Addiction shifting - needing some help

I'm starting to think I just have an addictive personality. The problem is, I feel like I need SOMETHING to fill the void, and no option seems any more viable than the last.

Can't eat? Chew gum! I literally got addicted to sugar-free gum and was going through 3 to 4 15-stick packs a day. Obviously this was causing a lot of GI distress (thanks, Xylitol), so I started adding in some Double Bubbles (can't beat $0.05 apiece from the gift shop at work, right?). I was at least logging them along with my food, and then I had a day where I realized I consumed 300 calories and 75g of sugar just in gum. It more than doubled my carb count for the day! So now I've sworn off gum altogether.

I feel like I always need something in my mouth. I eat a lot of Tums throughout the day even though I haven't had any GERD symptoms since my RNY. I bought a lot of water flavorings and am trying to shift to drinking more to satisfy my oral cravings, but does anyone have any other words of wisdom?

I never realized I was a food addict until that started to shift to other things. I suppose I could do a lot worse than gum (I never liked the taste of alcohol), but I honestly think it's slowing my weight loss, and I'm afraid the Tums are going to give me kidney stones eventually. How do I go from finding something else to fill the void to just not NEEDING to have it filled in the first place? I do see a health psychologist *****commended I try to recognize each moment of craving as a time of suffering and just try to let it be. This technique was really successful for my evening snacking pre-op, but it doesn't seem to be doing much for my new oral fixations.  

I'm starting to think I just have an addictive personality. The problem is, I feel like I need SOMETHING to fill the void, and no option seems any more viable than the last.

Can't eat? Chew gum! I literally got addicted to sugar-free gum and was going through 3 to 4 15-stick packs a day. Obviously this was causing a lot of GI distress (thanks, Xylitol), so I started adding in some Double Bubbles (can't beat $0.05 apiece from the gift shop at work, right?). I was at least logging them along with my food, and then I had a day where I realized I consumed 300 calories and 75g of sugar just in gum. It more than doubled my carb count for the day! So now I've sworn off gum altogether.

I feel like I always need something in my mouth. I eat a lot of Tums throughout the day even though I haven't had any GERD symptoms since my RNY. I bought a lot of water flavorings and am trying to shift to drinking more to satisfy my oral cravings, but does anyone have any other words of wisdom?

I never realized I was a food addict until that started to shift to other things. I suppose I could do a lot worse than gum (I never liked the taste of alcohol), but I honestly think it's slowing my weight loss, and I'm afraid the Tums are going to give me kidney stones eventually. How do I go from finding something else to fill the void to just not NEEDING to have it filled in the first place? I do see a health psychologist *****commended I try to recognize each moment of craving as a time of suffering and just try to let it be. This technique was really successful for my evening snacking pre-op, but it doesn't seem to be doing much for my new oral fixations.  

I agree with your therapist. In any addiction,ppl usually have to go cold turkey and white knuckle it out till you get past it. 

Sounds like you are addicted to food/ sugar and I would Also agree with drinking instead of putting something else in your mouth. 

75 gms of sugar is actually a huge amount and as long as you give your body sugar reAdy  to use,it will not burn off your stored weight.   Burning the stored weight is how you lose weight. 75 gms of sugar can stop you right in your tracks.

Yeah, that was the day I decided to swear off gum altogether. What's weird is I didn't have much of a sweet tooth at all before surgery. I was just a bread fiend, and I haven't had any of that since April. I'll try some differen****er flavorings to see if I can liven it up a little.

interestingly enough,bread starts turning into simple sugar really quickly,so you were getting a sugar fix that way. Now without the bread your body is looking for a sugar fix from somewhere else.

That's a very keen observation, thanks. More times than I can count, I went through an entire 8-pack of dinner rolls in one sitting.

Therapy & white knuckling the carb addiction is what you're gonna have to do right now. Distracting yourself might help too, like putting a rubber band around your wrist & snapping it when you want something to chew on might help.

There's chewing on ice if your teeth are good, or keep a mint coated toothpick in your mouth if you need to keep something in there to chew on. Well if anything your next dentist appointment will be smooth sailing! 

Sorry to say but the others are right, sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do and that is white knuckle thru the addiction. Drinking lots of water will help and eating as low carb as possible will help too then in a week or so it will start getting better. Buy yourself a color book and some crayons and color your little fingers off!

Ooooooh!  I love having permission to color!

Thanks, I have been trying to lower my carbs more. My hubby has had no problem eating English muffin pizzas after surgery and being satisfied with just one (from a guy who used to eat 2 large pizzas in a sitting), but as soon as I open the door to the carb monster, it butts its ugly head in and makes itself at home. My mom actually got me a coloring book recently...it's too bad that particular distraction wouldn't look good at work!

As others have said - drink water when you're feeling the urge to need something in your mouth! Or, measure out an ounce of almonds or beef jerky, and eat JUST ONE almond/bite of jerky when you're craving something to chew on.