Best Virginia Bariatric Surgeons

Overweight
Being overweight or obese means your weight is above an ideal weight range. Excess weight creates increased risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and other serious illnesses like diabetes. One tool used to estimate ideal and overweight ranges is called the body mass index (BMI). This scale determines weight ranges based on height. BMI levels include: Ideal weight range: 18.5-24.9Overweight: 25.0-29.9Obese: 30.0 or aboveMorbid obesity: 40 or above (35 and above with current health condition like diabetes or high blood pressure) There are slightly different categories for teens and children.

Muscular Dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy is a group of inherited, progressive muscle disorders. All forms cause progressive weakness and degeneration of the muscles that control movement. Some also affect the heart or other organs. Age of onset is between infancy to adulthood. The different forms include: Duchenne dystrophy (the most common)Becker (a milder form than Duchenne)Myotonic muscular dystrophy (can have its onset in late adulthood)

Heart Failure
In heart failure, the heart is unable to pump the right amount of blood throughout the body. This causes blood to back up in the veins. Depending on which part of the heart is affected most, this can lead to a build up of excess fluid in the lungs, feet, and elsewhere. Heart failure can worsen with time, which may lead to the use of many treatments. Because of this, doctors are aggressive in treating heart failure to try to prevent it from worsening.

Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes complicates about 3%-5% of all pregnancies-affecting approximately 200,000 women each year in the US.

Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that begins during pregnancy and usually resolves after the baby is born. According to the American Diabetes Association, women who already have a diagnosis of diabetes , prior to becoming pregnant, would not be classified as having gestational diabetes.

Heart Attack
A Heart Attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is interrupted. This deprives the heart muscle of oxygen, causing tissue damage or tissue death. Other names for heart attack include coronary attack, myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion.

Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing stops for brief periods of time while a person is sleeping. These episodes of interrupted breathing last anywhere from 10-30 seconds at a time, and may occur up to 20-30 times per hour. Over the course of a single night's sleep, this can mean up to 400 episodes of interrupted breathing.

Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a disorder caused by autoimmune distruction of the insulin secreting cells of the pancreas resulting in the body's inability to produce sufficient insulin to meet bodily needs. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows the body to use sugar for energy. Without insulin, glucose (sugar) from the carbohydrate food you eat cannot enter cells. This causes glucose to build up in the blood, leaving your body cells and tissues starved for energy. While a variety of tissue transplantation techniques are under development and some genetically-based treatments have been proposed, at this point in time, the only widely-available treatment for type 1 diabetes is the injection of insulin.

Type 2 Diabetes
Related Media: Diabetes - Your Management Plan

Type 2 Diabetes is primarily a disorder in which the cells in the body are not responding to the high levels of insulin circulating in the body. The body becomes increasingly resistant to insulin. In end-stage type 2 diabetes, the beta cells of the pancreas are not producing enough insulin.

In Her Own Words: Living With Type 1 Diabetes


Diabetes Insipidus
There are two forms of diabetes insipidus (DI): Central diabetes insipidus (Central DI)-caused by inadequate antidiuretic hormone (ADH)Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI)-due to renal cells in the kidneys not responding to ADH