When obese lose weight from surgery, common side effect is divorce
By Sue Vorenberg / Scripps Howard News Service
Yvonne Lovato admits she was skeptical when doctors told her that a common complication of gastric bypass surgery was divorce.
Two years after her surgery, she knows better. Divorce was just one of the many complications the surgery held for the 34-year-old telecommunications worker. She has been in and out of the hospital so much since her October 2002 procedure that she says she�s afraid she might lose her job.
�Along with gall bladder surgery and hair loss, divorce really is a thing that can happen after this surgery,� said Lovato, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M. �The doctors told me what happens is the husband gets afraid � they�re married to this large person, and suddenly they don�t know what they�re going to be like anymore.�
Across the nation, as rates of gastric bypass surgery increase, knowledge of its side effects and wariness about them is growing. In the 1990s, U.S. doctors performed about 16,000 of the surgeries a year, compared with about 103,000 in 2003, according to the March 11 New England Journal of Medicine.
Most doctors admit the medical side effects can be hard to deal with, but when weighed against the consequences of staying obese, they become much more reasonable, said Bob Ferraro, medical director for Southwest Endocrinology�s Weight Management Diabetes Program in Albuquerque, N.M.
�When somebody doesn�t intervene and is severely overweight, there�s a whole list of conditions that start to happen or get worse,� Ferraro said. �The most common by far is diabetes. People also get hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, joint disease and arthritis.�
The risks for some cancers and heart attacks also goes up dramatically, he said.
Lovato decided to get the surgery in 2002 because, at 5-foot-4 inches and 292 pounds, she couldn�t ride the Dumbo ride at Disneyland with her 4-year-old daughter. She realized her weight wasn�t just embarrassing, but might prevent her from seeing her daughter grow up.
Lovato was careful, did her homework and decided to go to an experienced hospital in Lubbock, Texas. Two years later and 150 pounds lighter, she says the procedure has had its desired effect.
But the costs were much higher than she ever thought.
�I�ve been in and out of the hospital for dehydration, my gall bladder went bad, I had folic acid and B12 vitamin deficiencies,� she said. �After going back to work, I found out I had hernias, and they were in a place that I had to have immediate surgery. I�ve had hair loss and a lot of pain.
�And during all this, my husband left me for my best friend.�
Losing a spouse over the surgery might sound strange, but the weight loss can change the dynamics in a relationship. Obesity often makes people self-conscious and lowers self-esteem. As that changes, the social dynamics around the obese person also change, said Joel Yager, a psychology professor at the University of New Mexico who specializes in eating disorders.
�People who are very obese have told me they�re embarrassed to take a plane or go out in public,� Yager said. �Some can�t fit into a car and can�t get behind the steering wheel. That lifestyle can be very stifling.�
The consequences of obesity � and the depression and social isolation it causes � make the risk of the surgery far more acceptable for some people who have unsuccessfully tried diets and exercise, Ferraro said.
�The surgery really is a last resort and fraught with risks � but individuals and care providers need to weigh it against the risks of disease without it, and the person�s quality of life,� Ferraro said.