Worried about long term effects :( ghrelin hormones

[Jenny12 361]

I am completely confident in my decision to have this surgery, EXCEPT the unknown of the long term effects. Mostly concerned about the loss in the Ghrelin hormone. And yes i know other parts of the body release this hormone, but i imagine a LOT of it will be gone with this surgery. Can anyone calm my mind about this?

[missbecky82 4]

I have the same concerns as you. I did read this somewhere, " Only about 70% of the Ghrelin is produced in the actual fundus of the stomach, so it's not a total removal of the hormone." Still, I'm concerned about the long term effects. If anyone else has insight, it would be greatly appreciated!

[geno5150 168]

No one really knows for sure as ghrelin itself hasn't been studied a whole lot over a long period of time. They have been removing entire stomachs for years in cases of cancer and severe ulcers with the patients living long and fruitful lives, so I'm not all that concerned. The long term effects of being a fatso aren't that great, so how much worse can it be?

[lucky8mb1 167]

That is a big concern for me as well. I was reading about some sort of relationship between ghrelin and memory. For awhile, all I could think about was early onset Alzheimer's happening as a result of my surgery.

I know a lot of hormones can be replaced synthetically, so I'm hoping if there is some sort of cognitive side effect from the surgery - there's a chance that medication therapy may help.

[Robyn Owens-Miille 132]

stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, losing toes (or worse), kidney failure, loss of eye sight, knee replacements, hips replacements....

I'll take my gamble on loss of ghrelin over all the side effects of being super morbidly obese, having high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and diabetes.

[geno5150 168]

They have noticed a correlation between increased ghrelin and improved memory, but nothing suggests lowered levels have an opposite effect. They don't even know why or if this correlation means anything.

That is a big concern for me as well. I was reading about some sort of relationship between ghrelin and memory. For awhile, all I could think about was early onset Alzheimer's happening as a result of my surgery.

I know a lot of hormones can be replaced synthetically, so I'm hoping if there is some sort of cognitive side effect from the surgery - there's a chance that medication therapy may help.

[lucky8mb1 167]

I understand there's nothing definitive. I was just pairing the potential relationship with the fact that there aren't really any long term studies available on the VSG surgery. The unknown can be scary - at least to me! I felt it needed to be part of my decision making process. I'm still going through with the surgery on Monday. Still nervous about the unknown, but you can't expect much else from a Type-A, planning, control freak.

[fyre_storm 1,412]

There's no long term in America however in Australia it's been used for 20 years or so.

[BeGuiled 36]

..oops..

....misread an answer in posts and had quoted it..

Edited December 7, 2012 by beguiledb4

[Jenny12 361]

Where can I find some documentation stating this has been performed for 20 years in Australia? I can't find anything saying such a thing.

[fyre_storm 1,412]

It's tricky because they end in .au instead of .com so just keep searching on yahoo

[taurabird 142]

Medium chain fatty acids (coconut and palm fruit oils) from the diet are required to "activate" ghrelin so it can interact with its receptor GHS-R1a I believe it is called. This receptor then turns on the release of growth hormone which is responsible for a lot of things such as bone mineral density, memory and learning as well as many other things. The thing is that I found so cool about the science behing Ghrelin is that we really don't know much about it. One thing we do know is that 90% of the ghrelin in circulation of a average adult is not "activated" and can never interact with the growth hormone recptor. So if you get enough medium chain fatty acids in your diet you can increase that 10% "activated" number easily because the normal western diet is dreadfully low in these MCFA. Medium chain fatty acids examples are coconut oil and palm fruit oil. It is fatty acids that have between 8 and 12 carbons in its chain, that is what makes them medium instead of short or long chained.

[NtvTxn 1,262]

My step mom had a good portion of her stomach removed probably 35 years ago due to ulcers. She was not heavy, but she lost weight. Not as much as we do, because we have so much removed so we CAN lose weight, for her it was more of a side effect. she is now 82 and other than being diabetic, she is like more women her age. She and my dad married in '92 and she has always been thin, and she was not diabetic, but was diagnosed after she was in her 70's. Weird, weight played no part in it for her. Anyway......I don't know anything about long term studies, but people like her have been having this done for decades, I guess.