Reputation from Chicken Lady - Page 3

Chicken Lady reacted to heidikat72 in BMI of 21 getting gastric sleeve... thoughts? October 8, 2016

I read this thread yesterday and had chosen not to comment when I saw Alex had banned the OP. I was disappointed when I logged on this morning and saw the thread still going and still more disappointed when I saw Alex’s post admonishing everyone to support the OP. And yes, taking the ENTIRE thread into consideration, I do consider it an admonishment. So my post here is directed more toward Alex and not the original poster.
First let me start by saying, you have created a wonderful forum where literally thousands from around the world have been able to come and do research, receive inspiration from others’ stories and get their own questions answered by those who have been there and done that. I commend you for that. This site has been a valuable resource for me and your personal success story an inspiration as well. I typically find your posts thoughtful, informative and understanding. Which is why the turn of this thread has concerned me.
So often on this site (and seems to be more prevalent by the day), the idea of “support” has come to mean condoning and even so much as encouraging poor and potentially dangerous decision making. And often the ones who dole out the “tough love” that isn’t what a poster wants to hear are sadly vilified as not being supportive when in actuality they are often the ones most concerned with other’s health and understand that sometimes the harsh reality is what someone really needs to support their long term health goals. Support should never be equated with “enabling”.
To recap: the OP is currently at a healthy/normal BMI for her height, wants to get a lower weight within the healthy/normal BMI range and admits she has Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and will be getting a VSG as a cure for her BED.
Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy nor any other weight loss surgery is NOT an approved, safe, effective treatment let alone cure for BED. I’m including a link below where even for obese patients with BED, the author is cautioning patients to not consider VSG as a treatment for BED. The author correctly asserts that WLS is helping to treat the obesity – a SYMPTOM in this case of BED, and is NOT treating the actual eating disorder.
https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/binge-eating-disorder/binge-eating-disorder-bariatric-surgery-or-the-sleeve
Binge eating disorder is a legitimate and very serious psychological disorder that has a tremendous negative impact on the lives of those suffering with it. There are several approved safe and effective treatments for managing BED while the patient continues to be in appropriate psychological treatment to get to the root cause that triggered the disorder and help them discover better ways of handling those trigger rather than binging. And yes, I am familiar with those treatments because I was member on a team of scientists and others researching, developing, and testing in many clinical trials to prove safety as well as efficacy, and eventually obtaining approval for one of those treatments.
I reiterate that WLS is NOT considered a treatment/cure for any eating disorder. As most of us on here realize, it is not a CURE for anything. The surgery is merely a tool to help get the obesity under control while we address the mental aspects that led to the obesity. The reason WLS surgery is an appropriate tool for this is because the further complications that the obesity leads to (sleep apnea, high blood pressure, diabetes etc) can and often will short our lives significantly thus making the need to get the obesity dealt with worth the associated risks/potential complications of a major surgery. Again, the WLS is treating the symptom – obesity – not the cause whether that cause be BED, emotional eating or any other issue that leads to a poor relationship with food. Even with WLS, for long term success and maintenance the cause ultimately has to be dealt with as well.
The OP stated she has “tried everything” for her BED yet didn’t mention a single treatment specifically. Based on all of her posts, she appears to be of the thinking the surgery alone will cure her. Honestly I spent a lot of today trying to find sources or any studies of WLS in healthy BMI patients with regard to eating disorders. You know what? I couldn’t find a single one. All studies I found regarding WLS and eating disorders – were on obese patients. Because the studies recognized that the WLS really was only treating the obesity and the studies all seemed to conclude the same thing with regard to eating disorders – WLS showed temporary effect on the eating disorder itself but that long term, the eating disorder needed appropriate treatment on its own – WLS is NOT a cure for an eating disorder.
Using steak as an example (since the OP mentioned that as a food she binges on), WLS will reduce the amount you can eat in one sitting but it won’t stop you from eating 3 oz of steak every hour, 24 hours a day.
Now to the Original Poster. You have clearly already made up your mind to have the surgery. In fact your initial post you said you were ADAMANT about going through with the surgery – so I’m not really sure why you posted asking for others thoughts when you said up front your mind was made up. So I won’t try to talk you out of surgery. I hope you do come to realize though that surgery is not treating your actual medical disorder and that you see a reputable doctor specializing in binge eating disorder and seek appropriate treatment for the BED otherwise, I feel you will be very disappointed with your longer term results.

apologies for the VERY long post above, but this has bothered me all day and I felt these things needed to be said.

Chicken Lady reacted to rolosmom7 in BMI of 21 getting gastric sleeve... thoughts? October 7, 2016

Organic milk..... not only did you get an entire new screen name after you were banned, you're doing this on multiple sites. Seems you have a lot of free time on your hands..... rather hypocritical and judgemental to tell someone something so rude. This is a place for people to help each other, not listen to childrens desperate pleas for attention. Stop distracting from those of us with actual concerns and those giving actual support.