I came across this article about a woman who says she regrets her decision to get weight loss surgery 10 years ago. She had the gastric bypass at the age of 22 when her weight was 274 lbs. She lost 146 lbs., and then her life spiraled. She abused drugs, alcohol, and sex, could not hold a job, and even tried to kill herself. She also gained back 100 lbs. Here is the link to the article on Fox News.

After being forced into treatment due to an arrest for driving while intoxicated, this woman was able to make the choice to turn her life around. She finished her college degree, got sober, and got the mental health she needed. She now has lost 100 lbs. through changing her diet and ballroom dancing.

This young woman regrets getting the gastric bypass because she replaced a food addiction with even more destructive addictions.

First and most important, I am glad she has turned her life around!

Now, I have some questions for general discussion. I’d like to get your opinions.

Do you think she may have been too young for gastric bypass? This is a hard question in my opinion. On the one hand, people in their lower 20s do not have much life experience. On the other hand, I was fairly young when I got WLS, and I have never regretted the decision. So, when should a very young adult get WLS?

What do you think about her decision not to have psychotherapy? I think it underscores the importance of appropriate mental help. Maybe it would have prevented her from getting surgery in the first place and instead helped her work through some of the underlying issues. Or, maybe it would have helped prevent her from transferring her food addiction to other addictions.

Now, she is losing weight by making the right food decisions. WLS or not, that is the only way to lose weight. I wonder whether her gastric bypass surgery is helping now. It could be helping with portion restriction and nutrient malabsorption.

So….what are your thoughts on this story?

Here is the link to the article on Fox News.

@@VSGAnn2014 - Good point, I knew the facts of the story because I was working against a proposed NY law that required mental health people to report people who "might be violent" which I objected to for two reasons:

1) I thought it would keep people who needed help away from it

2) Mental Health people were not perfect predictors

But remembering which article I found the information 3 years ago...well I'm not perfect. How does this article work: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/state-mental-health-system

BTW, the person who pointed out the limits of mental health professionals in predicting violence was my counselor, who was also the Chair of Consoling and Pyscology at his university.

@@OKCPirate ... I like it.

Wow, lots of good thoughts here.

I do have doubts about the psych evaluation. While, as @@2goldengirl said, she wouldn’t have passed the psych eval with a lot of evaluators, I do believe, as @@CowgirlJane brought up, the occasional unscrupulous or pressured or even incompetent evaluator might pass her. @@Valentina raises a good point, too, that those questions are available online now. Yes, ideally an evaluator should go beyond standardized questions, but do they really always?

Does her young age matter? It’s something to consider. I think there is a difference between a young 20-something who is still living at home and has never had the opportunity to be the head of household and set up her or his own healthy environment and may still be under the influence of an unhealthy environment because of parents, versus a 20-something who has already had the experience of being completely in charge and was still unable to lose the weight.

@@Tommy Joe I lost 88 lbs.

Wow, lots of good thoughts here.

I do have doubts about the psych evaluation. While, as @@2goldengirl said, she wouldn’t have passed the psych eval with a lot of evaluators, I do believe, as @@CowgirlJane brought up, the occasional unscrupulous or pressured or even incompetent evaluator might pass her. @@Valentina raises a good point, too, that those questions are available online now. Yes, ideally an evaluator should go beyond standardized questions, but do they really always?

Does her young age matter? It’s something to consider. I think there is a difference between a young 20-something who is still living at home and has never had the opportunity to be the head of household and set up her or his own healthy environment and may still be under the influence of an unhealthy environment because of parents, versus a 20-something who has already had the experience of being completely in charge and was still unable to lose the weight.

@@Tommy Joe I lost 88 lbs.

I agree. The range of maturity levels for anyone, let alone 20-somethings can be staggeringly broad.

If you don't go into this process with some maturity, self-awareness, autonomy, optimism, perseverance, etc,., or at the very least the capacity to develop those qualities, then this experience will be even more difficult. I think that is what the psych eval is ultimately designed to determine.

I have two sisters that had the surgery one of them turned to alcohol and she never drank before Chelsea got very conceited and almost lost her husband cuz she was being promiscuous with other men Luckily everything got better for her and she's doing well now I've heard that people will replace one addiction with another I am positive that I will be a gym rat because that's what happened last time I lost a lot of weight.

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