The answer to this question is Yes! Yes bariatric surgery do reverse diabetes.
So here we had Mr. Amar Kumar 42 yrs old morbidly obese patient who walked in our hospital. He underwent Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass in 2014. At that time he weighed 116 kgs and his HbA1c was 13%.
What is HbA1c ?
HbA1c is glycated haemoglobin. It gives an overall picture of your average blood sugar levels over a period of 3 months. For people with Diabetes, the higher the HbA1c, the higher the risk of developing diabetes related complications.
So now you must be clear what is the importance of HbA1c in diabetic population. Mr. Kumar along with Type 2 Diabetes was also suffering from Hypertension/high blood pressure, OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) and joints pain. It became difficult for him to sleep at night and walk properly due to excessive weight that he was carrying.
He was on 100 units of Insulin twice a day with 4-5 different oral medications for diabetes apart from medicine for high blood pressure. He surely wanted to change his life therefore he decided to undergo Bariatric Surgery. He was guided properly on what is a Bariatric surgery and all his queries were solved.
The results of Mr. Kumar followed by Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass are :-
- 1 month post surgery– He went off insulin and diabetes medications. His anti-hypertensive medicines were also stopped. He lost 18 kgs in one month and dropped down to 98 kgs. His OSA also vanished and was able to sleep properly without snoring.
- 3 months post surgery- His HbA1c was 8% and weight dropped down to 85 kgs. His joint pain was gone and he was able to live a pain free life. Again no medications for diabetes and hypertension. He was able to perform exercises, climb stairs without breathlessness.
- 6 months post surgery- His HbA1c dropped down to 7% which is a good indication as his blood sugars were controlled.
- 3 years post surgery- He weighed 76 kgs, he had lost 41-42 kgs, his blood sugars, blood pressure were normal.
- 5 years post surgery- His HbA1c is less than 7% no medications for diabetes, hypertension. His weight was 70 kgs.
After going through the above mentioned and viewing his video, you will be able to understand how Bariatric Surgery changes life. It is a life saving surgery as it changes the metabolism of your body leading to remission of diabetes, hypertension; weight loss and the list goes on.
More than 1000 obese patients have underwent bariatric surgery who were suffering from type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure and post surgery they are off the medications of diabetes and hypertension hence living a new healthy happy life.
Author:
Garima Kapoor
Clinical Nutritionist and Diabetes Educator
InstaGram – nutritionistgarimakapoor
