saw on main board..

... as i sit here eating a pack of crackers.. had a lean cuisine for lunch.. sugar free pudding for snack.. grits for breakfast.. and another pudding somewhere in there too..  I dont think i have a transfer addiction.. I still have a food addiction! its horrible.  Today has been one of my worst eating days. i havent stopped.. and im not hungry at all of course. just eating. Im blaming it on aunt  flo coming and that cortizone shot i got.. i think they make u hungry? LOL i hope .. bc i feel OUT OF CONTROL.. *stepping away from the food**** anyone else feel like a COW?!?!?

This will air on Nightline tonight  at  11:35pm

http://abcnews.go.com/nightline/story?id=3256212&page=2

Trading Twinkies for Tequila

Some People Suffer From 'Transfer Addictions' After Gastric Bypass Surgery

By EILEEN MURPHY

June 8, 2007 —

 

Steffney Payne decided to have gastric bypass surgery after hitting a high of 420 pounds.

Payne, a 28-year-old student who works at a bariatric clinic in Charlotte, N.C., says she thought everything would be better when she was thin. But Payne's lifelong battle with food soon became a battle against something else & alcohol.

Many people who undergo this surgery discover that weight loss is just the beginning of the story, and that their struggles do not fall away along with the pounds.

After surgeons make their stomachs as small as a walnut, patients can no longer overeat. But many of them seem to be replacing food with a "transfer addiction," such as alcohol, drugs or even shopping.

Watch the full story tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 EDT

Payne was overjoyed by the results of her surgery, and remembers the day she really saw her adult face for the first time.

"It came slowly, because you're losing the weight, but when I really caught it I caught it in a picture and I didn't know who it was," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's me!'"

 

From Food to Drink

Payne says she went out and bought a digital camera and couldn't stop taking pictures of her face from every angle.

"I had never seen my nose without my cheek out to here," she said. "I'd never seen my adult face. I'd never seen what I looked like. When I smiled, my eyes closed."

Payne was finally able to see herself clearly, and can now articulate what prompted her to undergo the surgery. At age 24, when she decided to have the operation, she said she was living "on the outskirts of my life, while everybody passed me by."

"I decided to have surgery because I was battling a compulsive overeating addiction. I was battling binge eating," she said, "and not just where & somebody goes to the grocery store and they buy a bunch of food for the weekend and they sit around and watch TV. I'm saying I would buy a whole loaf of bread and I would ball it up piece by piece by piece and eat a whole loaf of bread."

 

'I'd Never Been Drunk'

After the surgery, when overeating was no longer possible, Payne found herself craving something to fill the void.

"One day I went bowling with a friend and she said, 'Hold my drink.' And I took a drink of it. It was a Long Island Iced Tea. I was never a drinker," she said. "You know, I was 420 pounds, and & I'd have a drink, but a 420-pound body, you better bring a bucket of something."

Payne says she felt buzzed instantly.

"I'd never felt that before. I'd never been drunk. I'd never been high. I'd never felt that," she said.

But she said the feeling was familiar  it reminded her of how she would feel when she binged on food.

"I had [felt that] in a binge, I had," she said. "I just met my match, but in a different form, and it was quicker and it was fast and it was acceptable."

Payne began drinking a large bottle of wine every night  enough so that she would pass out. She kept this problem quiet from her friends and family but eventually went to counseling and now no longer drinks excessively. She is now very active in the bariatric community and is studying psychology.

 

'I Thought It Was Just Me'

For Rita Haas, the problem wasn't booze, it was Wal-Mart.

Haas lost 187 pounds after having gastric bypass surgery. When she was alone after the surgery, she started shopping to keep busy.

Haas says food was always her drug of choice, but after surgery it soon became shopping. Her new addiction had a devastating effect on her finances: She has hired a lawyer and is planning on filing for bankruptcy.

"I owe over $40,000 in credit cards, and I owe my mortgage  it's $63,000  and my second mortgage is, I believe, $43,000," she said.

Haas and Payne both participate in a bariatric surgery support group in Charlotte, N.C.

Barbara Thompson, of the Weight Loss Surgery Center, tells members that after the surgery some patients go "from Twinkies to tequila."

Thompson publishes a newsletter with a readership of more than 10,000 gastric bypass patients. After posting a notice about so-called transfer addiction in the newsletter, she says she received a barrage of e-mails from people saying, "I thought it was just me."

There are no hard numbers on how many gastric bypass patients experience transfer addiction, but bariatric surgeon David Voellinger says it may affect nearly a third of the thousands of Americans who undergo the surgery each year.

Voellinger says the most common transfer addiction he sees in his practice is alcoholism, because the high is quicker, and patients absorb the alcohol faster because of the surgery. At his clinic he has seen patients become shopping addicts and sex addicts, and patients who've never smoked before become smokers.

 

Without Warning

Tammi Cooper says that she's always had an addictive personality, and that she had no idea she would have so many issues to deal with after losing the weight.

"I was told I might go through a mourning period," she said. "That food would not be there in the same way for me and I may experience some depression. That was it."

Haas agrees that that the medical community should warn patients that this kind of thing can happen.

"They didn't tell me," she said. "They operated on my stomach. They didn't operate on my head."

Voellinger says doctors are just now starting to realize the extent of this problem. Despite a recent editorial by a doctor at Harvard Medical School that argues that there is not enough evidence to prove the existence of transfer addiction, Voellinger is a believer.

Cooper says she currently has her drinking under control.

"I'm good right now," she said.

She also said that her sex drive came back like "a freight train" after the operation, and Payne, who works in a bariatric clinic, says that she hears that all the time at her office.

"Some people haven't had sex in years, you know what I'm saying? & And they might get a good feeling from it, and that's it," she said.

The women "Nightline" interviewed said they were willing to speak out about very personal issues to raise awareness about transfer addiction.

In the end, Payne, Haas and Cooper each agreed that if they had it to do over again, they would have the surgery, but they would have done a few things differently.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

I still have a major food addiction too (just had 2 ice cream sandwiches...how the hell can I not stop at 1).  However,  I found myself quickly slipping into alcoholism.  My family is full of alcoholics.  I bought a bottle of vodka and found myself looking forward to it nightly.  I got scared the other night when I had 2 drinks and don't remember everything I did or said to John.  We were having an argument.  When I got sober, I poured the bottle down the sink and said that I will never have that stuff in my house.  It has been a tough week.  It has taken all that I had to not stop at the ABC store and get a bottle.  I think I can still socially drink but having it in a house was too easy to access.  Anytime I got depressed....there it was.  Well....feels like confession time.

((((((((((((Rachel))))))))))))) Im sorry youre going through this! and it takes balls to tell everyone here.. people love to judge us. and look at us under a magnifying glass.. but the best thing I can tell them, is NO ONE is perfect, including us who have lost a lot of weight.. We still have the same struggles if not WORSE than before.. some days i miss being fat where i could eat a whole pizza and not care at the moment. weird.. then i think about it and i wouldnt wanna be that person again.. When you feel like going to the ABC store call me.. ill talk u out of it.. or if im having a bad day i might take you! LMAO jk!!!! love you girl!!!

Thank you Jennifer for your support.  It was scary to see the my dad's habits emerging in me.  I wanted the alcohol so bad to take away all of the pain that I have been going through for the last 4 months but it only took it away for a a little while.  It was still there like a monster in the closet when I got sober.  But, while I was buzzing it all went away.  That was the biggest warning that it was starting to be a problem.  I was looking for an escape from reality.  I never considered myself to have an addictive personality (other than just liking food) but all this stress with my marriage has about driven me over the edge.  I don't know I'm just really depressed today.  Thanks for your support. Rachel

I still have food addictions....I want to transfer them to drinking...any suggestions??? LOL

Hey! I don't suffer from anything, I'm perfectly normal, no addictions, no psychosis, not one friggn thing wrong with me.  And how do I know this? Dr. Russell told me so.........I'm perfectly normal, other than a slight case of OCD. Yeah!! It feels so good to be perfect. NOW, I have one question for him............ why the f_ _ k can't I lose weight faster? After all, I had my insides rearranged, I try to follow the rules, I still take my anti-depressants, I take all my vitamins, drink all my great tasting protein mixes,drink plenty of water, try my hardest to eat healthy, work my ass off, get enough sleep, and after all that I am losing at a snails pace.  ISN'T LIFE GRAND!! Mary

I feel you sister! We need help, but how and who??? I am always here for you!! Patti

First of all your new pic is beautiful and I am so proud of you and just a little bit jealous I must say!! LOL I LOVE U JEN!

I cannot belive I still have 35 ish pounds to go and it is going nowhere. I had a slight mental health breakdown and do not know what to do. Did you watch this episode and did they give any feedback?  I e-mailed the office to see if I could get in with the new psych lady bit no response yet. I have really never felt this depressed and crappy. On the other hand I have no right to because I have lost 111 pounds and should just shut up about it already.  I am a train wreck and cannot help feeling like a loser anyway.  My mind is a mess and I don't know what to do.  I was supposed to start the 2nd job tonight and they called and said to wait till tomorrow form 6:30 -8:30 wow a whopping 14 dollars then take out tax on that and I do not go back till Saturday night at 6:30........uggghhhhh Sorry for whining Patti

thank you my sister! But you shouldnt be jealous . . I was looking at my stomach, full of stretch marks and saggy skin and thought "I wish i had patti's flat stomach with no stretch marks!" SO I WAS JEALOUS OF YOU!!   And girl you look great! You dont look like you should lose 35 more lbs! Youd be nothing! i get down and depressed alot too.. I didnt get to watch the show that night. i miss my comfort food.. and eating junk that used to not make me sick.. that now i cant eat.. i think the new psychologist isnt seeing "us" yet.. just new patients.. which sucks.. because WE paid our 2500 bucks for this service and its not open for us to use.. so wth.. Call me if you wanna talk !! love ya jen

You going tonight?