We have all heard about crazy diets such as the grapefruit, pickle, Atkins and so on. Well there is a new diet on the market…brain surgery. Now we can all eat what we want until we get nice and plump. Then we will just get brain surgery to help us stop our cravings.
As technology advances so do our outrageous ideas. It used to be when someone was overweight, they would go on a healthy balanced diet and hit the gym a couple of days during the week. Now people are having their skulls drilled into.
Carol Poe of West Virginia was recently the second woman ever to undergo deep brain stimulation for weight loss. Before the surgery, Poe age 60 that stands 5’2 weighed 230 pounds. At Poe’s highest, she weighed a staggering 490 lbs.
Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of West Virginia University’s department of neurosurgery, stated that Poe was a great candidate for this clinical trail approved by the FDA. During the three- hour surgery, Poe was awake. They drilled into her brain and inserted wires that carried electrical impulses into her brain. The wires were linked to a pacemaker device that was implanted in her chest. Over the months to come, doctors will increase the voltage going into Poe’s brain. One week after the surgery, Poe had lost 3 lbs.
It is very important that we continue to expand our knowledge about the human body and the way it works. However, spending money on such clinical trails I find to be a waste. None of us were born overweight. I understand that it can be extremely difficult for those that are, but whatever happened to the tried and true way of just eating healthy? It’s not a mystery of how to lose weight… but were not sure yet how to cure cancer. What is more important?
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2 comments:
I agree that it is a waste of money to perform clinical trials on such a study. I am also all for the advancement of knowledge in general, but this study seems to be outrageous. It seems that even if people do benefit from the surgery, that the risk of such surgery greatly outweighs the benefits. Even if a brain surgeon perfects his skill, how many people will actually be able to take advantage of such a surgery; I'm assuming that the procedure would be quite expensive, and that it would be pretty tough to acquire support from insurance companies.
I have to agree; what is the cost for getting thin? Brain surgery...I mean come one. How far will we go to get thin? My question would be what are the side effects associated with this type of surgery? Implanting electrical impulses into one's brain can not be safe. Once again, we are taking the easy way out instead of working hard for something. Wouldn't it have been better to provide this woman with information on how to change her eating habits, instead of brain surgery?
It also amazes me that she went through this extensive procedure, yet she only lost 3 lbs. That is the same amount of weight she could have lost on her own by eating healthy and exercising. This will be just another option people will take to lose weight instead of actually working to get the weight off.
Because of the failures of so many diet fads, shouldn't we search for other options instead of promoting surgical procedures, like gastric bypass and now, brain surgery? Wouldn't it provide more and a healthier quality of life to teach people to take the weight off the right way and keep it off. Many people who try these types of extreme procedures aren't able to keep the weight off, so wouldn't their quality of life improve by knowledge?
I also agree that this is a huge waste of money. Wouldn't this type of experimental surgery be best served on other diseases, like cancer or alzheimer's, instead of weight loss? Is the quality of life better for a debilitating disease or for weight loss?
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