Bariatric surgery in Mexico

[Chuckanut]

A family member is considering having bariatric surgery in Mexico.

She is very overweight and it is causing her problems. After years of trying to lose weight she has decided that something called the gastric sleeve is her best option.

It seems that her insurance considers the surgery cosmetic and won't pay for it. She can't afford the $20,000 the local doctors want for the surgery so she heard that she can get it done in Mexico for about $5000.

Does anybody have any experience or knowledge about getting this surgery done in Mexico? It is a complete mystery to me and I am concerned on many levels.

If you want maintain privacy please send me a message via this forum.

 

[Out of Steam]

One issue I see is that bariatric surgery seems to require a variety of screening and aftercare, including psychological.

She would need to make sure she has a plan for that.

 

[zinger1457]

Some insurance companies do cover bariatric surgery. Is waiting until the end of the year and switching to an insurer that covers it an option?

 

[Tetto]

It's the least difficult of the surgeries available, as the resected part of the stomach is removed. From a replumbing perspective, people do very well as you retain all of your small intestine, keeping digestion the same. Your overall volume for food goes way down, you eat much less food and as a result, lose weight quickly. She must follow her surgeons instructions *precisely* in order to recover well and stay healthy.

 

[athena53]

I confess to having watched too many episodes of "My 600-lb. Life" but having no medical credentials at all. The doctor in this series always puts prospective patients on a 1200-calorie a day diet and won't recommend them for surgery till they've shown they can lose weight on their own. It's possible to overeat and gain the weight back even after surgery so he wants to see the motivation and ability to change eating habits. Sometimes that does require counseling to find out why the person is driven to overeat (a sad number include childhood traumas).

The other issue is that if the surgery and lifestyle changes are successful, the excess loose skin can be disfiguring and uncomfortable. That requires additional surgery to remove and a long recovery period.

 

[KB]

Your family member should check Obesity.com website. MANY people have gone to Mexico and had gastric surgery with excellent results. There are numerous people that post about their surgical experience on that website.

 

[Lisa99]

Have 2 friends who went to Mexico for gastric sleeve. Both surgeries were about 5 years ago. One lost about 60 lbs and has kept it off. The other initially lost but gained it all back.

Make sure she understands the risks of the surgery. Some end up with permanent acid reflux.

 

[KB]

Actually the website is Obesityhelp.com and there is a section on surgery in Mexico.

 

[kcowan]

I have a contact in PV who went through with the surgery 10 years ago. She lives fulltime in Mexico. PM me if you want her email.

 

[mystang52]

I confess to having watched too many episodes of "My 600-lb. Life" but having no medical credentials at all. The doctor in this series always puts prospective patients on a 1200-calorie a day diet and won't recommend them for surgery till they've shown they can lose weight on their own. It's possible to overeat and gain the weight back even after surgery so he wants to see the motivation and ability to change eating habits. Sometimes that does require counseling to find out why the person is driven to overeat (a sad number include childhood traumas).

The other issue is that if the surgery and lifestyle changes are successful, the excess loose skin can be disfiguring and uncomfortable. That requires additional surgery to remove and a long recovery period.

The italicized portion is an excellent point for OP's family member to take into account. If the cost of bariatric surgery is an issue, then (s)he must also consider cost of skin removal surgery.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

A family member is considering having bariatric surgery in Mexico.

She is very overweight and it is causing her problems. After years of trying to lose weight she has decided that something called the gastric sleeve is her best option.

It seems that her insurance considers the surgery cosmetic and won't pay for it. She can't afford the $20,000 the local doctors want for the surgery so she heard that she can get it done in Mexico for about $5000.

Does anybody have any experience or knowledge about getting this surgery done in Mexico? It is a complete mystery to me and I am concerned on many levels.

If you want maintain privacy please send me a message via this forum.

I wonder if they do hair transplants for 75 % off? im going to google it right now

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Unbelievable, they say in Tijuana save 70 % off of American prices for top quality hair replacement. Im going to see if i can find reviews.

 

[athena53]

Remember, too, that bad outcomes happen even with good doctors and good clinics. If something goes wrong in Mexico there will not be an attorney emblazoned on a billboard with a 1-800 number, eager to take your case on contingency.

 

[Fedup]

My kid's roommate lost 50lbs by following her, eat less or smaller portion kind of thing. Immediately, problem with her feet went away. My kid used to tell me her roommate couldn't walk. I thought it was kind of odd for somebody so young. This roommate was 250 lbs since 8th grade. I'm always never want to do surgery of any kind, if I can help it. There's always risk.

 

[Tetto]

A family member is considering having bariatric surgery in Mexico.

She is very overweight and it is causing her problems. After years of trying to lose weight she has decided that something called the gastric sleeve is her best option.

It seems that her insurance considers the surgery cosmetic and won't pay for it. She can't afford the $20,000 the local doctors want for the surgery so she heard that she can get it done in Mexico for about $5000.

Does anybody have any experience or knowledge about getting this surgery done in Mexico? It is a complete mystery to me and I am concerned on many levels.

If you want maintain privacy please send me a message via this forum.

Does she also have diabetes? High BP? Often, bariatric surgery resolves these two issues. The mechanism is not known, although many white papers have been written, there never been a decisive indicator.

I would be very careful going to another country for surgery, standards are very different in some cases. If she does choose this path, she should make it known clearly that she wants brand new instrumentation used in her surgery. Reprocessing of single use instruments and selling them back to the hospital for a fraction of original cost is big business. It's also fraught with dirty, non properly sterilized or packaged instruments. I'd look a bit harder in the US for a good surgeon who will work with her in payment.

 

[Breedlove]

Yes , a very good friend of ours had the surgery done in Mexico . I don't know exactly where but he did have success after a ( very small ) infection that his Waco hospital told him could also happen in the states . He weighed over 300lbs and 3 years later he weighs around 170 today.

 

[audreyh1]

Does she also have diabetes? High BP? Often, bariatric surgery resolves these two issues. The mechanism is not known, although many white papers have been written, there never been a decisive indicator.

I would be very careful going to another country for surgery, standards are very different in some cases. If she does choose this path, she should make it known clearly that she wants brand new instrumentation used in her surgery. Reprocessing of single use instruments and selling them back to the hospital for a fraction of original cost is big business. It's also fraught with dirty, non properly sterilized or packaged instruments. I'd look a bit harder in the US for a good surgeon who will work with her in payment.

BP is often reduced when weight is lost.

There have been studies that indicate that following an extremely limited diet (very low calorie) like the shakes that are given after bariatric surgery, resolve diabetes. This may be due to the fat lost in both the pancreas and liver. The pancreas fat loss (~1 gram) and the pancreas insulin cells work normally again for diabetic patients. The initial Newcastle study suggested that too much fat accumulated in the pancreas may be the cause for Type 2 diabetes, and that losing that fat reverses it. A control group of non-diabetic obese patients showed no pancreas-fat decrease when they lost similar amounts of weight. In their study 8 weeks was sufficient to return the pancreas and liver to health. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160322080542.htm

 

[Tetto]

BP is often reduced when weight is lost.

There have been studies that indicate that following an extremely limited diet (very low calorie) like the shakes that are given after bariatric surgery, resolve diabetes. This may be due to the fat lost in both the pancreas and liver. The pancreas fat loss (~1 gram) and the pancreas insulin cells work normally again for diabetic patients. The initial Newcastle study suggested that too much fat accumulated in the pancreas may be the cause for Type 2 diabetes, and that losing that fat reverses it. A control group of non-diabetic obese patients showed no pancreas-fat decrease when they lost similar amounts of weight. In their study 8 weeks was sufficient to return the pancreas and liver to health. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160322080542.htm

Sure, I don't doubt it for a minute. However, I work closely with some of the most prolific KOL's in bariatrics and the resolution of these co-morbidities is almost magical in most people. This is true mostly in Roux en-Y procedures as well and a variety of sleeves. It's a well known "side effect" of this surgery. It's always best in these cases to "stage" the patient either with gastric plication, or intensive diet regime or other means. It's a difficult disease for these poor folks.

There was a time when some thought we had a "cure" for type 2 diabetes; omentectomy! It turned out to be non-viable

 

[Chuckanut]

Does she also have diabetes? High BP? Often, bariatric surgery resolves these two issues. The mechanism is not known, although many white papers have been written, there never been a decisive indicator.

She does have High BP as well as back pain and some joint pain. It's a lot of extra weight to carry around. No sign of diabetes yet, but one has to think that will be in her future along with other problems if she cannot get her weight down. FWIW, she comes from a family of very chubby people.

 

[Bamaman]

My step daughter is what we like to say "big boned," and her weight creeped up year after year. She'd diet and diet and get down to maybe 185 lbs--only to gain 20 lbs. around Christmas time.

She went under the care of a bariatric surgeon in Norfolk, VA that's done 1000's of such surgeries. He had weight loss nurses, psychologists and other professionals that put her through a protocol of diet and maintenance. They were trying to make bariatric surgery as a last resort.

After nothing else worked, they did surgery and she lost a great amount of weight. She was also put into a followup program I'll relate to being like a 10 step program for alcoholics. So many morbidly obese people are indeed food-a-holics.

After awhile, most of bariatric surgery patients' weight creeps up. Few that have the surgery are ready to eat 5-6 meals a day with 2 tablespoons of food. Having such a surgery is a lifestyle change that very, very few people are willing to follow.

Flash forward 20 years, and our daughter's probably around 200 lbs. She has a chronic B12 vitamin deficiency, and is not really in very good health for a 49 year old woman. She's had a number of orthopaedic surgeries--last of which was last week for a thumb problem. Her bones are simply like that of an old woman. And we contribute most of her physical problems to having bariatric surgery.

This surgery is to be avoided unless other health issues absolutely require weight loss. There are just so few people that are mentally prepared to live the lifestyle forever, and it's just a temporary fix only to have the old habits return a short time later.

 

[broadway]

Her bones are simply like that of an old woman. And we contribute most of her physical problems to having bariatric surgery.

I am not getting the correlation between the bariatric surgery and her bad bones and her other physical problems.

 

[Bamaman]

Many bariatric patients simply do not take in enough nutrition to maintain strong bones, etc. It's also very difficult to maintain a balance in blood chemistry.

My wife is a long time Medical Technologist, and she's convinced that bariatric surgery does not produce healthy people in most cases. Of course, many extremely obese people are morbidly obese--facing a short lifespan.