The anti-WLS media strikes again...
Am I the only one to read this article and conclude that the study is unadulterated BS and that if one is prone to a chemical dependency on alcohol, that tendency is present long before WLS and equally so afterward.
What is the problem that people and a certain segment of the medical community have with WLS?
FORNICATING ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN!!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-sci-sn-gastric-bypas s-alcoholism-20120618,0,1145294.story
What is the problem that people and a certain segment of the medical community have with WLS?
FORNICATING ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN!!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-sci-sn-gastric-bypas s-alcoholism-20120618,0,1145294.story
Weight at Heaviest: 320 lbs.
Weight at Surgery: 283.6 lbs.
Everyone is entitled to my opinion...
Weight at Surgery: 283.6 lbs.
Everyone is entitled to my opinion...
i don't know really anything about the study, but alcohol does affect post op patients differently then non post ops. i'm sure that plays a role.
Follow my vegan transition at www.bariatricvegan.com
HW:288 CW:146.4 GW: 140 RNY: 12/22/11
Cheers to this thread not going down the same path that the last one on this subject did. 
You know... I was wondering why this story seemed so negative. It seems to me that cross addiction statistics are concerning, but education should help avoid it.
I'm not much of an all or nothing thinker, but I've witnessed the effect of alcohol on my post-op friends. It was not much of a sacrifice to agree to give up alcohol for at least the first six months to a year. I have absolutely no desire to drink right now. And I hate being tipsy, so that's not going to change anytime soon.
I'm not much of an all or nothing thinker, but I've witnessed the effect of alcohol on my post-op friends. It was not much of a sacrifice to agree to give up alcohol for at least the first six months to a year. I have absolutely no desire to drink right now. And I hate being tipsy, so that's not going to change anytime soon.
The study wasn't about cross-addiction. It did not include information about how many subjects were addicted to something other than alcohol, such as food, before WLS and then developed an alcohol addiction.
7% of the subjects were addicted to alcohol before WLS and presumably continued to be addicted to it after WLS.
3.7% developed an addiction to alcohol after WLS. But the study does not suggest that this was a cross addiction. The study says that the reason for people developing addiction to alcohol after WLS is because alcohol affects us differently after surgery.
I know the idea of cross addiction is popular for some reason and probably some people do trade a food addiction for some other addiction. But I have not seen any studies showing this to be common. Have you? I don't really think the statistic about cross addiction are concerning, 'cause I haven't really seen any. I think it is concerning, though, that so many people believe cross addiction is a significant risk despite the lack of science to support that.
7% of the subjects were addicted to alcohol before WLS and presumably continued to be addicted to it after WLS.
3.7% developed an addiction to alcohol after WLS. But the study does not suggest that this was a cross addiction. The study says that the reason for people developing addiction to alcohol after WLS is because alcohol affects us differently after surgery.
I know the idea of cross addiction is popular for some reason and probably some people do trade a food addiction for some other addiction. But I have not seen any studies showing this to be common. Have you? I don't really think the statistic about cross addiction are concerning, 'cause I haven't really seen any. I think it is concerning, though, that so many people believe cross addiction is a significant risk despite the lack of science to support that.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
The most disturbing part of this study is that it completely ignores psychological factors, which play a key role in an kind of substance use or abuse.
Depression rates are significantly higher in those who have WLS (over 50%) than in the general population (10%). Two studies that I have seen both found that the vast majority of people (somewhere around 75%... It has been several years and I don't remember the exact statistic) suffering from depression before WLS either experienced a lifting of the depression (no longer meet clinical diagnostic criteria) or a significant improvement in the severity of the depression by the one-year mark. more than half of tjoe people, though, returned to their pre-op depression levels by 24-36 months post-op. There are a variety of reasons (or combination of reasons) for the return of the depressoon, but the relevant point is that as depression returns, it is not surprising that people turn to alcohol, especially since their previous coping drug of choice (food) is largely unavailable to them and their altered anatomy provides a quick, intense rush from the alcohol. They are more likely to turn to alcohol AFTER their WLS if they believed that losing weight would eliminate the depresson or solve particular problems, only to find at 2+ years out that it did not.
Lora
Depression rates are significantly higher in those who have WLS (over 50%) than in the general population (10%). Two studies that I have seen both found that the vast majority of people (somewhere around 75%... It has been several years and I don't remember the exact statistic) suffering from depression before WLS either experienced a lifting of the depression (no longer meet clinical diagnostic criteria) or a significant improvement in the severity of the depression by the one-year mark. more than half of tjoe people, though, returned to their pre-op depression levels by 24-36 months post-op. There are a variety of reasons (or combination of reasons) for the return of the depressoon, but the relevant point is that as depression returns, it is not surprising that people turn to alcohol, especially since their previous coping drug of choice (food) is largely unavailable to them and their altered anatomy provides a quick, intense rush from the alcohol. They are more likely to turn to alcohol AFTER their WLS if they believed that losing weight would eliminate the depresson or solve particular problems, only to find at 2+ years out that it did not.
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
i drink less after surgery. not because of the calories or a fear of cross-addiction (not that i believe i've ever been addicted to food anyway) but because i've just lost interest in it. i think it's more of the growing out of "that age" for me though.
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<3 starting weight: 252 <3 goal weight: 135 <3 current weight: 151 <3
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I just think people aren't reading the study carefully.
The study indicates that 7% of the subjects were addicted to alcohol before they had WLS. So yes, that tendency was present before WLS.
3.7%, less than four in 100 people, developed an alcohol addiction after WLS. I don't think that's a huge number, but it's a concern of course when even one person develops an addiction. That "tendency" may have been there before WLS, I don't know.
It is, however, true that alcohol affects people differently in a physiogical way after WLS than it does before WLS - just like we absorb and process some vitamins differently and sugar differently, etc, we absorb and process alcohol differently. I don't think that part is BS.
What I think is that people are reacting to the issue of alcohol addiction based on their emotions and not paying attention to what the study actually says.
What makes you think it is BS? You don't believe that 3.7% had no addiction to alcohol before WLS and developed it after WLS? You think the authors of the study made that number up for what? Or you just object to the subject of the study?
The study indicates that 7% of the subjects were addicted to alcohol before they had WLS. So yes, that tendency was present before WLS.
3.7%, less than four in 100 people, developed an alcohol addiction after WLS. I don't think that's a huge number, but it's a concern of course when even one person develops an addiction. That "tendency" may have been there before WLS, I don't know.
It is, however, true that alcohol affects people differently in a physiogical way after WLS than it does before WLS - just like we absorb and process some vitamins differently and sugar differently, etc, we absorb and process alcohol differently. I don't think that part is BS.
What I think is that people are reacting to the issue of alcohol addiction based on their emotions and not paying attention to what the study actually says.
What makes you think it is BS? You don't believe that 3.7% had no addiction to alcohol before WLS and developed it after WLS? You think the authors of the study made that number up for what? Or you just object to the subject of the study?
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
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