asthma

[James Marusek 5,244]

I have been battling asthma for over 40 years. I have taken medication for this condition for over 10 years. I have noticed that after my RNY gastric bypass surgery, my condition improved. At around 3 years post-op, I reduced my medication in half without any ill effects. I am now over 4 years post-op and a week ago I ceased taking this medication completely. So far I have not felt any ill effects. So I was wondering if any others with this condition have experienced similar results. When I did a simple search on the internet, it seems like I might not be the only one.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25934136 reports research that concludes Bariatric surgery improved small airway function, decreased systemic inflammation and number of mast cells in the airways. These effects could explain the improvement of asthma control, quality of life and lung function. Therefore bariatric surgery, in addition to all other positive effects, also improves asthma in subjects with morbid obesity.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20393807 concludes Bariatric surgery decreases the intensity of medication required to control patients' asthma symptoms, although LAGB (laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding) appears to produce less significant effects. [Scale of magnitude: Among 257 asthma patients who participated in a 1-year follow-up survey, 13 of 28 who had initially used oral corticosteroids for symptom control no longer required them, while use of inhaled corticosteroids decreased from 49.8% to 29.6%.]

https://www.aaaai.org/global/latest-research-summaries/Current-JACI-Research/asthma-bariatric-surgery reports This study of 2,261 obese patients demonstrated that bariatric surgery was associated with decreased risks of emergency department visit or hospitalization for asthma exacerbation; this risk reduction was sustained for at least two years after bariatric surgery.

I find it interesting that the effect of bariatric surgery on asthma control is rarely discussed. One of the reasons why I decided to try and quite my medication was because of the extreme expense of this inhaled asthma medication. So at this point I am off all my high blood pressure medication (2 types before surgery), all my diabetes medicine (2 types prior to surgery), and now my prescription asthma medicine. I am off all my prescription medicines.