Weight loss: What it's like to have bariatric surgery as a teen. - Slate

Two months after my 17 th birthday, I got bariatric laparoscopic banding surgery: A reversible, inflatable device was placed around the top portion of my stomach, creating a smaller “pouch” and limiting the amount of food I could consume.

The procedure had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for adults, but given the increasing obesity rates among children, the FDA sought to test this surgery among adolescents in a financed study.

The document advises that the families of children as young as 2 years old receive intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment as a preventive measure against possible obesity, and recommends medication or surgery for older kids who have been unable to reduce their weight with other efforts.

As I drove to work last week, I listened to an episode of the New York Times’ The Daily on the guidelines, in which medical reporter Gina Kolata acknowledges that not every child with a high BMI will have health problems and, moreover, that insurance often won’t pay for less-invasive options like counseling or even semaglutides like Wegovy.

After an upper endoscopy, I found out I had gastritis, esophagitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease, all of which are potential side effects of the lap band, because when you have a small stomach and a constricted opening, food and acid can have trouble going in the correct direction through your body.

It was then I realized that the surgery that was supposed to cure my obesity problem had done a poor job of addressing the underlying issue, which comprised a tangle of mental health and environmental challenges.