Transfering Addiction Article

Recently I read an artice in People Magazine regarding
3 women that had the gastric bypass surgery and had
eventually transfered their addiction to food to other
things. One woman had transfered her addiction to food
to spending money creating a large amount of debt. One
woman had transfered her food addiction to drinking
alcohol and the third woman transfered her food
addiction to smoking.

I have very mixed emotions about this article. When I
first read the article, I was angry. I thought to
myself, "how come so many people have to write bad
things about this surgery". I was also upset that the
artice wasn't very balanced, only 3 women.....

I read the article a second time. Why? I wanted to be
100% sure I was getting upset about something valid.
The more I read it, the more I could understand, but
still had my reservations about it.

I also was afraid that this article would give someone
who was on the brink of transfering their food
addiction ideas on what to transfer it too. Alcohol is
not a good thing with this surgery, nor is smoking.
Those are two things that should be avoided at all
costs after surgery. Money is a given because when you
lose the weight, the first thing you want to do is buy
all new clothes. I can see how money could become a
problem after surgery. All i want to do is buy clothes
now because clothes fit nicely now. Plus I look damn
good in clothes now.

I realized that the transferring of addiction is
something that is serious and that it can happen to
anyone who has this surgery. I looked into transfering
addiction more. It is mostly common among older
patients. I found this to be quite odd. That is kind
of bold to say that it is more common among older
patients, but statistics show this. So this article
did something good by creating awareness that this
could happen.

My ultimate problem with this article is the fact that
only one side of the story was written. I feel bad
that they only wrote about three women making it seem
like it only happens to women. It can happen to men
just as easily as women. It wasn't balanced at all.
This can cause someone who desperately needs this
surgery to give up on it because this article sparked
fear. With all the pre-couseling I received before
this surgery, we went over transfering addiction quite
a lot.

Now that I am over 10 months post-op, I do find myself
wanting foods that I can't eat. I transfer that
addiction to something productive like writing on this
blog or doing something creative. I guess you get out
of the surgery what you put into it. If you decide to
transfer your addiction to something just as bad, such
as alcohol, smoking, drugs, gambling, or back to
eating (which can happen), then it makes the surgery
worthless. This surgery is supposed to make the
quality and quantity of life better. What quality and
or quantity of life is there if all the things
mentioned above are utilized in transfering your
addiction.

As you read this blog posting you can tell all my
emotions are out of whack with this article. I guess I
feel more negative than positive about this article. I
honestly do feel bad that this can happen but life I
said before, you get what you give to this surgery.
Will it ever happen to me, all I can do is make sure
it doesn't happen and we will see down the road.