I fell asleep last night before catching all of last night's episode of Intervention, however, I saw about three minutes in the middle and said: "This woman is a WLS'er."
I have a sixth sense about other post ops. It's bizarre.
I did not know, in fact, until I just got a Google Alert for this episode in my email from Google due to the words "gastric bypass."
I am telling you alcoholism post WLS is RAMPANT. And, hidden.
You can have as many chicken - egg conversations about it -
- What Caused "Us" To Gain Weight?
- Is It The Same Problem That Causes Us To Drink - Drug - Party - Etc. LATER?
- Often, yes. Directly related.
- It's not always about liking food too much.
Mr. MM looked at me and said, "You know, I'm lucky that isn't me."
And he's right. If he did not EAT - even now at eight years post op food is his drug - he'd drink. It's in him to be addicted to something. Anything.
And that is a VERY FRIGHTENING REALIZATION that is VERY REAL. This stuff often isn't realized until YEARS post op. It's true -- he had no idea why he ate too much. We're only just scratching the surface now -- in 2012.
Sigh.
TV Replay -
A&E saved one of the most heartbreaking stories yet for the season finale of "Intervention" (Mon, 10 p.m. ET on A&E). Terry's descent into alcoholism was easy to understand as her story unfolded. She was pressured to be beautiful by her mother. She even went into modeling, but gave it up after her mother and the agency suggested diet pills.
So Terry turned to food, gaining a tremendous amount of weight, before gastric bypass surgery and ultimately alcoholism took over. Even during the taping of this show, her mother said, "I think appearances do make the person." She also refused to believe her daughter about an earlier molestation from a family friend.
So starting from a young age, Terry felt like she was never quite good enough for her mother. In a society that puts an undue burden on women in regards to appearance and beauty, Terry's burden was even heavier because it was her mother telling her she wasn't good enough the way she is. By the end of the episode, though, her mother had apologized and Terry had found sobriety, so there may yet be a happy ending to her story.
