Cancer

[A.Positive]

I was on another forum a few days ago and chap posted a thread that intrigued and worried me greatly.

He wrote that he regretted his bypass; a year after his surgery he lost all his teeth and was diagnosed with cancer. He felt that it was due to malabsorption. He went on to say that he should have tried harder to lose the weight without intervention.

I of course Googled for more information and found the following text:

Weight loss surgery tied to colon cancer risk | Reuters

This is by no means meant to scare anyone but it really did make me think. I know now that I am still in the early stages of planning, its important to have all the facts and pick through what makes sense and what is utter nonsense.

I would be interested to know what the more educated (in relation to WLS) among us think.

 

[scnewbie]

Omg that's awful. I've never heard of such thing, it may be a complete coincidence. Im in total shock after reading that. But I've honestly never heard of it before I've done alot of research and am getting the band in August. I wonder if anyone else has heard of this??

 

[Yvessa]

I am aware anecdotally that many of us have low immunity at around 1 year to 18 months due to the sudden weight loss. As cancer is essentially the immune system going bonkers it does seem reasonable that we may in the short term be at higher risk. However as this immune system issue is due to hormones it stands to reason it could happen regardless of how we lost the weight.

 

[Jaywill]

Wow... I'm worried now

 

[Lincs Lass]

The figures in the article say 80 in every 100,000 women who have had surgery 'will' develop colorectal cancer.That works out (I think) to 0.08 in every 100. I wonder out of those, if malabsorption is a main factor, have not been careful to follow the medically advised diet for someone after bariatric surgery and have not taken the medications prescribed. But then the study doesn't state which surgery the people they have studied have had which would help re: the cause with the band not causing malabsorption.

I'm not dismissing this at all and am no expert medically whatsoever. Just my 5am ponderings. It has made me stop and think I need to put more thought into my daily diet

 

[happy days]

The figures in the article say 80 in every 100,000 women who have had surgery 'will' develop colorectal cancer.That works out (I think) to 0.08 in every 100. I wonder out of those, if malabsorption is a main factor, have not been careful to follow the medically advised diet for someone after bariatric surgery and have not taken the medications prescribed. But then the study doesn't state which surgery the people they have studied have had which would help re: the cause with the band not causing malabsorption.

I'm not dismissing this at all and am no expert medically whatsoever. Just my 5am ponderings. It has made me stop and think I need to put more thought into my daily diet

I would take a guess that those 80 may have a chance of getting it either way. That is a very in educated guess as I know very little about the awful disease.

 

[femfrankie]

Yes I am aware too of the slight chance of this happening (I research too much! ) but as my rate of survival with my weight was a lot lower I am willing to take on that risk. I agree too with what Lincs Lass and Yve said and also the fact that post bypass your protein which is usually meat based increases... Colon cancer wasn't called the butchers disease for nothing.
All you can do I suppose is make sure that you eat your veggies and roughage to keep things "moving" smoothly x

 

[Rubymuzz]

Try and put things into perspective.

In my experience, whilst going through the decision process of having WLS, I found that any negative story or account I read about would automatically happen to me. With the term “knowing my luck" ringing in my ears!

But for every negative outcome there are thousands of positives.

The main change in my mind set from going through this process is that I am going to be a healthier person, its not about how much weight I could lose any more. If your healthier because of the surgery then you have a better chance of a longer and happier life.

Balance the information that’s out there in making your decision and try to take out your emotions because at the end of the day being seriously overweight puts us at higher risk of dying and to discount surgery because of a minor risk such as this could prevent you from achieving your dream.

Its an individual choice at the end of the day and this is only my opinion which works for me.

Good luck on your journey!

 

[happy days]

Try and put things into perspective.

In my experience, whilst going through the decision process of having WLS, I found that any negative story or account I read about would automatically happen to me. With the term "knowing my luck" ringing in my ears!

But for every negative outcome there are thousands of positives.

The main change in my mind set from going through this process is that I am going to be a healthier person, its not about how much weight I could lose any more. If your healthier because of the surgery then you have a better chance of a longer and happier life.

Balance the information that's out there in making your decision and try to take out your emotions because at the end of the day being seriously overweight puts us at higher risk of dying and to discount surgery because of a minor risk such as this could prevent you from achieving your dream.

Its an individual choice at the end of the day and this is only my opinion which works for me.

Good luck on your journey!

Well said Ruby

 

[A.Positive]

Wow... I'm worried now

Hugs I really didn't want to worry anyone. Nor did I mean to like your comment.

Thank you all for your replies, you have helped me put it into perspective and I also thought that it would have been useful to know what the post-op diets were like.

 

[Lincs Lass]

I think it's sensible to be aware of all the pros and cons as well as possible cons.

I'm grateful to you for posting this as it has made me have a good think about ensuring I'm sensible rather than just pottering around without thought xx

 

[Bookie]

I lost both my parents to cancer, so I'm already at higher than average risk, but I refuse to let that dictate my life.

As for weight loss, well, with diabetes, high-blood pressure and heart problems running in my family, the way I see it, it was take my chance with a controlled procedure which is well documented, or leave things as they are and very likely die quite young, so I took the lesser of the 2 possible evils.

You can live to worry about what may or may not happen, or you can live each day as it comes, I know which one I choose.

 

[emmten]

I too have comorbs, hypertension (stroke at 42) and arthritis causing me pain and preventing exercise, so will take on the risk. The same applies as when I decided on wls, there is a bigger risk staying as I am. Saying that I did decide against the bypass because I didn't want the issues associated with malabsorbtion. Some discontinued bypass techniques were also associated with pancreatic cancer.