Report on another icky effect of WLS

[firecat]

From the medical journal Neurology (article is here but requires subscription).

Excerpts: excerpt:

After gastric bypass surgery [...] vitamin B1 deficiency can lead to Wernicke encephalopathy, a severe neurological condition.
[...]
In the study, a 35-year-old woman developed many difficulties after gastric bypass (bariatric) surgery for obesity. Difficulties included nausea, anorexia, fatigue, hearing loss, forgetfulness, and ataxia, or an inability to coordinate muscle movements. By the 12th week following surgery, she had lost 40 pounds and had difficulty walking and concentrating.
[...]
An MRI scan showed abnormal signals in various parts of the woman's brain, indicating a deficiency in vitamin B1. Also known as thiamine, vitamin B1 is essential for carbohydrate metabolism and normal functioning of the nervous system. When her intravenous dose of vitamin B1 was increased to 100 mg every eight hours, her eye muscles gradually returned to normal and her confusion decreased.

Eleven days after her dose of vitamin B1 was increased, a follow-up MRI scan showed the abnormal signals had decreased.

Comments

[keryx.livejournal.com]

And the sad thing is, almost no one who promotes the surgery as a 'cure for obesity' is even going to bad an eye. Just take intravenous vitamins, they'll say... sure, for the rest of your life if you have to. It's so much healthier than being fat!

[firecat]

Here's what really troubles me. The woman was 35. That's very young, and I'd bet good money she had nothing more wrong with her than high blood pressure, if that, and she was told to have WLS so she would avoid developing weight related health problems in the future.

I haven't read the original article, but the blurb I saw about it makes it look like this condition required her to have an IV (not just a regular injection) for eleven days.

Having to inject vitamins with a needle is a nuisance (people who've had, e.g., colon cancer surgery sometimes have to take them), but at least it's not a nuisance 24 hours a day. But having to drag around an IV for eleven days? That's fucked.

[tedesson.livejournal.com]

And that 11 days may be just the beginning..