Weight

My surgeon is Dr Remzi, and he is the best on pouch redos and repairs. He told me never to put on weight after the surgery.

When i got sick i lost 90 pounds in about a month and a half. Then after surgery i felt better and i ate everything i could get my hands on because i was starving to death. Unfortunately i put on a bunch of unwanted weight. Now my surgeon wants me to lose 30 to 40 pounds before my 2nd surgery.

The surgery is technically easier to perform (and thus a bit safer, with better results) with less body fat. Some surgeons take this too far, and deny people necessary surgery because they aren’t able to lose the weight. IMO the best surgeons make it a conversation rather than an edict.

My surgeon would not cut me until I lost 10 pounds. From 172 to 162. I think what he said to me was that excessive adipose tissue increases the likelihood of such things as accidentally cutting the nerves that control sexual function resulting in permanent impotence, which does happen in a very low percentage of cases. He said it's easier to do the surgery at a lower weight. At the time of my surgery he was considered the best colorectal surgeon in the USA, had done thousands of J Pouches and the very first K pouch surgery in the USA. So I listened and dropped the weight. 

Keep in mind I was probably only 10 pounds overweight to begin with, but he was known as a stickler and wouldn't surgery me until I lost the weight which wasn't easy to do taking 60 mg prednisone a day. But I did it.

Bodyweight variances, whether they be higher or lower can shift things around in there. I have a K pouch, an abdominal stoma with a valve (which would be the equivalent of your rectum). Whenever I gain or lose weight, the valve shifts and so does the pouch...which can wreak havoc on functions.

I am assuming (maybe wrongly) that sudden or severe weight losses or gains can cause problems with J pouches too.

I was told to find a comfortable body weight and to stick to it...but facts are facts...the heavier you are, the riskier the surgery, Both on your heart and on the anesthetic...so, the trick is to go into surgery at your fighting weight, but to be able to maintain it post-op.

Surgeons have preferences, and some just do not wish to take the risk of operating on someone who is overweight...it can lead to all sorts of complications, and rarely, death...

Dr R, who had a whole wing at Palms,  was the beloved specialist of all BCIR patients and one of the few devoted specialist surgeons in N.A. who did the BCIR pouches.

He resigned after having lost a patient due to post-op complications linked to his patient's obesity. 

It is just riskier.

For both the patient and the surgeon.

Sharon

Ya i just need to get my diet right and lose the weight. I started back jogging today so thats a start. Im pretty bummed that i let myself get this fat but after starving with uc it was like i just couldnt stop eating.

I understand...after years of depriving yourself and living in fear of food, it is so nice to be able to let go and eat.

But it catches up with us, fast...our bodies like to hang on to all of those calories, never knowing if starvation is going to happen again...So we seem to get fatter, faster. 

It is unfair...but do you best...