Would you consider private bariatric surgery with a BMI of 30?

[Miababe]

I've been recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea and have a CPAP machine. This has been a big shock to me and scary. I also have high BP which is controlled with medication and osteoarthritis in my hips/hands though mildly, but does feel uncomfortable every day. I know I need to lose 3 stone in order to have a chance of coming off of CPAP for good. I have a BMI of 30.

I find it really difficult to stick to any diet because I have complex needs kids and get tired etc. I know I should persevere and lose the weight with will power but it would need to be lifelong.
I understand that private hospitals/clinics do not have to stick to the NICE guidelines when it comes to BMI eligibility for bariatric surgery so with my BMI at 30 but with co-morbidities I could be accepted for the band or sleeve. Do you know anyone who has gone private and had these done with a BMI of 30? Would you if you were in my position?

Can you focus on changing what you eat op rather than calories etc? Something like Zoe programme? That would give you more energy. It's not a quick fix but it would be the most sustainable and most likely to keep the weight off in the long run. It does cost but much cheaper than WLI.

Your dietician wants sacking, that is such terrible advice. I cannot believe a medical professional would advise surgery over trying the injections/ pills first. With GLP-1s, you are totally in control of what you eat so it’s actually pretty easy to make sure you get the nutrition you need. Of course there are those who don’t do that and end up sick but that’s a small number of users. Also, if the GLP-1s don’t agree with you and the side effects are too much, you can just go off them. Not so with surgery, you’re stuck with it for life and even when it stops working, may cause you issues.

Would a surgeon even operate on someone with such a relatively low BMI?

All surgery carries risks and I know someone who died because of his bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery also has a 60 percent regain rate.

imagine being so ill informed and bad at your job as a dietician you advise someone for risky surgery v very safe drugs, them talk absolute shite about malnutrition, which is even logically a higher risk with surgery.

I thought you had to have qualifications to be a dietician.

your dieticians view is probably party personal/biased based on people referred to her because they've developed nutritional problems, she may have a more negative impression than obesity doctors who see hundreds of patients many who have more positive success stories.

Did she talk about pro and cons of surgey vs injections for your specific circumstances, what she would recommend and why? What type of nutritional deficiencies she has seen? The positive benefits from reduced inflammation etc. Unless she has specialist training in the area it is likely she is speaking outside her role and expertise.

I wouldn’t dismiss the injections from her ‘opinion’, speak to someone more qualified.

@KitcheKitcheyayaI’m sorry you’ve had such struggles. My experience has not been quite so bad, and I’m not malnourished. But I certainly hear you about wishing the jabs had come along a few years earlier.

My doctor’s practice is usIng wli at lower doses. Instead of going up as fast as possible, we stay at the lowest dose until we plateau and only then do we increase. It keeps side effects low and forces you to make lifestyle changes along the way. This is something they started based upon some studies that were done on effective ways to use the medications.

its not the fast weight loss some people get, but it works. I highly recommend it.

The catch is that it costs more to be on the drugs longer. Not everyone has that flexibility.

My friend had her sleeve three years ago and is still very overweight. She eats high fat foods and then feels sick.
Wli didn't suit me but I've lost 6+ stone using nutricheck. I had sleep apnea but it's gone now. I'm bmi 27 from 43.

Same with my friend. I lost 3 stone on Wegovy.

Gonna be a hell of a lot easier to eat a nutritious diet on weight loss jabs than it would be after bariatric surgery. I genuinely had no idea it was even possible to obtain bariatric surgery at a BMI of 30.

@KitcheKitcheyayai hope you don’t mind me messaging to ask why your experience has been to recommend others not to? I am now at almost at the point of getting a date for my sleeve and am having doubts. Please any advice and I’d really appreciate it. Or even anywhere else on mumsnet I can ask? I’ve looked and can’t seem to find any threads on side effects or advice. Many thanks.

@friedaddedchilliplease do tell me of your experience too if you don’t mind. I want to make an informed decision. Sorry to hijack the thread!

@MakeMineAMilkyTeathank you for your post above which I read with interest. This is fascinating to me and terrifying, I’m about to be offered my date (in clinic today they suggested two dates) but I’ve got cold feet. I can’t find any threads dedicated specifically to the after effects or whether people regretted surgery years later. What would you advise? Should I come off the waiting list and try injections - my issue is cost and I have used them but can’t sustain the costs. I spoke to the clinic and asked to be transferred onto the injection pathway and they said no because I have nothing medically wrong with me. It’s so depressing!

Why not WLI instead?

@Squirrelchops1I hope you don’t mind me asking what other side effects the people you know who have had surgery have had? Has their experience been positive overall? Sorry to hijack the thread, as said above I’m struggling to get any informed experience from people who have had the sleeve done. Many thanks

Honestly, I couldn't advise you. I'm not qualified. I can only say that for me, knowing what I know now, that if the jabs had been around, I'd have done everything to make them work for me before having surgery.

@tipsyravenoh my god, someone who died! How and why?

@friedaddedchillithank you for replying. I’m so grateful to have some human feedback on this as opposed to my endless internet searches. Has your experience been unpleasant?

I would definitely take WLI rather than have surgery.

I’m a student dietitian and my obesity lecturer says the GLPs are some of the best drugs to come out of pharmaceuticals in a very long time. Malnutrition is caused by people not eating the right diet while on the jabs not the jabs themselves - therefore you could easily avoid it.

Bariatric surgery has a much much higher risk of malnutrition than the jabs. Up to 30% to 50% of bariatric patients develop deficiencies, compared to about 13% to 22% of patients using jabs. So your dietitian friend appears to be a hack.

@oliviaAustinhow interesting that your lecturer said the drugs were great. Maybe it’s worth being broke to get those instead of surgery. I wonder if they’ll come down in price at any point. So you’d advise against surgery? I’m so scared about awful acid reflux, gall bladder issues and nausea if I went ahead and worried I’d never be able to enjoy a meal again with my family. It scares me it’s irreversible 😭

I would really question this, you are far more likely to have malnutrition from surgery and surgery is not something that necessarily last forever either.
If I was you I would consider the jabs, at least you can stop them if there are side effects and if you eat smartly and don't go on ridiculously low calories you can avoid any risk of malnutrition. Surgery should be your last option. I personally have been in your shoes - not necessarily with sleep apnea but a very high BMI and considered surgery for many years. I've now lost 1/3 of my body weight and am the the strongest/healthiest I've been since I was a teenager.
The pancreas/gallbladder issues are high risk for surgery also. The problem is rapid weight loss not the type of weight loss. Meta studies show you are at no higher risk on the jabs than the wider population.
For your sleep apnea, see if you can get referred for breathing physio. There have been some recent studies that show patients given therapy for breathing and working on their muscles in throat and mouth, have had significant reduction in sleep apnea symptoms without needing CPAP.

There's pain and far, far higher risk of mortality in surgery even before you take into account that it's irreversible and can still end up with malnutrition and/or no ongoing reduction in weight.

With WLI, yes, there is a risk - there are risks with everything - but you can stop them. You don't have to be post surgery or somebody who has used them to see that.

Try MJ first. I had a sleeve but my BMI was much higher. I don’t think I’d have such a drastic op without trying the jabs first. They weren’t out when I had my sleeve otherwise I’d have tried them first.

Bariatric surgery is wildly more risky and also barely more successful than the jabs. I'm confused that OP was advised that jabs were riskier than surgery.