Why Bariatric Surgery Can Fail (Part 1)
Monday, May 30, 2011
Last week, we looked at bariatric surgery, its risks, its benefits, its mode of action, and explored how it affects nutrition and eating behaviour.
This week (continuing in this series), I would like to explore some very different (many would perhaps say even more important) aspects that needs careful consideration in any decision for or against surgery.
In this week’s posts I will turn our attention to the substantial impact that surgery can have on mental health and psychosocial circumstances, which may ultimately make all the difference between ‘success’ and ‘failure’.
Clearly, one of the biggest impacts that bariatric surgery (or for that matter, any significant dietary intervention) can have, is that food can no longer be readily used as a coping strategy. Simply turning to food for comfort, stress reduction, venting, boredom, or even celebration is hard to do, when your stomach is the size of a golf ball (or a small banana) or any overindulgence results in explosive diarrhea (as in the case of dumping syndrome).
So while, ‘binging’ may no longer be a realistic option, the emotions that precipitated such behaviours in the first place may need (and will often find) other outlets.
Just how intense such unresolved emotions can be, is perhaps illustrated by the case of a patient, who, having undergone adjustable gastric banding at another centre, came to us because she had begun ‘self-adjusting’ her band by deflating it on an almost daily basis to allow a binge and subsequently over-tightening it to prevent further eating during the rest of the day.
Indeed, maladaptive coping behaviours following bariatric surgery have been widely described and assessing these should be part of any pre- and post-bariatric surgical assessment and follow-up.
A related issue, is the often described recurrence of drug or alcohol misuse observed in some post-surgical patients, a behaviour, which not surprisingly and has been associated with weight regain. This problem can perhaps be conceptualised as a ‘natural’ response to no longer being able to use food as a drug and should certainly prompt caution and ongoing screening in patients with significant past histories of addiction disorders.
Another major determinant of outcomes can be due to the fact that, as weight comes off, patients lose the ‘protective’ barrier and ‘isolation’ of excess weight, leaving them feeling exposed and vulnerable – they suddenly becomes ‘visible’ and attract attention – a situation that many patients do not want and cannot handle. This situation is not exclusive to but certainly most commonly associated with past histories of mental, physical and/or sexual abuse.
The result of this phenomenon, that gets worse the more weight loss becomes noticeable, can be extreme anxiety, panic attacks, self-sabotage, ineffective coping, oppositional defiance, recurrence of addictions, severe depression and even suicidal ideation or attempts. I have seen patients, where a simple ‘compliment’ made in passing from a work colleague or a stranger on the street was enough to precipitate re-emergence of binge eating with subsequent weight regain.
It is perhaps worth noting, however, that all of the above problems are by no means specific to surgery. Similar psychological responses are regularly seen in patients who undergo substantial weight loss with diets alone (e.g. LCDs) and exploring the issue of anxiety and discomfort during past weight loss attempts is therefore part of my routine assessment of any patient.
Nevertheless, emergence of these behaviours post-surgery do lead to specific complications.
Thus, emotional or binge eating post surgery can result in protracted vomiting, pouch dilatation, band dislocation, dumping syndrome and other problems that are, strictly speaking, not really a consequence of the surgery itself but rather a consequence of the behaviours resulting from the fact that these patients continue to have unresolved psychological or psychiatric issues and/or have not developed alternate and constructive coping strategies.
This is why in our program, we recommend that patients undergo cognitive behavioural therapy for emotional eating or binge-eating disorder prior to surgery. We also closely monitor patients for (re-emergence) of such thoughts and/or behaviours post-surgery.
But emotional eating and vulnerability are not the only psychosocial problems that patients can encounter post-surgery.
I will continue exploring other psychological and social aspects of surgery that can determine ‘success’ and ‘failure’ tomorrow.
AMS
Edmonton, Alberta
Taylor VH, & Sharma AM (2006). A patient with personal control of the adjustable gastric band and bulimia: a psychiatric complication. Obesity surgery, 16 (10), 1386-7 PMID: 17059752
Monday, May 30, 2011
This is my sincere and desperate question. How does a person access cognitave therapy for binge eating? I’ve been turned away from every resourse I know. I’m not “serious enough of a case”. It’s so difficult.
Monday, May 30, 2011
I echo Theresa’s question. Can you direct us to some resources that will help with emotional eating and vulnerability? I’ve never had a psychologist who knew much about it. Or do you recommend just general anxiety therapy?
Monday, May 30, 2011
There is a good workbook for this purpose called “Overcoming Binge Eating” by Dr. Christopher Fairburn. It is designed to be passed back and forth between therapist and patient, gives an excellent overview of the biological drives as well as the psychological factors that can set a person up for binge eating, and addresses these issues from a cognitive-behavioural perspective.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I wasn’t going to comment again, but I’m blown away by this. You’re seeing people binge eating post-WLS and you’re assuming that they have mental or emotional problems; blaming the victim. Has it occurred to you that people who have had weight loss surgery are basically on a surgically enforced diet, and that they may be bingeing for the same, physiological reasons that dieters binge? Has this really not occurred to you? Are you that convinced that WLS somehow completely, permanently knocks out the body’s ability to regulate hunger and weight?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I am always very grateful for your compassionate and wise insight into the problems facing people with obesity and/or gastric bypass issues. I’ve struggled with the emotional impact of surgery for about five years now, mostly expressed through binging and purging (not by choice! dumping is a “wonderful” thing). I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I just can’t eat what I could before, and I have to learn other, healthier, ways of dealing with the emotional issues. It is difficult to find therapists who can deal sensitively with these issues. One aspect is the “crisis” aspect of it–that our coping mechanism is rather abruptly taken from us. Often we don’t realize how profoundly we’ve depended on food until it’s taken from us, which can throw us into a tailspin. Also, I’ve found that I went through a whole grieving process which is often difficult and embarrassing to talk about. It took a long time to accept the fact that I was just not going to be able to eat lots of chocolate when I was feeling blue. The dumping was too dramatic and painful to tolerate. It was difficult.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
@you’re assuming that they have mental or emotional problems; blaming the victim.
Good point – but I can assure you that thanks to objective diagnostic criteria for mental health problems, I don’t have to ‘assume’ anything. Also I am surprised that you would consider diagnosing a mental health disorder imply ‘blaming’ the patient? I thought the idea of assigning ‘fault’ in mental health problems was a thing of the past?
Perhaps you should go back and read my article on homeostatic versus hedonic binges and things may become clearer.
https://www.drsharma.ca/out-on-a-binge.html
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
TCH: Thank you. I’ll take a look at the book.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Re: Where to go for cognitive-behavioural therapy for emotional eating…
While not a therapy group, there is workshop series called Craving Change that uses a cognitive-behavioural approach to address emotional eating. It is an evidenced-based program that was developed by a clinical psychologist and a registered dietitian out of Alberta. They have trained others to teach this program and it is being offered in many Canadian cities. I am one of many trained facilitators so for those in the Kitchener and surrounding areas, please see my website for more information.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Hi again…I didn’t realize that the website didn’t show up in my post, but if you click where it says Angela it will take you to the website 🙂
Monday, June 2, 2014
Pourriez-vous mettre les articles en francais.