Health Beat: Aspire for weight loss
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Standing six feet, four inches tall, Wilcoxon, 44, leaves a big impression.
"The most I ever saw on the scale was 409 pounds," said Eric Wilcoxon.
These days, he is more than 135 pounds lighter after a lifetime struggle with diet and exercise that impacted his life and his health.
"I sat in my chair for probably the last two years before I had this done," Wilcoxon said.
"When it's your husband, you don't want anything to happen to him," explained Wilcoxon's wife, Christy. "I'm getting emotional here. I don't want him to die."
Dr. Vladimir Kushnir, a bariatric endoscopic surgeon at Washington University in St. Louis, recommended Wilcoxon undergo an endoscopic procedure to implant the Aspire Assist.
"The device is a modified feeding tube with a larger external portion and a smaller internal portion," said Kushnir.
Thirty minutes after a meal, Wilcoxon connects the tube to a water canister and pumps out about one-third of his stomach.
Research summary - Aspire for weight loss
"Similar to what happens with weight loss surgery, some of the food you eat doesn't go where it naturally would, which helps you lose weight because you dont absorb as many of the calories," Kushnir said.
"A lot of people do think it's gross, but I'm really not overly concerned about what other people think," Wilcoxon said.
Wilcoxon watches what he eats in order for the Aspire to work. He drinks a lot of water and chews his food a lot.
"People don't comprehend how much you have to chew in order to do this," Wilcoxon said. "This tube in my belly is no bigger than an ink pen sitting on your desk."
Wilcoxon credits that tube plus a healthy diet with allowing him to do things he couldn't before, like coach his son's football team.
The FDA approved the Aspire Assist last year for obese patients. Patients must not have undergone any other surgical weight loss procedure to be considered for Aspire Assist. Unlike other weight loss procedures, the Aspire Assist device can be removed.
Go here to read the rest:
Health Beat: Aspire for weight loss - WFMZ Allentown
