general anesthesia for weight loss?

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MedicinePowder

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That thread about general anesthesia for treatment of drug abuse got me thinking in terms of possible uses of general anesthesia for other than surgery. What if u could lose weight over night? What if there was a 'magic pill' for weight lose?

Can u put someone under general anesthesia, feed them minimally, rev up their metabolism under the most stringent conditions, monioring the patient as carefully as noted in the opiod-detox thread, and wake up the patient three days later 15lbs lighter? Schedule for a second session a month later for another 15lbs? I know, this sounds nutz, the ethics of it highly questionable but i thought at least an interesting concept. And trust me, u won't have a shortage of patients signing up.
 
MedicinePowder said:
That thread about general anesthesia for treatment of drug abuse got me thinking in terms of possible uses of general anesthesia for other than surgery. What if u could lose weight over night? What if there was a 'magic pill' for weight lose?

Can u put someone under general anesthesia, feed them minimally, rev up their metabolism under the most stringent conditions, monioring the patient as carefully as noted in the opiod-detox thread, and wake up the patient three days later 15lbs lighter? Schedule for a second session a month later for another 15lbs? I know, this sounds nutz, the ethics of it highly questionable but i thought at least an interesting concept. And trust me, u won't have a shortage of patients signing up.
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dude...if somethign like this ever happened to be....you would be money.

what about a pseudo-MH environment. The only thing is , the pt may die !
 
Flawed concept from the get go.

The loss of weight will be water and muscle mass. The homeostatic mechanisms of the body would preserve fat while "burning" muscle mass.

If you could find the drug/hormone recipe to induce fat loss while providing a protein sparing effect....the patient wouldn't have to got to sleep for 3 days.....hell, they wouldn't even have to work out...just take the pills.

Short cuts in life generally don't work well as well as the direct route.
 
I read about a research drug once called DNP that is a mitochondrial uncoupling agent that resulted in extreme fat loss of about 2-3 pounds per day while sparing muscle tissue.

Although the potential side effects were Hyperthermia dehydration and death. lol the FDA pulled the drug. but its still around for research on rats.

Footnote:

Role of uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) expression and 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in modulating adipocyte apoptosis

XIAOCUN SUN and MICHAEL B. ZEMEL1
Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

1Correspondence: Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, 1215 W. Cumberland Ave., #229, Knoxville, TN 37996-1900, USA. E-mail [email protected]
 
usnavdoc said:
I read about a research drug once called DNP that is a mitochondrial uncoupling agent that resulted in extreme fat loss of about 2-3 pounds per day while sparing muscle tissue.

Although the potential side effects were Hyperthermia dehydration and death. lol the FDA pulled the drug. but its still around for research on rats.
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I'm pretty sure DNP = dinitrophenol. People who use herbicides would know it as 2,4-D, a potent weedkiller. I've read somewhere that in the 50's the Soviets dabbled in using dinitrophenol to keep their soldiers warm during the winter, as it essentially causes non-shivering thermogenesis. There is an article about it on Uptodate, I believe.
 
They still use 2,4 D as mosquito repellent or weedkiller or something up in the bayou in LA. At least one of pt I saw still used it! Fogged it right off his pirogue.
 
I read some more about this....apparently it was a sold as a popular weight loss drug in the U.S. in the '30s. It was one of the drugs that prompted the formation of the FDA to protect consumers from harmful quack remedies.

The first link that comes up on Google when you search for Dinitrophenol is a page on a bodybuilding website, and 3 of the 5 "sponsored links" are diet drug links.

http://www.quackwatch.org/02ConsumerProtection/FDAActions/bachynsky.html
 
militarymd said:
Flawed concept from the get go.

The loss of weight will be water and muscle mass. The homeostatic mechanisms of the body would preserve fat while "burning" muscle mass.

If you could find the drug/hormone recipe to induce fat loss while providing a protein sparing effect....the patient wouldn't have to got to sleep for 3 days.....hell, they wouldn't even have to work out...just take the pills.

Short cuts in life generally don't work well as well as the direct route.
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what about Isoprotenerol, beta 1 and beta 2 agonist which produces lipolysis and prevents lipogenesis? i guess no different than ephedra which was banned, but you can give at intense levels and under general anesthsia u can provide insane scrutiny and safeguard measures to prevent or quickly fix a problem. in terms of the 'recepie', i guess it wouldn't be impossible but the million dollor answer. finding optimal combo of drugs and hormones (eg thyroxine, testosterone etc) can theortically be found using animal models. but u're right, if u cococt a good enough mix i guess general anesthesia wouldn't be necessary. the general anesthesia would be for a case where u've reved up the metabolsim to the point where it's very uncomfortable for the patient and u prevent the discomfort of going without eating for whatever days.
 
A drug combination that yields protein sparing effects in the fasted patient is one of the holy grails of critical care medicine....

septic patients are catabolic....but almost always they develop negative nitrogen balance...leading to muscle wasting....There are many theories on how to create a protein sparing environment, but I'm fairly sure no one has come up with one.

Beta-blockers, in certain patient populations, have been shown to prevent a negative protein balance...
 
They HAVE developed a way to use general anesthesia for weight-loss! It's called gastric bypass!

There are a number of drugs being looked at for weight loss. Topiramate (topamax) is one drug that is already on the market, but not approved for weight loss use. Also, the eucannabinoids are looking pretty good as well. Trouble is, none of the drugs so far have demonstrated long term weight loss, or sustained weight loss. Almost 95% of people who lose weight will regain it back within 5 years. Pretty sad. With the rise in childhood obesity, looks like cardiology and endocrinology will be great career choices.
 
Annette said:
They HAVE developed a way to use general anesthesia for weight-loss! It's called gastric bypass!QUOTE]

yea, but u're sentenced to a daily regimen of vitamin and supplements for the rest of ur life plus a yummy diet of shakes and bit-sized pieces of food, nasuea, vomiting if u eat one too many baby carrots, long term complications, etc etc.
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