Addiction Transfer

I first learned of the name for this phenomena at last night's support group meeting, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about it. Maybe because it's a fairly simple concept.

Basically, for weight loss surgery patients, it means that you substitute your addiction to food with another addiction.

The underlying cause is probably the same as the reason the surgery "fails" for some WLS patients. You didn't treat the reason you're fat. It's a head game. The patient was fat because they were medicating their underlying problem...depression, stress, anxiety, abuse, addictive personality, whatever the underlying issue is...and weight loss surgery helps give them a tool to treat the symptom, obesity, but the patient neglects to get treatment for the underlying issue along with the physical ailment WLS helps.

So as you lose weight you discover that your post-surgical digestive system makes one glass of wine feel like ten. Woo hoo! Soon you're no longer feeling (depressed, stressed, etc.) because a couple glasses of alcohol makes the world feel wonderful. Congratulations. You're no longer a food addict. You're an alcoholic. This is what happened to Carnie Wilson two years after weight loss surgery.

Other people turn to having affairs, becoming sex addict. Others run to shopping addiction. Or gambling addiction.

Weight loss surgery is a way to rip off the cover off an underlying problem. The next step for the patient is to decide if they want to cover it up with another form of security blanket or deal with the issues exposed.

I found a few sites discussing addiction transfer, but they were all basicallygiving the same information. Well, I take that back. There were two flavors. The first was taking the stance that you need to deal with your underlying issues and probably really really need to seek therapy...sites like InteliHealth, LocateADoc, and Psychcentral.

The second flavor is from the WLS naysayers, people who advocate that you can heal just about anything with herbs and chiropractic care and wellness coaching and overall positive feelings and support. For some people this may work...but in my experiences, this is another form of head games. But if it works for you, hey, run with it. Sites like Ezinearticles.com and NaturalNews basically hold the view that if you just figured out why the person is fat and fix that, they'd lose the weight naturally and in a healthy way, while weight loss surgery maims you for life and is pushed on you by "clueless" conventional medicine advocates looking for easy fixes.

This kind of neglects the fact that, A) if you've reached the point of actually needing the surgery, you're probably on borrowed time...blood pressure, diabetes, etc. are taking a toll on your body every day. And B) you've damaged your stomach. I think people seem to think like the people that are telling me my "batwings" can be fixed by just exercising more. I've already had a surgeon tell me that the connective tissue in the skin is damaged. It can be toned some, it can improve some, but it won't be fixed without cutting off the excess. Similarly, the stomach is stretched out. This means the obese, or formerly obese person, will always have hunger issues and hormone issues (yes, the chemicals that influence hunger are related to your stomach size and "fullness"). Weight loss surgery helps fix it by making the pouch smaller.

But this is off the topic. The point is that in order to fight addiction transfer patients looking at WLS or even non-patients that are just trying to fight obesity issues should probably focus on why they're turning to food for comfort. Seek therapy. Seek intervention. Seek anything but that delicious creamy filling behind the Duncan Donuts counter.

Mmm...donuts....