Visit to the Shrink

I went to my shrink today. We adjusted my meds, again, to help keep me from getting depressed. I'm back on the antidepressant so hopefully I'll be where I was last month, which was feeling pretty good. He's keeping me on the mood stabilizer because that seems to be working, as well. He told me I was sick because I was basically withdrawing from my antidepressant. Thank God that's over.

I told him about my food issues. He recommends I go to OA. If I don't like one meeting he told me to go to a total of three different meetings. If I don't get anything out of any of the meetings, then I can say it didn't work for me. He also said I need to go to addiction therapy, which starts tomorrow.

He said binge eating is truly an addiction. He said it acts on the same area of the brain as opiates, nicotine, etc., and gave me a bunch of handouts to read about it. Apparently, the chemicals, flavors, additives, fat to sugar ratio (whatever that is), actually causes an addiction. When someone who is addicted to food is having withdrawal symptoms (prior to a binge) they don't go to fruit or veggies, as is explained in the link above. Humans are supposed to eat natural occurring foods. Fruits, veggies, and whatnot don't cause cravings like processed and refined foods. Those foods, their additives to make us "want" them...from a business point of view its brilliant. Get people hooked on your foods and they'll keep coming back making you money. From a biological point of view it does nothing but screw up homeostasis. He explained its not so much an addiction to quantity of food as it is an addiction to the stuff in processed and refined food, etc. I don't understand it all but dopamine is released which causes the "good" feeling. This explains it a little better.
He said its not uncommon to have food addiction, its just a matter than most people don't admit to it. He feels its because there isn't a stigma attached to food addiction as there is to alcohol and narcotics. He said food is corrosive---it will make you fat and eventually cause medical problems...it just wears you away. Narcotics can and will kill you with an OD. He's not claiming food addiction is at the same level of narcotics, but it definitely as addictive properties and many people need true therapy to stop. A good comparison was made: Food is what cigarettes were to our grandparents generation. They started smoking at 12. We start eating shit at 12. He said some people who have said addiction are lucky and are able to overcome it without therapy and they are able to do so because they have a great support system. But, he says its hard to overcome based on the pathophysiology as well as the emotional aspect of it all

So, tomorrow starts it all. My appointment is at 2pm with the therapist. I'm going to look into an OA meeting, even though it still freaks me out a little. But I told the doc and Brian I'll do it.