2 Your Health: Diabetes gone after weight loss surgery

Doreen Giordana is on a mission. She wants to live.

At her highest weight she topped the scale at more than 275 pounds and suffered from diabetes. Her worst fear was that she would not live to see her grandsons grow up.

"I want to be able to - i am going to get a little teary-eyed here i want to see them grow up and i want to be able to go out and play ball with them."

She had tried several different weight loss programs and diet plans.

"I have tried pills i have tried the south beach diet modified zone. I might take off 5 pounds but then i put on 10 its just a vicious cycle"

Already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but fearing other diseases, she accepted the recommendation of Medical University of South Carolina surgeon Dr Karl Byrne to undergo Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Gastric bypass and other types of weight-loss surgery, collectively known as bariatric surgery, make surgical changes to the stomach and digestive system that limit how much food a person can eat and how many nutrients you absorb, leading to weight loss.

"If a type 2 diabetic if they have a gastric bypass procedure is likely to be cured 83 percent of the time and sometimes very quickly."

14 days after gastric bypass surgery, Giordano is walking up to 6 miles daily, shows no sign of diabetes, and has lost 22 pounds. Registered nurse Geri Johnston says the change in diabetes status happens quickly.
"I expect that within the next month or 2 months she will be off her medication and so she will be essentially cured of her diabetes basically all the symptoms of diabetes will be gone."

Giordano's reduce stomach will only allow her to eat about 2 tablespoons of food per day, but she knows the long-term success of gastric bypass surgery depends on her ability to make permanent changes in your lifestyle

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By: CAROLYN MURRAY