This Procedure Is Effective In Putting Diabetes Into Remission And Promoting Weight Loss
by James Coulter
Eight years ago, Maria Rivera, a respiratory therapist at Poinciana Medical Center, weighed more than 200 pounds. She was also borderline diabetic and developing several co-morbid conditions such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides.
Facing an urgent need to improve her health, she opted to undergo surgery for a mini-gastric bypass, which would better enable her to eat less food, especially unhealthy food.
Eight years later, she lost 80 pounds (about 70 percent of her excess weight) and has since been taken off all of her medication. She continues to maintain a healthy weight with a healthy lifestyle with normal blood pressure and cholesterol.
“I have kept off the weight and I no longer take any medication, I take only vitamins,” she said.
Rivera is one of many patients who improved her health by receiving a mini-gastric bypass, a medical procedure provided by Poinciana Medical Center in Kissimmee by Dr. Cesare Peraglie.
Dr. Peraglie discussed the procedure, answered questions and concerns about it, and briefly offered advice on weight loss and healthy eating during a weight loss seminar hosted at the hospital on Wednesday.
Dr. Peraglie is a double board-certified surgeon who, since 2003, has performed over 3,000 laparoscopic procedures including revision surgeries for prior failed lap bands and sleeve gastrectomies.
During his hour-long seminar, he entertained a small room of nearly 50 people, informing them about the procedures he offers and answering any of their questions and concerns through lively discussion.
Bariatric surgical procedures are divided into two categories: restrictive, which limits the amount of food the stomach can intake, mostly by reducing the stomach’s size, and malabsorption, which limits the food that the intestines can absorb by “bypassing” a portion of them.
Min-gastric bypass is a combination of the two types, as it creates a long narrow “sleeve-like” pouch and bypasses a portion of the small intestine. This allows patients to eat less food and have less of their intake absorbed into the body, thus promoting weight loss.
Aside from restricting food absorption and intake, the procedure also creates hormonal changes, which in turn changes how the body reacts to certain foods, especially “unhealthy” foods that are high in sugar and fat.
As such, if a patient who received the procedure decides to engage in bad eating habits, they will experience “dumping syndrome” and may experience several negative side effects such as cramps, loud stomach gurgles, bloating, sweats, and bathroom emergencies.
So if a patient eats unhealthy, greasy food, they may experience several negative side effects such as cramps, loud stomach gurgles, bloating, full sweats, and bathroom emergencies.
Another notable hormonal change is the increased production of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), a hormone that acts like insulin, makes the cells within the pancreas bigger, stronger, and more productive, and changes the lining within the bowels to better absorb sugar within the blood stream, Dr. Peraglie explained.
“What do you do to fix it?” Dr. Peraglie said. “Don’t eat sugar. This will keep you in check. You will change your diet.”
By changing how their bodies react and absorb foods, especially sugar, this procedure prompts patients to change their eating habits, which in turn allows them to not only lose weight, but in many cases control their diabetes, to the point where the condition nearly reverses itself.
“It is the most effective treatment for diabetes,” Dr. Peraglie said. “Because of the hormonal effects that are triggered by the surgery, I am able to get people off their insulin sometimes within days and have occassionally had people off their insulin pumps in a week or two.”
Many of his patients who received this procedure experienced “powerful” results. The procedure is statistically effective towards promoting 75 percent excess weight loss, 90 percent effective in remission of diabetes, and almost 90 percent effective in the reduction of high blood pressure, he said. However, as with any medical procedure, results vary from patient to patient.
Best of all, unlike many other bariatric procedures, which are often permanent, mini-gastric bypasses are reversible and revisable, which provides an exit strategy if too much or too little weight is lost, or if patients experience weight regain.
While most of his patients focus on weight loss, Dr. Peraglie tends to focus on overall better health as the measure of success. His patients may enjoy losing weight, but to him, better health is more than a number on the scale, he said.
“There are many things you have to look at when you want to consider success,” he said. “It’s not just about losing weight – it’s about being healthy, feeling good, and having an improved quality of life.”
Poinciana Medical Center is located at 325 Cypress Pkwy, Kissimmee, FL 34759. For more information about upcoming medical lectures and events, visit their website at: https://poincianamedicalcenter.com/
