Weight & Smoking in Relationship to Medical Intervention and a Laporoscopy
From: Bev (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Fri Feb 8 11:08:25 2002
Weight & Smoking in Relationship to Medical Intervention and a
Laporoscopy
Telling a patient that their weight is the reason for lack of success of
a medical treatment, especially to treat an infection, is a poor excuse
for a Dr. to use. It is equally unprofessional to discuss such a thing
with that patient when other people were visiting in that room! It tells
me that this was a very unprofessional and uncompassionate Dr.
A systemic infection can be treated by IV antibiotics and/or oral
antibiotics. If there is difficulty placing an IV into a vein, they can
do a cut down into a vein, or a thoracic infusion,
(they place a shunt into the vein in the chest) they can also shunt the
carotid neck vein to give an antibiotic. Different % of adipose tissue
can be located in different areas of the body, so there is usually a
place to introduce an IV if needed.
Weight can offer problems in a laporoscopic procedure as the insult of
gasses placed in the abdominal cavity has to be increased to lift the
extra weight in order for the physician to have adequate working space.
The more gas needed to create that working space also places pressure on
the heart and diaphragm, and can cause the patient to become
unstable..the anesthesiologist is monitoring the vital signs and will
tell the surgeon to back off on gas as they see it creating pressure on
the lungs and heart. Of course this reduces the amount of space to work
in and at times a surgeon may have to resort to a laporotomy as the
possibility of perforating an organ is increased. It CAN and IS done
all the time.
Increased adipose tissue can also decrease the healing of wounds as
infection can get into the adipose tissue and create a very serious
condition called, " cellulites" and is difficult to treat to the point
of healing. It can be done though!
Many people are overweight by 50lbs or more, and many patients are still
able to go through a laproscopic procedure.
People who smoke can also go through a laporoscopic procedure, but that
too increases the potential for problems. Lung capacity is decreased,
the O2 levels in the blood compromise healing and they may have a
difficult time converting CO2 in the lungs and rid it from their body.
People can lose weight and they can stop smoking, but it is a difficult
thing to do when your battling a chronic physical condition that leaves
one with emotional, psychological needs that are mostly the result of
poor medical intervention! When it is painful such to sit up in a chair
for 5 minutes, who is going to start walking a mile a day, or swim, or
ride bike or pump up at the local gym? I do have to agree that IF an ARD
sufferer is able to do that, then MAYBE they should before their ARD
symptoms get worse as when ARD symptoms escalate to the point of
decreasing activity due to excruciating pain levels, it is near to
impossible to do anything remotely associated with exercise! forget
using protein drinks too try to lose weight as they cause
constipation..and an ARD sufferer knows what THAT causes!
I also know ARD sufferers who were underweight and never smoked in their
lives, and some of them did not survive an adhesiolysis!
I think I know what you were trying to say here, Sally, but it sounds a
bit harsh to say you have a relative who is overweight but you still
love her. Of course you love her, who wouldn't love someone just
because of how they are built, or their appearance?
I have siblings who are: heavy in girth, thin as a rail, tall as a
telephone pole, redheads, brunettes, blonds, short, loud, smoke, drink,
(and not just H2O), and some of my brothers are balding and I love them
all exactly as they are!
I am overweight by statistics 50lbs or more..I am considered morbidly
obese by all standards. My cholesterol is high. I do not smoke, never
have. I enjoy a wine now and then. I am agile, I am fast in my
movements. I can touch my toes without bending my knees. I go strong
and steady from 6PM - 10 pm, I bowl once a week, I walk short distances,
I hike when we are on our camping trips..
and yet to look at me one would think I sit an eat " bon bons" all day.
( Actually, I wish I could at time)
I predominantly live on rice and scrambled eggs.
I CANNOT eat salads or most vegetables. I cannot eat meat, I seldom eat
bread products..I eat NO gravies or sauces at all, I love the thought
and taste of Chinese foods, but my body doesn't! I do indulge in it now
and then, but only at home.
I have no social life such as going out to a restaurant! I have no hair
on my arms and legs, , and I am losing hair all the time, my gums bleed
when I brush my teeth, and not from any periodontal disease. I suffer
nausea much of the time due to NOT eating nutritional foods, or not
eating all day or even for two days sometimes!
You might say that I posses the ability, knowledge and responsibility to
change my eating habits and ultimately increase my nutritional status.
Yup, Dr.s tell me to TRY to eat better and lose weight, and they DO know
the reasons why I cannot accomplish that task. I wish I could as the
symptoms that linger from my years of suffering ARD have taken their
toll on my body and those symptoms I live with will never be compromised
through any medical intervention. I live with the residual damage of so
many surgeries for adhesions!
What type of medical condition would not allow for a balanced meal that
could lead to weight loss?
Try this: Urinary and bowel incontinency and gastroesophogeal reflux
disease!
A slice or bread, or dinner roll can cause such burning and pain in your
chest very shortly after ingesting it! Sauces, gravy anything with a
spice in it..well, doesn't take a rocket scientists to figure out what
that feels like as it travels down an excoriated ( raw) esophagus! Raw
or cooked vegetables, salads, legumes, oleo, oatmeal, cereal, soups,
potatoes.FRUIT..aaagghhh! These things create lose stools, increase your
fiber content to assist with evacuations...add that on an already
nonfunctioning bowel and guess what you have...a diapered 50 year old
lady who throws up spontaneously due to reflux!! LOL! Think that getting
gas from raw vegetables or beans is tough, think about the results of
those foods creating a VERY fast reaction as it goes in one end and
directly " shoots " through your system on it's way out the other
end..and yes, just as painful as when you have gas!
Try to take a long walk when you have this " symptom" from a non
functioning intestine. Forget swimming or excersing! I stopped
attending social dinner engagements after I spontaneously regurgitated
my food during a dinner party at a very nice restaurant where we went to
entertain clients of my husbands! I tried to say no, but I gave into the
prodding of everyone wanting me there..they all said that nothing could
stop them from wanting me there..well guess what?
I do NOT go out to eat socially..and that is why I enjoy my Chinese
meals at home..nice and close to my bud, " John!"
Oh, if your thinking that a SURGERY might help my intestines and urinary
bladder problems, then you not as educated about ARD as you might think
you are! I will live with these LITTLE inconveniences in my life verses
the pain of adhesions I had for to many years! These things are real,
but I have accepted them in my life and have made concessions to live
with it ..to have my pain decreased by 95% from my adhesiolysis with Dr.
Reich and Dr. Vadali is worth every minute of life as I have to live
it, no matter how I have to live!
Life offers me NO problems, if someone doesn't like how I look, don't
look at me, if you don't like what I have to say, don't listen to me, if
you don't live what I live then don't tell me how I SHOULD live it! And
if I cannot be offered high quality medical intervention because of my
weight then I guess I am doomed to die, so be it! IF I needed to secure
a high quality surgery in my future, then I am sure that the surgeon who
I elect to perform it will be skilled enough to do it..weight or no
weight!
Oh, I almost forgot! I WAS this same weight when I presented to Dr.
Reich for my life saving adhesiolysis he performed on me in April
1999!!! Go figure!
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