Absolutely agree. Speaking as a statistician, you can't draw any sort of valid general conclusion from a single observation-- or even a handful of observations-- in a vacuum.

The variety of situations involved in patient surgeries is huge. Different medical histories and issues, surgeries chosen, surgeons performing the procedure and specifics of the operation, psychological readiness, and adherence to post-op recommendations (vitamins, diet, exercise, aftercare, etc.).

When you account for all of THOSE factors and look at overall trends? The outcomes for WLS patients are overwhelmingly positive.

Good to see you back on the boards, with all your sparkle.

It's good to be back! Not much time for the Internet with a new baby, but things have calmed down a lot :)

Transfer addiction is real, but it affects a small percentage of the wls community. Many of us, including me, have no problem with alcohol following surgery. I feel pretty much the same about alcohol except I drink a lot less because it I do get drunk faster. Also, I avoid drinking anything with more than a few carbs because I don't want to reverse my weight loss.

I am sorry for what you are facing, but most people are better off and healthier after surgery. No surgeon operates on a patient unless the benefits of the surgery outweigh the potential risks. I choose to trust the many scientific research studies on the topic over a few anecdotal stories on the internet written by people who are not medical experts.

By the way, everyone needs glasses as they get older. Our eyes naturally start to go bad with age. There is no escaping it, and I do not believe that your surgery had anything to do with you needing glasses. Nor do I believe that all of your problems were caused by wls.

I am not trying to down play your problems in any way. I just want to add another perspective for those who might read your post. I wish you the best.

After RNY it is very important to eat enough protein, to take supplements, to get labs done and take action to correct any deficiencies.  It is smartest to never drink alcohol after surgery because it works on us so much faster after surgery. 

Your anxiety and nervous conditions could be a result of vitamin deficiencies.  Your low white blood count can be from liver damage, caused by alcohol. Your diagnosis of needing glasses because your brain has less fat sounds like it came from a late night discussion at your local bar.

The first step in recovering from alcoholism is admitting that you are powerless over alcohol.  There are millions of alcoholics who never had weight loss surgery and there are millions of weight loss surgery patients who are not alcoholics.

Dr. Phil can help you get into treatment, but you can walk in an AA meeting today.

again, Im not an alcoholic, and all of the issues happened after this surgery, I do believe this surgery and not knowing enough yet about the good the bad and the ugly are not in yet.

You can choose to believe that the surgery is to blame for your issues, but that doesn't make it SO.  This surgery is not at all new, so it is not just a matter of the medical community not knowing enough about long term effects!  Individual surgeons sometimes don't mention some of the potential side effects or complications  -- many surgeons don't mention reactive hypoglycemia, and many surgeons don't even know about the increased risk of kidney stones after RNY (including mine... but my urologist knew all about it) -- but I think you are doing a disservice to yourself and others here with your claims.  

As a psychologist, I can assure you that there are many possible reaons for developing anxiety and panic attacks that have nothing to do with your digestive system (although, as someone else already mentioned, nutritional deficiencies may be playing a role).

So what I hear.....is, I am absolutely not responsible for any of this!  Step up....who else is living in your body??  After all, we each have control.  Try demonstrating some.  Really!!!!

I think the surgery itself is just a tool, but it is our responsibility to become responsible for taking our vitamins, chewing properly, measuring how much we eat and staying away from foods and substances that are bad for us. In my own experience, I am an alcoholic and a drug addict and was both of those decades before surgery. I got clean and sober thanks to 12 Step Programs. THEN came my transfer addiction to food. I went from being underweight (due to the drugs and alcohol use) at 115 pounds to my highest weight of 245 pounds over the course of about 30 years.

I still go to meetings, but now I'm adding the support group from my WLS surgeon's office. And, if I start struggling with my mood, feeling sorry for myself, (called sitting on the pitty pot), or catch myself engaging in self destructive behaviors (I have to watch my shopping), getting into unhealthy relationships, etc, etc.  I have both a sponsor and a counselor that I work with.

I do recommend that you try -- just for yourself -- to stop drinking for a month. If you find in that month that you cannot sleep, or if you develop headaches, or if you start eating more, or if you start shopping more with money you don't have, or if you start losing your temper frequently, or develop the shakes, severe stomach pain, or seek out more sex, or find you simply give yourself continued excuses to ignore the rule you have given yourself to stop drinking for a month... you have a drinking problem. That's the test. Even if you bare knuckle it through the month and don't drink for that period, the other symptoms are your tell.

Addiction transfer is very real and very dangerous. And I sort of had to laugh because I could hear myself from years ago telling people in the rooms about how upset I was that I was getting fat and it was all because I had quit using. And they all sort of chuckled and said, "Yeah, so why do you keep eating too much? Get with your sponsor and figure out what's in your head that is driving your new addictive behavior."

Over time (and we are talking years), I think I'm slowly ticking off the issues -- most of which are self inflicted because I love to try and control things I cannot control.

Oh, I and want to assure everyone, that having an addiction does not make you a bad person or less than a good person. It is a disease and that ain't our fault. We do, however, have a responsibility, just as a person with any disease has the responsibility to seek and follow treatment, so we addicted folks have the responsibility to seek and follow treatment. My weight reached a point I could no longer manage the loss by myself and needed the tool of the rny surgery and continue to need the tools of support group meetings, and my sponsor for my other addictions.

Or Tinam could have been self-soothing with food and didnt realize it. I did that for about a year or two...

Sometimes, it is easier to see behaviors in others than ourselves.

Sort of like this " I am not an alcoholic" comment in every other post.  If one doesnt display this tendency to a large degree why defend so much against it?