SubscribeLose Weight: Swallow a Balloon
This isn't another student prank, but an actual trial undertaken by doctors in Italy. The patient swallows down a soft silicone balloon (manufactured by Inamed Health):
Once in place, the balloon is filled with 500ml of saline through a small tube that also goes down the throat and which is attached to a self-sealing valve in the neck of the balloon.
No - not those kind of balloons!
The system was designed for people who are at least 40 per cent above their ideal weight and who have failed to get prolonged success with other weight control programmes.The description of the procedure alone is enough to put me off eating...As well as being used as a stand-alone way of helping obese people to lose weight, it can also be used to reduce weight prior to surgery. And that, say the Italian researchers, may help reduce the risks associated with surgical procedures on overweight patients.
More like this in Surgery
It seems less extreme than surgery. If I were considering surgery I think I would try this first.
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ReplyThey've been doing this procedure in Brazil, and a variation of it called the origami (cause the person has plastic folded in an origami-like shape inserted) for a while and I agree with Randy, it is less extreme than the typical weight loss surgeries. I tried to talk a 19 year old friend who had the stomach stapling done when all he needed to lose was 80lb into trying the balloon instead, but he had the stapling and is now in terrible health. He is thin, but his skin is grey from vitamin deficiencies (even with shots from the doctor every 2 weeks) and he's almost completely bald.
This is also better because the insertion doesn't require general anesthetic, so if you have someone whose health has been severely compromised by their weight, it is not as big a risk.
ReplyI think this non-invasive procedure sounds like the answer to a lot of obesity in our country .
ReplyHave no fear...it will be so expensive that only the rich will be able to afford to get it done.
Ordinary people that are obese with diabetes etc, will be the last to take advantage of it , unless we are rolling in the dough . (no pun intended)
Sign me up! This procedure sounds so much safer and less invasive than gastric bypass. Actually, I heard about this technique several years ago and I'm wondering why it's taking so long to be offered on a large scale basis. How long, exactly, does "research" take? Maybe it's because it wouldn't require a long, risky operation that requires a surgeon or two who are looking to pad their pockets at the tune of nearly $100,000 per surgery.
ReplyThis is a WONDERFUL option!!
I, myself have had gastric bypass surgery. It has been about 6 years ago, I think. I weighed 307 lbs, was 5'4", a single divorced mother with no college education and was miserable!! My lowest weight was 180 lbs.
Over the years I have hovered around 190 and sometimes as heavy as 200.. I would have the surgery over again in a New York minute! However, recovery was very, very long and painful.
My daughter is now almost 12 yrs old, about 4'10" and weighs 190 lbs. I am sooo worried about her health, her quality of life, and I know children that age can be very hurtful. This option sounds so good. It is asham that it will probably take 20 years for the U.S. to do it. The cost should not be very much for this, heck they could probably do this in the doctors office. (basically same as putting a feeding tube down the throat, HUH?)
But, what will hold this surgery back from becoming a option for morbid obesity here is the income loss to the doctors, hospitals, and the "quick fix powders, pills, book writers and who ever wants to make a quick buck from people by making them think this is the "magic cure that will make ya loose the weight". I have tried almost all of them!
These are the big money corporations who want us all to stay fat!! Just so they can bait us in to buy their "quick fixes", or the doctors who want our insurance or our money to pay for their yachts, sports cars, vacations, and homes.
Sorry, got carried away there :).
This WONDERFUL option will not be done here for another 50 years, it sounds like it will work for the patients. But, I am sure it will be held out by the money makers.
Thanks for letting me vent,
ReplyMary Beth
The cost and pain during recovery for bypass surgery is so expensive why not consult a doctor from Italy.
ReplyThe Balloon process may save you pain, poor health,
and $25,000 to $75,000 dollars.