Overeaters Annonymous??

Thanks Melody.... I think I remember that feeling so long ago. I appreciate what you told me it refreshes my memory and probably no different then all those years ago.

I am glad I posted, it is something I don't do often and it felt good to reach out to the WLS community for some advice in general.

I was always instinctively SUPICIOUS of that 12 step group religious conversion or " spiritual" requirement . Now you guys may not believe me so the source for this is a very interesting current bestseller about the recent resurgence of psychedelic drugs as a way to treat addiction ,depression even overeating !

The book is called How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan - and on page 152 it turns out Bill W' s life changing " spiritual experience " was the result of a trip on Belladonna in Towns Hospital in Manhattan in 1934 . Even I had NO IDEA about this but it makes a lot of sense as everything he ever wrote about " spirituality " or " finding God" just sounded totally insincere to me.

now I'm not saying he was wrong - as a matter of fact personally I trust his experience tripping far more than some halfhearted insincere platitudes encouraging churchiness from a guy who clearly was never sincerely religious at all .

What's really fascinating is that the belladonna treatment (it was mixed with other things, plus they sedated all the patients with chloral hydrate) was actually a "cure" for alcoholism in the day.

Later, Bill W himself thought LSD could help with alcoholism, too

They had a lot of strange ideas back in the day; it will be really interesting to see what people 80 years from now find strange about what we think now!

If you feel it would be beneficial for you, then you should go. I do have a friend who has been going to OA for years (she had the VSG but no one knows she had the VSG except close friends and family).

Thanks Janet

Yeah if you do go be careful about discussing your surgery openly . Though a lot of OA members have had WLS a lot also failed ... and " virgins" often consider WLS " cheating" ( though we know better of course)

I realize this is a couple of days old but I've just now seen it. 12 step programs save lives. They readily admit though that they are not for everyone. Here is a quote from the Big Book addressing this very issue:

"Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest."

Bill W. had numerous flaws for sure. But he readily admitted them; it's not like all of these stories came out only after his death. For example, he remained with Lois (his wife****il the end but wanted a good part of his finances gifted to his then-current mistress. He used psychotropic drugs on the regular and had stong opinions about how some spiritist beliefs could be of tremendous service. The 12 steps were written in approx. 30 minutes under a process known as "automatic writing". He suffered bouts of depression so deep that Lois and a few others were truly afraid he wouldn't make it much longer.I don't know about Maimonides , but he did plagiarize pretty freely a lot of the work of the Oxford Group.

The man wanted nothing to do with being held up as an example. He knew he was far from perfect. Pretty much every aspect of his life became an open book.

When AA works - and we all know there is no guarantee - the results are immeasurable. A drunk in his cups is a very sad person. AA gives hope. There is so much information to put out here but this isn't really the thread. Bottom line: if you're interested in checking it out, do. If it's possible, commit to three separate meetings before you make a decision.

If you can't get out there in real life, check youtube. I know there are thousands of AA meetings there and I'm betting there are many OA's too.

Good luck, it never hurts to look into all available options out there when we are dealing with addictions (and yes, eating can be one).

Take Care Megan.

Thanks for the kind suggestions Amy. I agree 12 steps can be life saving, it just was not for me when I went years ago. i don't consider myself as The big book writes above but who knows! I should not have posted the half hearted question. I am just missing in person support and it crossed my mind.

You're the last person I was thinking of in regards to that bit I quoted. I should have noted that I wasn't referring to you.

There are others here to whom it definitely applies though.

Good luck finding what works for you regardless of what that is.

I'm kinda late to this party. I have not tried it personally but have seen people post it helped them and others it did not. You have nothing to lose but pounds LOL sorry had to say that. Give it a try Also, give your hospitals a call that have weight loss surgery programs. They usually allow you to attend even if you did not have surgery there. It's worth a phone call.

Let us know how it goes

Take care,

Kathy