Ghrelin not Gremlin

Explaining my reasoning for having Bariatric Surgery is a question that's kind of hard to answer. Mostly because I don't have a simple pocket-answer for the person I run into at the store or inquiring friend online. My answer is long and kind of emotionally involved. But mostly I could say...because I need to.

One important thing that I would tell people about my particular procedure (Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, not Gastric Bypass) is that there's a little more to it than just eating small meals forever. Unlike Gastric Bypass, the Sleeve is not considered a 'malabsorptive' procedure. Meaning, if I take my vitamins appropriately I shouldn't have problems with nutritional deficiencies or problems absorbing medications down the road. It's simply a 'constrictive' procedure, meaning I will eat small amounts of food but my body will process them normally just like anyone else. With one exception, the absence of Ghrelin.

Not Gremlin. Like Gizmo.

Ghrelin is the a hormone produced in your stomach that works to tell your brain when it is empty. When they remove 2/3 of my stomach next week, they will also remove most of the area that produces Ghrelin. My body will not feel hunger, at least not in the same way.

This has me pretty excited about this procedure, not because of the awesome idea of not feeling hungry. Okay, that will be pretty great. But also because I'm pretty sure my Ghrelin levels have been messed up for some time.

I saw a published study about the affects of sleep deprivation and Ghrelin hormone production that suggests the two are directly inverse of each other. This came right on the heels of the sleep studies I did this fall, which revealed I have a severe case of sleep apnea. The sleep doc said my case was 'alarming' given my age.

After talking through my sleep history and sinus problems with the sleep doc, he thinks it's possible that I've had it since childhood. I do too. I've always been a bad sleeper. When I was younger I even had many cases of sleep walking and nightmares, an as adult it just manifested into a perpetual sense of exhaustion.

But until I had the sleep study I had no idea. I stopped breathing 24 times in the course of one hour.

The sleep doc said that obesity doesn't CAUSE sleep apnea. He was careful to make sure I understood that. What it does do is grossly exaggerate the condition. The fatter I got, the worse it got. The less sleep I got, the more Ghrelin my body produced and the hungrier I felt during the day.

When it comes to medical things, there comes a point in which you just have to know what's going on inside your body. I now know without a doubt that this is what was happening in mine.

So now I sleep with my lovely beautiful life-changing C-pap machine and my life is already different. I don't think I've ever slept this deeply, not even in childhood. There's no guarantee from the sleep doc that losing weight will ever mean I can go without it, and honestly I don't care. If I have to wear it every night for the rest of my life I will.

And the Ghrelin part of my equation gets resolved as a side affect of the surgery. I will be eating very small amounts and it will be enough to feel satisfying.

 And that will be....ahhhh, an intense relief.