Addiction and Gastric Bypass: Then and Now

December is fast approaching. This December will mark the eighth anniversary of my gastric bypass surgery. It seems to me like the past eight years have flown by. They have passed with many changes. They have passed with much heartache.

When I had my surgery, I weighed 505 lbs. I weighed a quarter ton. Many of my close friends remember those days. I was still working as a paramedic, and I was miserable. My ankles, knees, and hands would swell constantly from congestive heart failure. My diabetes was slowly taking my vision. My blood pressure was through the roof, and I had to take 2 injections of Insulin daily, along with a handful of blood pressure medication and diuretics just to be able to walk and function. I was dying.

The fix for me at the time was surgery. St Joseph East had just opened the Center for Weight Loss Surgery in sept of 2002 and I was one of the first patients. At the time I was the largest one. They put 2 tables together so I could have surgery. The counseling resources at the time were limited. They were pretty much non existent. There was no counseling pre surgery. There were no resources available like there are now. I went into surgery as a Hail Mary to save my life.

Fast forward to June 2003. Six months after surgery, I had lost 200 lbs. I had lost a whole person. My waist size went from 64 to 44. I was no longer wearing 6XL shirts, I was in 3XL. In just 6 months this happened. One thing about me didn't change. My mindset. I was struggling inside with not being able to eat. I would eat and get sick very often. Then I began experiencing abdominal pain that would be a daily curse for the next 7 years. This pain was controlled by medication up to a point. I found an alternative to not being able to eat. Alcohol.

From that point on, alcohol became a daily habit. It escalated to the point it overtook my life. Alcohol had replaced food as my comfort. I wasn't able to eat what I wanted anymore, but I could get drunk. Alcohol as we all know comes with consequences. The train of consequences from alcohol can range from hangover to health problems to legal problems. It can happen. I'm living proof.

I had experienced a phenomenon known as "addiction transfer". I transitioned from food to alcohol. It wasn't a smooth transition. It was hard. I went from being hungover to being hospitalized due to alcohol poisoning. It was hell.

Fast forward to today. For about the past 6 months, my abdominal pain was at it's worst point. I began bleeding and the pain would double me over. My old stomach and the new pouch (that was made from my old stomach) grew back together. The pain and bleeding was caused by the staples coming loose inside from the muscle growth. I thought I was going to die from a combination of drinking and this abdominal bleeding.

Now, for the past 7 weeks, I have been pain free. No bleeding, no pain, and for the past 9 weeks, no alcohol (owe that to God!!). But, there is one drawback. I am now back to square one. My old stomach and new stomach are rejoined. I am able now to eat anything I want again. That comes with the same old consequences though. I can gain weight again. I can rapidly gain weight. I have to closely watch what and where I eat. Places I once enjoyed to eat such as Golden Corral and any Oriental buffet, are potentially harmful. If left to my own choice, I would eat there every day. This is where Alcoholics Anonymous comes in. Just because I have transferred back to eating from drinking doesn't mean I'm going to stop going to meetings. Going to AA, listening and realizing I'm not alone, will help me keep from eating myself into an early grave.

So, I guess the moral to my story is this. Before considering having this surgery, read everything you can about addiction transfer. Deal with any emotions and crises in your life before having surgery. Use the surgery as a tool for wellness, not a solution to a problem!!