NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
It's no secret that bariatric surgery can help morbidly obese patients lose weight, but now doctors believe it may also cure diabetes, a potentially deadly disease.
For her entire adult life, 42-year-old Rachael Poff struggled with her weight.
"My weight just fluctuated for years, peaks and valleys. I would lose the weight and I just couldn't keep it off," said Poff, a mother of one and nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes she was desperate to improve her health.
"I literally cried. Being a nurse, I knew the implications of what and how it just changed my life immediately," she continued.
Last April, Poff decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery at Vanderbilt to shed pounds and hopefully cure her diabetes.
Gastric bypass surgery works by reducing the size of the stomach so a person can't eat as much but it seems to also have a side effect of normalizing blood sugar.
"When you reroute the bowels, you do get a hormonal change in the way the bowel handles food and that does tend to produce very rapid resolution of diabetes," Dr. Ronald Clements explained.
Exactly why the surgery sends patients into remission is somewhat of a mystery but in most cases, patients are off their medications within weeks of having the surgery.
That was also the case for Poff.
Ten months after having gastric bypass, she has lost 140 pounds and no longer has to take any medication.
Poff used to weigh 286 pounds and now weighs 146 pounds. She once wore a size 26 and has now dropped to a size six.
"I can go shopping and buy something off the rack now, which I was never able to do before," she exclaimed.
Best of all, Poff can now play with her seven-year old daughter.
"Just recently I was at a birthday party with my daughter at a bounce house. Before, she would constantly beg me to come bounce [and please] do these things. Well just this past Saturday, I was with her at the party and I was climbing and bouncing and sliding and acting like a seven-year-old. She had a lot of fun with that," Poff said, adding. "She often wonders where all the fat went."
For Poff, her surgery was not only life changing but life saving.
She's kept the weight off by dieting and exercising regularly.
Poff, who has never been a runner, is now training for her first half-marathon this April.
"My goal is just to finish," she said.
Bariatric surgery costs thousands of dollars but is covered by insurance in most cases.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center offers free online seminars to learn more about the procedure.
Read more at VanderbiltHealth.com.
