Q: I am 40 years old, 105 kg in weight and 167 cm tall. I suffer from diabetes and hypertension. I am taking Glizid 40, Envas 2.5, and Glucoformin. My weight is not reducing. My sugar and BP levels are normal but I feel very hungry. I wanted to know if gastric bypass or gastric-banding surgery would be good for me?

A:You are requesting surgery for weight loss. You have to be evaluated for any endocrine cause for your excess weight. You should, under a nutrition specialist, have a balanced diet of 1300 calories. A physical trainer should supervise your exercise. You should persevere with this for a period of six months. Only if you do not lose weight, then surgery can be considered. Banding of the stomach is the simplest and can be reversed. Gastric resection and enteric bypass is indicated in severe form of obesity (BMI >40). Your BMi of 37.6 places you in the borderline group and surgery would be indicated only if there is a concomitant heart disease or other metabolic factors to make the grade for morbid obesity. Few surgeons are doing this surgery in India, using the laparoscopic technique. One has to carefully consider surgery as the last option as surgery and the consequent weight loss can cause a number of problems.