Weight Loss Surgery
People that are morbidly obese have a higher rate of medical problems which presents the rationale for more extreme measures to control weight. The co-morbid conditions may increase dramatically as weight increases. Some of the co-morbidities that can become life-threatening illnesses for obese patients include: Heart disease, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Gallstones (usually associated with cyclic weight loss), Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD or recurrent heartburn), Ventral Hernias, Stress Urinary Incontinence, Frequent Urinary Tract Infections, Menstrual Irregularity, Infertility, High Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Degeneration of Hip and Knee Joints, Disc Herniation, and Chronic Nonsurgical Low back Pain.
Below you will find a breakdown of the BMI measurement once it is calculated, in terms of how it appears to your health:
Less than 18.5 - Underweight
18.5 to 24.9 - Considered healthy and low risk
25 to 29.9 - Overweight, considered moderate risk
30 to 39.9 - Obese, considered high-risk40 to 50 - Morbidly obese, very high-risk
50 and over - Super morbidly obese, extremely high-risk
Defining clearly that a patient is morbidly obese is very important and this diagnosis is used to guide physicians in the selection of therapy for people who are overweight. Broadly speaking, one is morbidly obese when he or she is so heavy that the fat tissue load creates or has the potential to create a negative impact on the rest of the body.
Roughly, individuals are usually morbidly obese if their weight is more than 100 pounds in excess of the Ideal Body Weight (IBW). A more exact way to define morbid obesity is to use the Body Mass Index (BMI) which can be calculated by your health care provider.
Morbid obesity is a chronic disease, meaning that its symptoms build slowly over an extended period of time. An estimated 5-10 million Americans are considered morbidly obese. Obesity becomes "morbid" when it reaches the point of significantly increasing the risk of one or more obesity-related health conditions or serious diseases (also known as co-morbidities) that can result either in significant physical disability or even death.
There are several medically accepted criteria for defining morbid obesity. You are likely morbidly obese if you are:
more than 100 lbs. over your ideal body weight, or
have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40, or
have a BMI of over 35 and are experiencing severe negative health effects, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, related to being severely overweight unable to achieve a healthy body weight for a sustained period of time, even through medically supervised dieting