Entries Tagged 'Health Care' ↓

On medical issues, there are different ways of interpreting events. Go back ten years and the question of surgery for weight loss – the so-called bariatric surgery – was viewed as an extreme response to the problem. In some senses this represented caution on the part of surgeons who wanted to ensure the procedures were safe. But it also reflected a desire to encourage people, wherever possible, to achieve weight loss through their own efforts. The concern was that, if people had proved incapable of controlling their intake of food before eating, they might continue to eat unwisely and undo the surgeon’s good work. For this reason, access to surgery was limited to cases where individuals were more than 40 BMI or more than 35 BMI if their health was adversely affected. More importantly, people had to demonstrate a genuine effort at weight loss before surgery would be authorized. This always involves dieting, an exercise routine and use of one of the anti-obesity drugs. Continue reading →

Everywhere you look, there are more and more stories about the risks to the health of overweight people. It has not yet begun to match the continuous assaults by the Surgeon General on smoking (have you seen some of those pictures of people with cancer? – gross). But you know that the more weight you carry the greater the risks of diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. Unfortunately, these drum beats have lost their power to drive us to fight in the war against those pounds. We have all heard it before, tried the “I’m dieting” T-shirt on for size, and yo-yoed up and down a few pounds just to join the “I’m proud” movement to make the best of a bad job. If it was easy to lose weight, everyone would be thin. Anyway, it turns out there’s yet another set of disorders threatening the overweight. It’s called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It’s been around for as long as people have been sleeping, but it’s only surfaced as a serious health problem during the last few decades. The first signs are unmistakable. It’s that really loud snore. The one you can hear as you walk down the street. The snores go like a buzz saw for a time, then there’s a period of absolute silence. If you were observing the sleeper, you would notice that he or she has actually stopped breathing. This can go on for as long as a minute. Then, with an effort, the chest heaves and breathing begins again. Continue reading →