The secret behind Gov. Paul LePage’s weight loss is out. He recently revealed on local radio talk shows that both he and his wife Ann underwent bariatric surgery in order to lose weight.
An article in Wednesday’s Twin City Times by LePage Director of Communications Peter Steele says the LePages had a procedure called a sleeve gastrectomy.
According to the article, LePage had the surgery in September at Central Maine Medical Center because he was afraid of losing his feet due to the risk of diabetes-related circulation problems. Diabetes runs in LePage’s family, and he had been diagnosed with prediabetes.
Ann LePage had the procedure in December after struggling with weight for most of her life. They’re among a growing number of Mainers who are electing for bariatric weight loss surgery, according to the director of surgical weight loss at Eastern Maine Medical Center, Dr. Michelle Toder.
“I think in Maine there’s probably upwards of 500-600 operations performed a year,” she says.
Toder says this is just the tip of the iceberg, about 1 percent, of people who actually medically qualify for weight loss surgery.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the average cost of bariatric surgery is about $20,000. Toder says most insurers cover these procedures for people who meet appropriate criteria, but many patients are reluctant because they think it’s too extreme or that they should be able to lose weight on their own.
But for some, Toder says, surgery is a necessary tool.
“We’re not talking about someone who needs to lose 20 or 30 pounds. We’re talking about people with body mass indices of 35-40, that are 75-100 pounds or more overweight,” she says. “That population has been studied over and over and over again. And the vast majority — more than 90 percent of those people — will lose weight with behavioral change, but can’t sustain it.”
According to the Steele article, the LePages had tried different exercise and eating regimens over the years, but always gained back the weight they lost.
Bariatric Nurse Pracitioner Catherine LaPointe of Maine Medical Center says sleeve gastrectomies help achieve sustained weight loss because the procedure removes the large, stretchy part of the stomach that allows us to eat more, and leaves behind a skinny tube, or “sleeve.”
“It’s a restrictive procedure, because about 80 percent of the stomach is permanently removed. Most people will feel really satisfied after eating a very small amount of food,” she says.
Removing part of the stomach also produces a neurohormonal effect, which helps suppress appetite.
“Because it’s a very complex mechanism, we don’t fully understand it, but we do know it’s an incredibly powerful tool,” LaPointe says.
But this tool, she says, must be used in conjunction with a weight management program. Before surgery, patients work with specialists to make lifestyle changes.
“And if you can give the tools of behavior management, change in habits, proper eating style, and mindful eating techniques, and you can get the patient through a surgical procedure to get the weight off, they generally, if they stay with the program, will keep the weight off lifelong,” she says.
Though there are risks with sleeve gastrectomies, such as blood clots, bleeding and leaching from the staple line, the weight loss can alleviate other health issues.
According to Steele, LePage’s blood pressure and cholesterol levels have improved since the procedure, as has his back pain. And, apparently, the governor dug out a 25-year-old tuxedo that hasn’t fit in years from his closet that he can now wear to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
