Can you help a Doctor out?
Mea Culpa
First off I think I should start out with an apology. It seems someone (me) got the summer doldrums. I just checked and realized I haven't sent out a newsletter for almost a month!
Yikes! I
wish I at least had a good excuse...like I was away on a fantastic
vacation for the last 2 weeks, but no I have been here in good old NJ
thru almost all of August. I did go up to
Lake George,
NY for three days before Labor Day, but that doesn't excuse a whole month without an update!
Anyway I am back on the job, and guess what... I need a favor! How is that, you haven't heard from me in a month and I am asking for a favor! And wait, it gets better... I need a favor from patients who haven't even had surgery yet!
A Little Background
If you are currently in the pre-operative stages and you have diabetes I am enrolling patients in a study. First a little background.
As
faithful readers know I am quite passionate about the difference this
surgery makes in peoples lives, but the thing that excites me the most
is the effect this surgery has on diabetes. In the bariatric community we have known for some time that gastric bypass can cure diabetes (and yes you read that right... cure... not just treat diabetes), the question is how? There are a lot of theories but in reality we just don't know the exact mechanism, which brings me to my favor.
Calling All Diabetics
If you have diabetes and have not yet had surgery I would like to give you the chance to enroll in our little study. You will be helping us to shed a little light on the whole question of how gastric bypass cures diabetes.
We are looking to enroll 100 patients over the next year. Without getting too technical we will be measuring blood levels of certain hormones before and after gastric bypass. Our theory is that these hormones have something to do with the resolution of diabetes after a gastric bypass.
If
you enroll you will have an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test before the
surgery and at 6 months after the surgery, and several other routine
blood tests. For those of you who don't know, an
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test involves drinking a measured amount of
sugar and then doing some blood tests over the next hour and half to
see how your body responds.
I
don't want to get too bogged down with details in the newsletter, but
essentially if you decide to help us out with the study it will involve
several blood tests before and after your surgery (several of which you
would have anyway after the surgery).
So
to summarize we are looking to enroll diabetic patients who are having
a gastric bypass into a study to help us understand how this surgery
helps cure over 80 percent of diabetics.
If you are interested please contact my physician's assistant Joan at: joan@gsbwc.com. If you drop her an email she can call or email you with more specific details.
Thanks for reading, and hopefully helping me out with some research J
Michael Bilof
drbilof@gsbwc.com
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