Peripheral Neuropathy

About a month ago, (where have I been? it's been a busy month!) I wrote about bariatric surgery. It's an option I'd been considering until I started doing some real research and have become more and more convinced it's not for me. I got a comment from a reader who suggested I read up on peripheral neuropathy (PN). I'd heard of it before and kind of understood what it was but didn't get the connection between it and bariatric surgery. Then I began reading.

I knew that neuro had to do with nerves and so figured it must relate to touch, the ability to move, and so on.

Because every peripheral nerve has a highly specialized function in a specific part of the body, a wide array of symptoms can occur when nerves are damaged. Some people may experience temporary numbness, tingling, and pricking sensations (paresthesia), sensitivity to touch, or muscle weakness. Others may suffer more extreme symptoms, including burning pain (especially at night), muscle wasting, paralysis, or organ or gland dysfunction. People may become unable to digest food easily, maintain safe levels of blood pressure, sweat normally, or experience normal sexual function. In the most extreme cases, breathing may become difficult or organ failure may occur.

Wow, that's bad stuff!

The commenter suggested I look into the research published in the AMA. I fought this article. They compared groups of really heavy people who'd had abdominal surgery--bypass compared with gall bladder surgeries. They found that patients having gastric bypass were more likely to develop this PN.

"People who had had bariatric surgery were significantly more likely to have PN than the people in the control group," Dr. Dyck said. "The most common PNs were carpal tunnel syndrome and sensory neuropathy, but a small number had a more severe form of PN which can lead to extreme pain and weakness, sometimes confining people to a wheelchair."

"The risk factors that we found correlated with PN included very rapid weight loss, not taking vitamins and prolonged nausea and vomiting. Factors including age, gender, pre-surgery BMI and general health had no association," Dr. Dyck said.

The doctor seemed to imply that the patients got PN because they didn't go for nutritional counseling after surgery. I don't know if that's so or not. I did get that you can get PN because your body's not absorbing the vitamins and minerals it needs. I think that should be emphasized strongly!

I read some more on bariatric surgery and will write more later. So far, Weight Watchers is going well for me and my daughter. We'll stick with that!