One in ten of us will be...

I never said that you Kelly are mindless. But withknowledge of the disease of addiction one can be mindful of it and know that it can transfer from their reaction to food to alcohol. Apparently 1 in 10 mindlessly become alcoholic after WLS. Do you think they mindfully become so?  I do not. Therefore I believe if one addresses the addition component of obesity they will have a far better result. You know addicts become so because they are BODILY and MENTALLY different from their NORMAL fellows. 

No, you didn't say that I am mindless.  You said most obese people are food addicts and that people become overweight because they are mindless addicts.  I assumed I would be included in that group of mindless addicts, in your mind, since I was obese.  I apologize if you were talking about all other obese people, but not me.  I must have misunderstood you.

 I'm not trying to fight I just think that you can't say EVERYONE is food addicts. 

I'm not a food addict and that was my problem with the entire thing.  I do not have an addictive personality and I never have.  Instead of saying that "a lot of people" or "some people" she flat out says WE ALL ARE.  

We ALL are not white, We ALL are not drug addicts, We ALL don't want kids, We ALL aren't etc etc etc. 

Each of us have a story and each of have our own reasons for our surgerys.  Just because 1 person has an addictive personlity does not mean WE ALL DO. 

That's all I was saying.  

In general I think those of that are talking are VERY friendly to everyone and helpful and I know that they have all helped me with stuff time to time.  It's not personal until someone doesn't get what we are clearly stating. 

 The study does not address addiction so much as the physiological change that causes the dependance to alcohol.

AGain I ask if there is no compulsive component to your obesity then why pray tell would you make your stomach smaller?  I don't understand. I know that I hit a nerve in all of you 'that doth protest' too much. I would just like to suggest to explore the nature of your obesity with an open mind as to the part you yourself play in it and not all the external situations that you describe as the cause. 

 I would get my stomach rearranged to treat type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, GERD, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and any number if other issues. Did you know they are doing RNY (or a version thereof) on normal weight people in Europe to treat all of these diseases? Also i'd suggest reading up a little more on other disorders (PCOS, metabolic disease and other
Conditions that almost completely prevent weight loss or CAUSE weight gain.) there is a correlation between insulin resistance and alcoholism, however you don't have IR first. Generally alcoholics develope IR as a symptom of their alcoholism not the other was around.


Edited for spelling only: apparently my ipod thinks GERD should be gets. LOL.

Yes I am aware. At Scripts in La Jolla they are also approved to treat diabetes with the surgery. I think the surgery is a miracle. I am thrilled I had mine.  I have been able to finally not be subjected to my horrendous appetite and since my doctor removed my entire stomach (the lap band damaged my stomach) I will not be fighting the abnormal hormonal components that led to my overeating and obesity. I am so relieved.  AS they find out more about the hormonal components of obesity it will help curb the rising tide of obesity too.  I grew up in the 50's and 60's. Foods in the grocery store were so different then. There were only a limited amount of processed foods that include sugars and salts and other chemicals.  There were not nearly as many obese people then. Once in a while one would see a huge person but it was rare.  Now it is almost 50% obesity in the U.S.  

 

Sad really.  I think sugar is addicting for me. I avoid it like poisons.  If I don't eat it I don't get food cravings or desire to overeat.

I had many metabolic factors that caused me to gain weight. I also was in a wheel chair for 2 years too.  I was never an over eater nor was I even an ounce overweight my entire life until 12 years ago when I went to the wheel chair...once I gained the 35 lbs my metabolism changed and I became a compulsive over eater.  I did not become obese by the wheel chair...I became obese by eating. I too have insulin resistant metabolism. So does my sis but she never gained with it and I did....I have the type of body that gets addicted to sugar....therefore I cannot safely drink alcohol either.

Being an addicted is not a moral issue it is a medical one.  People that are alcoholic are considered disabled and are a protected class. Obese people are just regarded as weak and gross but that is not the case. They have a disease too....if you read my original post you will see that I made a perfectly reasonable statement.  

Nobody said addiction was a moral issue. It is a disease, the issue I have is assuming that MOST obese people are food addicts. Many of us were not addicts (food or otherwise). Overeating may not be the only issue in obesity. You mention the differences at the grocery store (and yes I remember them having grown up in the 60's/70's) what you also fail to mention is how much our society has changed as well. We have gone from a mostly physical labor country to computers/desk jobs/etc. As an example, I could eat the same amount of food as say my grandmother did when she was growing up. I however didn't have to work a farm (or even a family veggie garden, although we did have a small veggie garden back then), work at the shipping yards (rosie riveter anyone?), etc. There was an article on this not to long ago, I'll have to see if I can find it and link to it. Anyway, there are many contributing factors for overeating (not all overeating is an addiction by the way).

As for me during the summers (pre-op) I would live on salads and fruit, still couldn't lose a feaking pound. The only time I was able to lose weight was when I was pregnant and sick for 30 weeks. Yep, aparently if I throw up everything I eat for 7 to 8 months I can lose the weight. However, as soon as the kido showed up (literaly within a month) I had gained back everything I had lost during the pregnancy. Apparently Hypothyroidism, metabolic disorder and PCOS make one heck of a combination when it comes to weight issues. 

Did I always eat the right choice no. Did I eat more calories in a day that I should have, on occasion, but when you "diet" and exercise and still can't lose the weight because of your other conditions I hesitate to call it simply a "food addiction".

Ok, one last time... a compulsive component (when it comes to any substance) does not equal addiction. I am going to bed now.

Lora

I would like to see what the addiction rate in the "normal" population is vs. the addiction rate in the WLS community. Now that I've actually looked it up (about 3 out of 10 in the general population are considered binge or heavy drinkers), so in general the alcholoism in the WLS population at large isn't that bad compaired to "normals". Yes, I think there is a component of addiction to some of it, however, that obviously isn't the case with everyone. Not everyone in the WLS community is an addictive personality. If I remember right didn't the article on yahoo show that the increase after surgery was  about 3 percent?

I can see lots of different aspics of it

1. some transfer addiction (can't binge eat, so drinking or drugs start up)
2. It now hits our system faster and leaves just as quickly so the drinker now drinks much more to   have the effects last longer

yes, I think people should know that the increase exists, but considering it's still less than the 'general population" I don't think it's a huge factor in getting the procedure or not. 3 percent is still relatively a small increase.

As a side note I still find most alcholol disqusting to drink. I can take about a sip or two of my hubby's mikes hard lemonade and that's about all I can drink. I was never a drinker before surgery either, so I guess that hasn't changed much...although prior to surgery I could at least drink my own bottle of MIkes once a year or so. Now I have to ask hubby if he want's one so I can have a sip, otherwise there's not much point in opening one up.