Addictions...

[Kelliebelly 13]

After my other post and seeing several other posts lately, do you think that obese are more prone to addictions, or am I being to general? I know alot of us are/were addicted to food, but with that food addiction did you find yourself easily addicted to other things?

I know myself if its addictive and comes my way I usually end up addicted. Although I must say I never did drugs and the reason why was that I knew it would only take once for me to want the feeling again so I steered clear and never tried it, same with alcohol...Wonder why I couldnt do that with food Just steer clear of it hehe.

I had my fair share of being a little addicted to the pokies, Phen fen, smoking, food (generalised), chocolate and many other things.

What was/is your addiction/s.

[Kelliebelly 13]

I just re read my post a few times, all those things made me feel so good doing them at the time. I loved the pokies, sitting there with my smoke and diet coke and friends around me. The phen fen made me feel invisible, confident and energetic...something I definately am not normally, smoking relaxes me and calms me...I like the feeling of a smoke with a cuppa or talking to ppl, chocolate makes me feel like I am on cloud 9

Ughhh I think I am just one messed up dude

[the best me 6]

Okay, flipping through Discovery Channel last nite they had a show on about a 750 pound man. Amazing. So this doc was discussing research about food addiction, and they did test studies on obese people, seeing how their brains reacted to foods. The MRI scans were eerily similar to the scans of those who are drug and alcohol addicted. What happens (if I'm remembering correctly and this doc is right) is the food causes dopamine levels to surge, and for some reason, obese folks do not have the receptors for the dopamine like "normals" in the world, so it takes lots and lots of food, in increasing amounts over the years, to get the dopamine levels to cause the addiction to be triggered properly...so you get the HIGH from your food. So, the more you eat, the more you NEED to eat to get your HIGH. Sigh.

She also commented that exercise increases dopamine receptor sites, so not only is the exercise good for health and weight loss, it SHOULD cause the need for less food to get the same HIGH.

I'm addicted to food, coffee, and ciggies. I'm going NOW to call my doc and change my Wellbutrin prescription so I can actually take it. I'm hoping it helps to get rid of the ciggies for good and helps me not to get so anxious about my food. Don't get me wrong, my band helps tremendously. I have been stuck fighting to stay below 190 for months now and it's getting old. I'm dong whatever it takes!

[Alexandra 55]

Personally, I do not have an addictive personality. Or possibly I did when I was younger, but somehow outgrew it. I was able to quit both smoking and drinking cold-turkey without any withdrawals or regrets, and while I hate smoking now I am able to drink just a little without wanting to over-indulge. In my younger days I partook of both with abandon and thought I'd have trouble quitting, but was surprised to find that I wasn't addicted after all.

Thank goodness, because my mother was as addictive as they come. She drank and smoked herself to death and I know people worried that I was going to do the same. But whatever gene it is that malfunctioned in her didn't do so in me to the same extent.

Was my overeating a re-channeling of those addictions? I honestly don't think so. I believe my metabolism is genetically skewed to make me obese, PLUS my early upbringing taught me that enough was never enough. I was taught to hoard and cornered into gluttony through forced deprivation. I can't recall ever thinking I was really addicted to any particular foodstuff, and even my attraction to ice cream waxes and wanes over time.

So sure, it's possible to be addicted to food and get morbidly obese as a result. But it's also possible to NOT have an addictive personality, and still get morbidly obese. Food is food, and too much is no good.

[DOC 0]

Ughhh I think I am just one messed up dude

LOL... I am right there with you!!!! I am addicted to anything that changes the way I feel about myself and the list is longggggg!:eek:

Thanks for sharing your honesty. It really makes me think...

[kimalicious 5]

fattening and sugary foods is what I am addicted to. Never had a problem with smoking even though I tried it. Never with drinking either, even though I drink on occasion. I am completely and totally addicted to Caffiene. I am sitting as we speak with a caffiene headache because I haven't had any for 2 days. If it were just the caffiene though I don't think it would be such a problem...it's the SWEET and Caffiene that is my problem. Like cokes and frappachinos. It is so hard for me to go without cokes, I tried to switch to sweet tea, no carbonation, but I ALWAYS slip and have a coke...My biggest addictions:

PEANUT M&M's

Reeses Peanut Butter cups

Cokes

Frappachinos

Anything deep fried with ranch dressing to dip it in

double dip hot fudge sundae from braums

I could live off these foods for the rest of my life without anything else being thrown in. I just wish that I could be addicted to exercise, that would be so much nicer. With these foods when I am doing good, I have to go cold turkey and not even get close to them. If I eat 1 I will eat 4 more. I remember 1 day at work I went to the vending machine 4 different times and bought Peanut M&M's, Once I start I can't stop. It has been days while I ween myself from these foods and I am still wanting something bad with every thought of food. I know the longer I go without the easier it is to quit these foods so hopefully it will get better in the coming days.

Looking at the other post you wrote Kelly I am thinking they put something more addictive in the Peanut M&M's than the caffiene and sugar!!

[Wheetsin 714]

My problems with food aren't addiction so much as behavior. I'm not am enotional eater at all. When emotions get high, I actually stop eating. But I see it every day in my behaviors.

Never smoked, never did drugs of any kind, never been drunk.

[donali 57]

What are "pokies"?

I think my personality is more obsessive than addictive. I abused alcohol in college, but never was "addicted". As soon as I 'fessed up to myself that I didn't like the taste of alcohol and only drank so that I wouldn't have to be "responsible" for my amorous advances to others, I quit. Plus I much preferred spending what precious little extra I had on food. And whichever person was the object of my desire at the time.

That's my other bad addiction... The current object of my affections, reciprocated or not. Luckily the current object reciprocates... :eek:

[CCBSTX 0]

Addiction/hobby=FOOD

No other known addictions or habits.

However, I do have a feeling that if I did start something that could be addictive, then I would NEVER quit...Lack of Willpower.

Shawn

[LilAngel 0]

i can't even go there unless i want to seriously get depressed. all i can say is that certinaly seems that way to me, kelly. i look at this as a disease i will fight even after i have lost weight and the band has helped me (if it ever does. :eek: )

[maudeispam 2]

1. Food: chocolate

2. Alcohol: I drank from age 17 to age 31. Not everyday, not every weekend, but enough. Now I only have a drink on New Years and my birthday and hubby's birthday.

3. Marijuana: I was a pot head from age 20 to 31. I quit cold turkey and never looked back. I didn't smoke everyday or every weekend. Only when friend's (if you can call them that) had it to offer.

4. Internet: they need an IA chapter (Internet addicted) and a 12 step program!

[one gone dog 0]

Just about any activity can be an addiction.

in an earlier post (this thread) it was mentioned about the dopamine level increasing when you eat is true.

when you eat something, lets say chocolate have you ever said " this is better then sex" (most women have :eek: )

well at that moment it very well could be true.

when you eat or do something that gets your blood going like eating, driving fast, smoking, drinking, working out or sex your dopamine level goes up giving you that "high" feeling or the "uphoria" feeling. this is very normal for all humans. the problem is when you find that one thing that gives you this feeling after time you need more to keep up the "high".

so with food it goes to wanting more and more.

so, if it started with the once in awhile piece of cake, in time it becomes the WHOLE cake. for me it was the food i was cooking. not only was i a chef but i also held the head baker postition at several restraurants. my Desserts were out of this world and if i wouldnt eat them i wouldnt serve them, so i ate, and ate and ate. The whole time i was eating i felt that uphoria feeling. (or untill i ate to the point of feeling sick)

Theres a whole other subect about sexual addiction in wich i wont go into, but the base line of it is the same as food. Once a little was good, isnt enough over time, you want more or something a little more wild. or in worst case situations the person goes on to commit a crime against another.

Unfortantly some addictions do need intervention. if you cant beat it and are really driving yourself insane over it its no crime to go to a counsler or a good support group to share and see that your not alone.

as far as the original question "are obese people more subject to addiction?"

No, if someone is addicted to drugs at some point they can no longer hide it. its the same with booze.neither one of those take very long over all to be "found out" with an addiction to food wich can be hidden for a long time, and besides you, who knows about it. When someone says (if they're brave enough) "have you put on some weight?" you can say "it runs in my family". but if they ask you about say, drinking on the job, its more likely to be "do you have a problem?".

food addictions have never been considered "high priority" to do anything about untill the last ten years or so.and even with that food addictions are still considered "taboo" to be talked about.

[leatha_g 4]

I'm with Maudeispam. I was drinking by the time I was 12. By the time I was 16, I was drinking even more and smoking pot rather often until I was 19. I drank excessively quite often until I was 26 yrs old. But when I quit drinking/smoking pot at the age of 19, I immediately gained 76lbs in less than a year. My self-medicating moved to food and lack of exercise, ie, depression.

My father and most of his family were abusive, excessive drinkers. My mother's family was pretty much the same. I've lost one brother to drugs/alcohol and currently have a baby sister who's been a heroin addict for the past 20 years. Those of us who are not 'addicted' know that we have the potential and by the grace of God have found help through programs like Al-Anon and through our faith and desire to 'break the chain' of destruction in our family.

I definitely have the propensity to pick up where I left off with alchohol. I quit marijuana before I became a parent and later divorced my husband because he didn't find that necessary. Today, my tolerance for drugs is absolutely ZERO.

I did smoke from the time I was 16, quit for good 8 months before my banding surgery and also quit each time I was pregnant.

food definitely took the place of alot of things in my life and I still find myself seeking to fill a hole that will probably never be filled with it. :eek:

Progress, not perfection... I'm still alive..

[Paulax 8]

I am addicted to one thing only food. I could care less about drugs, alcohol, gambling, just food and I believe it is all in the brain.

[kimalicious 5]

I was thinking about what Donali said and about the pysical things that happen in your body with addictions, the same is for obsessions. I think I am very obsessive with many things also. What is the difference between obsession and addiction??? I know the lanquage difference, but do they produce the same things in your brain? I've always said I'm addicted to food, but I am also obsessive about it???