, given how widespread the problem is and given Wegovy is reasonably well-tolerated by many (I mean as much as many meds given by GPs, not that it is risk-free). A private prescription is a couple of thousand I think for six months, so it's not cheap by any means but much cheaper than travel and surgery, even in Turkey.

I think asking the GP for support with weight loss and whether there's any contra-indications for any of the medications though is a good idea.

Higher insulin levels will help overcome your cells' resistance to taking up glucose. And lowering your caloric intake will start the process of metabolizing the adipose tissue.

As to finding a weight loss buddy, there are plenty here on MN.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/4907595-wegovy-started-week-ago