T1d weight loss surgery

[HaveToChange]

After some advice, I’m going round in circles. I’ve name changed.

I’m a type 1 diabetic. Find it incredibly hard to manage my weight and glucose levels. I think I want to have weight loss surgery and then a breast reduction and tummy tuck (would pay privately) But don’t even know if I can do this as a type 1? Consultants just say they don’t advise it for type 1s but I don’t feel like I can live like this for ever more.

No one really to ask these questions, and feel my queries aren’t really that important in the grand scheme of things at the moment, so don’t want to see gp.

What would you do?

The worry would be that you will be at high risk for infections following the surgery due to high sugars. If you decided to go ahead it would be really important to have your glucose levels as close to target as possible for the surgery and until you were healed after. I know that’s easier said than done. Have you tried Libre or cgm to help you with levels?

I guess the other thing to think about is making sure that where does the surgery is able to manage your diabetes safely during the surgery.

What is your management and general levels?

I had elective surgery a few years ago, I do have generally steady levels, I did have to prove this before I had surgery. Diabetics with not great control are at a significant risk of complications during and after surgery. I wouldn’t be surprised if you find it difficult to have surgery privately, there are far far more considerations when a type one diabetic has surgery, plus we are more likely to require a stay in ICU afterwards.

With weight loss surgery would your reduce stomach capacity have a negative impact on managing your diabetes?

What’s your management plan now? Do you have a pump/CGM?

Thanks for the replies. My glucose levels are rubbish, I can get them down and be quite good but can only do it if I’m obsessed with it all and generally I can’t manage it for longer than about 6 months. I’ve had a Libre for about 2 years now. It’s great and no way would I want to go back to finger pricking but unless I’m feeling really motivated I just use it to test and am not bothered about the graphs, trends etc. Feel like I would be able to manage it all better if I ate less (I seem to graze) the surgery would help with that. But from the replies above it seems they may not be prepared to do surgery if my control is poor. Truly rubbish. Feel so down about it all.

Why not book an appointment with the surgeon and discuss your options. At least then you know where you stand and can work from there. If the surgery is an option then that might be your motivation for improving your glucose levels. Sustained motivation is so hard but having something that you’re working towards might help. I would break what you need to do up into smaller more manageable bits. For example decide that you are just going to focus on breakfast time. Don’t worry about making changes to the rest of the day until your breakfast levels are consistently better and without too much stress then pick another part of the day to focus on. Small steps are much more sustainable.