What I Learned At My Support Group Meeting

[Fun size 62]

I am still pre-op but I go to as many support meetings as possible. Tonight our surgeon came in to talk about some problems some patients who are a few years out are having. He said alcohol abuse is becoming a big concern. He said recent research has shown that 54% of bariatric surgery patients with no problems with alcohol have drinking problems a few years out. Several post op people confirmed that they knew post op people who drink a lot. Some people said that food addiction is replaced by drinking. This whole subject is food (no pun intended) for thought, don't you think? Have any of you heard this before?

What else I learned is that bypass surgery is NOT for me. So may people in the room had bypass and they have big problems with hunger and cravings. The few people in the room who were sleeved didn't have those problems. I knew that the sleeve is what I wanted from the get-go, but this decision is reconfirmed regularly by what I learn along the way.

[Fun size 62]

But it was a small study done in Michigan,only 24 patients. That's probably not big enough to really be accurate.

[jh5497 105]

Transfer addiction is definitely real. There is an entire board on the site dedicated to this issue. As a clinician, I know with patients we can't expect them to stop using a coping mechanism such as eating, without replacing it with something else. It's important that if you have a relationship with food that is emotional and there is attachment to the current behaviors that have caused you to overeat/pick foods that lack nutritional value, you can develop new, healthy coping mechanisms since turning to food to feel better won't be an option post surgery.

[Sleevedreamz 107]

I'm going to attempt to become addicted to exercise and shopping. That sounds much better to me than alcohol. But, all playing aside, this is unfortunately a big problem with any addiction.

[nyxa 159]

yeah, i've heard about it before...

don't really have much to say, except maybe folks that turn to drinking have too much time on their hands.. there's so much stuff out there that they could be doing & it's sad and a waste of their new, skinny life to lounge around drinking, spending all their time in bars and etc.. they could be out there making a difference, crossing things off their bucket list, traveling as much as their budget will allow, seeing the 7 wonders of the world, traipsing across the holy land or running marathons or something... they could be having such a full, fun-filled life now that they're not fat anymore & aren't limited by their size.. and it's very sad to me that people would rather waste their lives drinking.. :/ now that they're not fat, the world is their oyster... they could make their life a huge, priceless pearl.. but they'd rather run over the shell & squish the meat out so the whole thing is worthless. lol just so darn sad. :/

[doxieville 799]

Nyxa, it IS sad. I'm not disputing that fact. But, don't forget that when we were fat, people looked at us and were thinking the same thoughts about us and our addiction to food.

Here is where I think the mental health and all these supposedly "physce evals" prior to surgery are failing. And again, while transfer addictions are real, I sure don't want to be lumped into a statstic.

Again, just my humble opinion!!