Chris Hedges: CENSORED!

Well it happened:  Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges' program "On Contact" was wiped from Youtube with no notice or reason given.  While the program was hosted by Russian network RT, it contained no pro-Russia message or propaganda whatsoever.  Guests on the show included Cornel West, Noam Chomsky & Richard Wolff.  It ran for 6 years & won Chris an Emmy nomination for 'Outstanding Information Talk Show Host' in 2017.  

And Youtube inexplicably memoryholed it, presumably because of the Russia/Ukraine conflict.  

While most everyone on the Left was on board when Big Tech censored dangerous kooks like Alex Jones and Donald Trump, a few of us could see where this was going.  When you give monopolies the power to silence dissent you end up with situations like this or, on the more extreme end, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden's dire situations.  Hopefully everyone agrees that an overseas war is no excuse for broad, blatant censorship at home--especially when the information being censored has NOTHING to do with said conflict.  This is about squashing a lone voice of reason in the matter of our 2-party sham of a "democracy".  A man who conscientiously declined to vote for either Biden or Trump in 2020 and was vocal about his reasons for doing so.  Again, whether you agree with that particular point of view or not, hopefully you see that it's incredibly dangerous to censor those who stand up for their right to call out the American empire & exercise their right to vote (or not vote) in a way that aligns with their values.  

This isn't about "private companies choosing to do what they want on their sites" anymore.  Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok & Instagram are monopolies controlling information that influences politics & world events.  It's high time they're regulated as such.  

Until that happens, go support Chris Hedges on Substack... one of the last free corners of the internet.

Ironic How...

 ...half the people yearning for "the good old days" wouldn't have been accepted as they are back then.  The obese, the poor ignorant masses with terrible grammar & no manners or home training; the disabled (including learning disabilities & mental illnesses), minorities or whites from poor/rural families.  A lot of you privileged gays, women & racial minorities have forgotten what it's like to truly be treated like an "other" with zero access to mainstream society & success.  Yet you yearn for a time when you most certainly would've been at the bottom of the heap.  Looking at YOU, hyper-conservative and religious types.

Careful what you wish for.  We can always go backwards.  The opposite of progressive is regressive.  

On Love & Limerence

I learned a new word today that I'm surprised I didn't know before now:  limerence.  When I type it out, my spell check tells me it's not a word, so I had to double check with Google and, yep.  It's a word.  The definition is:  

"a state of mind which results from romantic or non-romantic feelings for another person and typically includes obsessive thoughts and fantasies as well as a desire to form or maintain a relationship with the object of love and to have one's feelings reciprocated. Limerence can also be defined as an involuntary state of intense desire."

Anyone who has ADHD or autism likely knows exactly what this feeling is and how intensely it can grip one's mind.  Limerence can be a source of pleasure, sure, but it can also cause problems if it spills out into the real world and starts interfering with everyday functioning & causes real relationship problems.  In other words, as long as these feelings stay confined to the inside of your mind it's all good... for the most part.  But once they become public you start to seem creepy.  And worse, if your obsession starts to become stalking/controlling behavior or unwanted advances, it's a crime.  Unrequited love is painful but you have to learn to deal with it.  There's someone out there who WILL love you back as much as you love them but you can't force it.  

But that's the extreme side of limerence.  The more common form is the "is this love or lust?" type.  For those having a difficult time telling whether their crush or infatuated relationship feelings are actually love, here's a general rundown of the differences.  Love is unconditional, patient & steady over time.  It remains through life's storms but evolves in intensity over time unlike limerence which is unnaturally intense & puts the object of one's desire on a pedestal, hyperfocusing on their positive attributes & downplaying their flaws.  Love gives your mind room to breathe; limerence is suffocating.  It's all-consuming & overpowering, taking up all of your thoughts & daydreams.  

Depending on the situation, limerence can be a normal result of the pleasure chemicals that signal a new relationship, but it can also be a more ominous maladaptive coping mechanism resulting from childhood trauma.  If the feeling happens at the beginning of a real relationship or with a crush who has shown mutual interest, it's the former.  If with a celebrity/person you've never met or someone who doesn't know you're alive, the latter is more likely.  The latter type is the kind you need to watch out for, though both can be red flags if they happen often or interfere with your ability to function.  

With the advent of social media & the internet, fans have increasingly developed one-way parasocial relationships with their favorite celebrities that are in some instances driven by limerence.  The fan is infatuated with the public image of the celebrity, putting them on a pedestal & developing a full-blown imaginary relationship with them to the point they get angry & possessive if anyone else is perceived to have insulted or overstepped their boundaries with said person.  Arguments, online bullying & doxxing have been reported among fans of celebs like Nicki Minaj ("the Barbz") & Beyonce ("the Beyhive") against anyone who commits a perceived slight against their hero.  Behavior like this is highly toxic & leaves little room for real, healthy relationships with people who return the person's affection.  (Or even know they exist).  

But that's a feature of limerence, not a bug.

People who get sucked into these one-way parasocial relationships often have low self-esteem & commitment issues, believing no real person would ever find them worthy of their affection long-term.  Thankfully, very few adults over 35 fall into these extreme behaviors and if they do, they tend to have serious personality disorders or other unresolved issues.  The parasocial relationship game is mostly one for teens & younger adults.  It's a form of escapism that provides a feeling of power & purpose in what might otherwise be a stressful, lackluster life.  

But to a lesser degree, people who invest this much energy into real people in their lives who aren't returning their affection are doing the same thing.  Life is too short to obsess over imaginary loves & one-way relationships, especially when the real thing is out there somewhere.  There really is somebody for everybody.  You just have to make yourself fully available & put your best foot forward, which might mean going to therapy, spending time single getting to know what you really want in a partner, traveling & seeing the world or soul searching in some other way.  The best things come to us when we're not looking, which is a nice way of saying "desperation is palpable & not a good look, boo-boo"  😅  

Sincerely,

Your Friendly Almost-40 Single Cat Lady

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A Scientific View of Life After Death

What if we've got it backwards, that we humans spend our entire lives fearing death when death is actually the beginning?  I'm not talking Heaven, Paradise, reincarnation or some other mythical religious fable; I'm talking about the possibility that death is actually birth (and vice versa).  

Follow me here:  We view birth as the beginning of life & death as the end, but what if it's just the opposite?  We're born screaming into these bodies that are decaying from the moment of conception.  During our lives we witness untold amounts of suffering in the form of war, illness, poverty, unbridled narcissism & abuse of power while knowing that everyone we love will someday die, including ourselves.  This knowledge looms heavy over our heads like a dark cloud as our bodies grow older & become increasingly wracked with pain & sickness with every passing year.  We're trapped; held hostage on this physical plane to witness life's countless traumas & cruelties.  Some of us have it slightly better than others but it's entirely an accident of chance.  Life itself is a cruel lottery where nothing is guaranteed except suffering.  Yet it's death that we fear.

What if death is actually birth?  A glorious liberation from these meatsack prisons into another dimension beyond our wildest imaginings, where we can travel through time and space without restriction?  At the moment of death, the energy that powers our central nervous systems just slips out into the atmosphere & returns to the ether like water that's evaporated into invisible steam.  According to the laws of physics & chemistry, this possibility is quite likely as energy can neither be created nor destroyed.  The universe is a closed system--nothing new is ever created nor nothing old destroyed.  It just changes form.  This includes the energy powering every metabolic process inside our bodies which includes the consciousness inside your mind.

Speaking of consciousness, no one has been able to scientifically define consciousness or pinpoint its origins, i.e. whether it's generated from within the brain or comes from outside & is picked up by the brain the way an antenna picks up a signal and transmits it to an old analog television set.  Either way, your consciousness had to be "somewhere" before you were born into this body.  And it will return to that place when you die.  We have no idea where or what that place is, but it might make this life look like what we imagine Hell to be.  Just because we can't perceive that other dimension with these incredibly limited 5 senses does not mean it doesn't exist and isn't magnificent.  

Accounts of near-death experiences often include stories of floating above one's own body, looking down on the scene below as if the consciousness is ascending.  While a lot of these stories are likely crap, some have been verified & are quite compelling.  They follow a specific sequence that make it unlikely they're merely a result of "the brain going haywire" & often have a life-changing effect on patients who experience them.  It's the closest thing we'll get to knowing what happens at the moment of death until it happens to us, at least.

I guess the point of this post is:  Never fear death because there's no guarantee that the human experience is the best experience.  Quite the opposite.  Like other forms of mass & energy, we may change shape but we never cease to exist.  

No psychedelic plants or animals were harmed in the making of this post.  😆

Drug Treatment in America: A Crying Shame

Like the bail bonds industry, the DEA & so many other entities profiting off the drug war, the drug-treatment industry in America is another booming racket profiting from the ruined lives of addicts while failing them in every way. The success rate of 12-step programs, which make up the overwhelming majority of treatment centers in the U.S, is between 5 and 10%. Left untreated, addiction is a fatal disease. Imagine being diagnosed with cancer and told the treatment you were to receive had a success rate of 5-10%. Not very promising, eh?

Harm Reduction. What's That?

Harm reduction = common sense safety measures

When dealing with "the problem of addiction," a society must focus on the entire issue, from first-time use to full-blown addicts looking to enter treatment & get clean. This is a much bigger problem than just the end-stage addicts dragging themselves into addiction clinics (or being forced in by court-ordered programs). The current treatment model completely neglects an entire population: those who are still in active addiction & not ready--or able--to quit yet. While total sobriety may be the ultimate goal, not everyone will arrive at that revelation at the same time. Some never will. And that's okay.

People in active addiction deserve a safe supply of drugs, paraphernalia & information not only for their own well-being but to protect the public health. Diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B & C are especially rampant among IV drug users and those who live on the street or in other unsanitary conditions. But they're not confined to those populations. They spread readily to anyone who has sex with, shares drug paraphernalia with or has other intimate contact with someone who does those things... or a 3rd party who has done those things with a drug user carrying those diseases. That's where harm reduction comes in, and it's vital at every level of society, from the street-level drug addict to drug treatment centers to drug education programs in our public schools. But it's being neglected altogether at the moment by our federal agencies. Any harm reduction that does exist is left to private organizations that operate at the edge of legality in some states where things like needle exchange & fentanyl test strips are illegal.

The bottom line is that harm reduction programs help everyone. For instance, safe injection sites give addicts a place to get high out of view of the public while also providing access to fentanyl test strips, clean needles & educational materials, reducing the burden of communicable diseases like Hepatitis C & HIV. The other alternative is for them to shoot up in the street or public bathrooms where children and others may be present. When harm reduction is in place, literally everyone wins. For those who complain about drug addicts getting free naloxone & the like: Harm reduction is just one part of an overall universal healthcare program, not something that takes away from patients who need affordable insulin, chemotherapy or other vital treatments. That's not how any of this works. Functioning democracies & actual first-world nations don't have to choose which of their citizens live and die.

The Dearth of Evidence-Based Treatment

Real photo from a drug treatment center.  Because beaches = sobriety apparently.

For those who ARE ready to enter treatment, there are many other options than the 12-step model offered in so many clinics. One of the main issues with this treatment modality (aside from its high failure rate) is its faith-based 'higher power' rhetoric which is offensive to atheists, nihilists and those who just flat out don't subscribe to the belief that something outside themselves is responsible for their behavior & fate. This takes both power and responsibility away from the individual, which can be dangerous. But so does the "powerless against my addiction" and "once an addict, always an addict" mindset that's drilled into the heads of 12-steppers.

That's not to say this method doesn't work for some people. Clearly it does, and that's great. But for the majority of people who try to stay sober this way and fail repeatedly, other options must be readily available. Whether it's opioid substitution therapy (Suboxone or methadone), antagonist drugs like Vivitrol (naltrexone) and Antabuse that block the pleasure centers or induce illness when the drug of choice is ingested or non-traditional treatments like ibogaine therapy, the data is clear: no single treatment works for all addicts. Imagine offering only one antidepressant medication to every patient with depression and then blaming them when it fails to help. Maybe it helps some people, which is great. But the vast majority are left feeling the same or worse than before. That's what we're doing to drug addicts right now and it needs to stop. Which brings up the next controversial point:

100% sobriety for the duration of one's life is not and should not always be the goal of drug treatment.

Read that again. The primary goal of drug treatment should be preserving the patient's life. Once they're safe from all imminent threats to their life (overdose, the secondary harms of addiction like living on the street or injecting drugs), the next goal is returning them to a life of purpose, contentment & productivity. For some addicts, that can best be done with a substance-free life. For others who have been using hard drugs like opioids for decades that have changed the structure & function of their brains, or those with severe ADHD who require stimulant medications, "drug-free" may not be the best option. In that case the goal should be to determine what substance, dose & dosing schedule works best for the patient to control their symptoms while allowing them to live a happy & productive life.

Too many treatment centers have a purity mindset when it comes to addiction. Addicts who relapse are kicked out onto the street for the very disease they're supposed to be treating. Or they're forced to withdraw cold turkey with no tapering medications & find it too difficult, so they leave on their own to find relief. I don't know about you, but that doesn't even meet the first criterion of "preserving the addict's life". All you've done is lower their drug tolerance so that they're more likely to OD once they go back to using. This is why abstinence-only methods are so dangerous. Instead of saving lives & helping addicts, these treatment centers moralize drug use, making it a black-and-white, all or nothing endeavor for their "disciples" to either pass or fail. No grey area. But life is full of grey areas, and so is addiction.

Unregulated, Unproven Therapies

Addiction care is dangerously unregulated in the U.S.

Addiction treatment in the U.S. is largely unregulated by any federal agency & outsourced to private companies, which means they get to choose what methods they use. The result is a wildly varying hodgepodge of programs including faith-based groups like Scientology's Narconon & Alcoholic's Anonymous which subscribes to a "higher power"; wilderness & equine therapy often targeted at drug addicted youths (which are notorious for their bootcamp-style slave labor & sexual abuse allegations) & potentially worthless, dangerous alternative medicines like NAD therapy that's not approved by the FDA.

Increasingly, treatment centers employ the dual diagnosis method where mental illness & trauma are addressed in addition to the addiction. This is a much more comprehensive & effective approach than the 12-step method, but it can still be risky if the addict is forced to quit cold turkey or go from high doses of drugs to total abstinence. While it's vital to treat the underlying problems that lead to substance abuse in the first place, it's much easier doing that while the addict's withdrawals & cravings are under control. These clinics often schedule every moment of their patients' day, leaving no time for spontaneous rest and reflection. Putting addicts to work & giving them meaningless chores to keep them busy while in treatment is not sustainable either--real life doesn't work like that. It's full of downtime, quiet moments, boredom, loneliness & temptation.

This type of busywork treatment is reminiscent of that show The Biggest Loser that forces its contestants to lose massive amounts of weight through brutal and unrealistic amounts of exercise. They almost always gain it all back and then some upon returning home because nobody can maintain that bootcamp lifestyle in their daily life. That's what happens with many work-focused rehabs (that's to say nothing of the ethics of putting addicts to work for private corporations). The addict fails upon returning home because they can't keep up the frantic pace of constant busywork they were expected to engage in at the clinic, nor is their everyday life equipped with a live-in therapist, addiction specialist & other professionals to guide them.

And then you have the opposite end of the spectrum: the super expensive elite rehabs with gourmet chefs, heated pools, massage, acupuncture, breathtaking views & attractions like miniature golf and bowling. But these are no better than the poor-man's rehabs in terms of employing woo and unproven treatment methods. In some ways they're worse. Take Paracelsus in Switzerland, the world's most expensive rehab center. They offer bioresonance imaging on intake to "diagnose" what's wrong with their patients, from food intolerances to full-blown food allergies. Allegedly. Quackwatch.org has labeled bioresonance imaging as bullshit, which means Paracelsus's other device--the Metatron--which does similar "diagnosing" is also worthless woo. In a clip from Vice we see these devices used on a patient who is then prescribed gold as a sticker to wear on the back of her neck to "help with the allergies" diagnosed with these bunk machines. Yes, elemental gold.

A 5-week stay at Paracelsus costs $370,000.  Well, yeah.  They're strapping solid gold to their patients' necks.  

This might be funny if not for the fact that we're talking about the most unfunny thing ever.  In 2021 alone, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 for the first time in history.  That's just the deaths from overdose, not counting all the lives ruined by addiction & its other secondary consequences.  It's not much better in Canada where fentanyl is just as ubiquitous.  If we don't get serious about science-based addiction treatment & harm reduction, we're on track to keep losing hundreds of thousands of Americans needlessly in the prime of their lives.  Before our leaders worry about the "low birthrate," maybe they should concern themselves with the people already living--and dying--in droves from these deaths of despair.  

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Before You Get Weight Loss Surgery, Read This

Why do obese people struggle with their weight?  That's the million dollar question with at last as many answers that can range from "It's a personal failure" to "It's an addiction and should be treated as such".  But neither of those responses gets down to the WHY of it all.  It's clear that thin people don't suffer the same difficulty turning down unhealthy food, limiting their portion sizes or maintaining a healthy overall relationship with food by not making it a main source of pleasure in their lives.  But why?  

Let me debunk the "they're born with good genes or a fast metabolism" myth right out of the gate.  NOBODY past the age of 25* can eat whatever they want all the time and not gain weight.  I don't care what it looks like; unless you suffer from hyperthyroidism or a similar condition that causes measurably increased metabolism, it's not "genetics" or "a condition" controlling your weight.  Read that again.  And those conditions are dangerous if not treated.  

Eating should be no more enjoyable than drinking water, using the restroom, sweating or any other bodily function.  After all, the purpose of eating is to fuel the body with nutrients & calories.  If you find yourself planning your days around meals, something isn't right & you're likely headed for FatLand.  The saying "eat to live, don't live to eat" is perhaps the most truthful catchphrase in all of medicine.  Modern humans have perverted the purpose of eating, opting for empty calories full of addictive fats, sugars & salt over nutrient-dense options and choosing convenience over quality.  

This is why I put the term "food addiction" in quotations above.  Nobody's getting addicted to actual food like fruits, veggies, lean meat and whole grains.  They're addicted to refined junk with no nutritional value and too many empty calories.  Things like pastries, deep fried foods, luncheon meats, sweetened drinks, sugary cereals, high-salt french fries/chips & fatty meats like burgers or pork.  Artery-clogging, colon cancer-causing, diabetes-inducing trash.  And they're doing it because they lack something meaningful in other areas of life.  We live in obesogenic environments where Supersized portions are the norm, except there's nothing "normal" about it.  What we once considered obese is now "a little overweight," what was once overweight is now "normal/healthy" and normal weight is now seen as "needs a cheeseburger".  We live in a world where Body Mass Index is dismissed as "not accurate" by the general public despite being the universally-accepted scientific measure of what one's weight should be.  You see where this is going.  

We live in a society of mass denialism.  If it feels good, do it.  If it doesn't, well... find a reason to dismiss it.

For the average person without a serious metabolic/thyroid condition, weight is determined by the number of calories ingested vs. the number of calories expended through physical activity every day.  Just because you don't SEE an obese person overeating doesn't mean they're not.  The taller and younger you are, the more calories your body burns at rest (basal metabolic rate) which means those who are short and older can't eat as many calories without packing on the pounds.  Men and women also have different caloric needs, with men requiring about 500 more calories than women per day.  The exception would be if a person is an athlete that's training for some kind of competition.  But most people vastly overestimate their level of physical activity and how many calories they burn during said activity.  When it comes to weight loss and management, exercise plays a very small role.  Diet is everything.  

The Role of Taste

Permanently altered taste is a possible outcome of weight loss surgery

I was recently watching a documentary by a foreign media network about fat Americans who were resorting to gastric bypass as a last resort to lose weight.  I learned something that piqued my interest:  this surgery actually changes the taste buds, increasing your sensitivity to the flavor of food and completely changing how certain foods taste.  Permanently.  It was so bad one patient gagged and spit out a bite of Jell-O because it was "sickeningly sweet" after his surgery.  He couldn't find anything edible for this reason & it was distressing to him.  What a terrible predicament to be stuck in, I thought.  Even if you wanted to lose weight and your health depended on it, imagine having your taste buds permanently altered to the point that you gagged at the taste of basic everyday foods!  

After some Googling I found out this is typical with gastric bypass, gastric sleeve and other stomach surgeries like gastrectomy for cancer.  While I don't understand the science behind it, I did fall down a rabbithole about the connection between sense of taste and obesity.  Turns out, obese people have greatly reduced sensitivity to the taste & texture of food compared to normal weight controls.  They get their enjoyment from the feeling of fullness after a eating rather than the flavor of the meal.  Forcing yourself to stop eating so much by making food taste terrible is basically how these surgeries work in conjunction with shrinking your stomach to hold less food.  Eating becomes not only unpleasant but a sort of torture after weight loss surgery.

I'm fairly certain patients are not informed about this side effect before going under the knife; at least the ones in this documentary were not.  It's a life-saving surgery which is great, but surely there has to be a safer, less depressing way to induce this change?

Alternatives to Gastric Bypass

Step 1:  Eat food, not crap.

It's absolutely possible to shrink your stomach by eating less for a few days.  One needn't have 3/4ths of it surgically removed.  Of course it can be stretched back out by overeating again but with the right support, overeating to that degree can be avoided.  Gastric bypass patients are usually made to lose about 100 lbs on their own before undergoing surgery on My 600 lb. Life which shows that it can be done even by people with extreme "food addiction".  (I'll break that term down in a sec).  

While in my research rabbithole I saw desperate gastric bypass patients online asking for help finding something, anything palatable that they could stomach because nothing tasted good anymore.  A change that dramatic is something you need to be mentally prepared for before having the surgery.  Weight loss is awesome but the depression that can come from not only giving up your addiction to food but struggling to get the required nutrients due to a reduced stomach size & being disgusted by the taste of food must be horrid.  I'd liken it to an alcoholic taking Antabuse which induces violent vomiting & other symptoms upon ingestion of alcohol, but the difference is, nobody requires booze to live.  Eating is necessary for our survival.  Still, weight loss surgery is like bringing a machine gun to a slapfight in all except the most extreme cases.  

Another interesting thing that can kill the sense of smell and taste is diabetes--even pre-diabetes if left untreated long enough.  High blood sugar damages nerves throughout the body which causes a loss of sensation everywhere... even the nose and mouth.  And so-called decline of taste buds with "age" might really be a result of Type 2 diabetes.  When you lose your sense of taste, you're more likely to overindulge in super sweet, super salty junk food to compensate.  Losing weight and getting your blood sugar under control could in theory restore some of your ability to taste and smell foods, thereby allowing you to fully enjoy food's taste, texture & smell in all its glory again.  You may never be a supertaster but even so, regaining any of this function would be worth the effort.  

How to accomplish this seemingly monumental task?  

Start by performing the behavior you want to ultimately master:  eating slowly and taking the time to taste, smell & enjoy the texture of your food rather than eating fast to feel stuffed.  Put your meals on a fancy plate, use a variety of spices & take your time preparing your meals.  (Yes, preparing--not ordering out).  Put your fork down between bites, take a drink of water, have a conversation with people (or your cat).  When eating out, share your food or take half of it home for later and avoid desserts or seconds.  Avoid eating on the run & other binge eating behaviors.  No mindless eating while you watch Netflix:  Put small portions of popcorn or chips on a plate--don't take the whole bag to the couch.  Chew thoroughly.  Copy your fit friends' eating habits if you need guidance.  The calories in, calories out approach is the one true method to sustained weight management and the secret behind every diet from Atkins to keto to Paleo and more, even if they don't say so upfront.  

This will be a big adjustment at first but eventually you'll find yourself dropping weight & developing a healthier relationship with food.  Your stomach will shrink as you eat smaller amounts which will help with cravings.  As your focus shifts from binge eating, you'll learn to find joy in things other than food which can even help with depression as the cycle of addiction is broken.  Maybe you'll take up knitting, gaming or some other hobby to replace the mindless eating.  If this sounds "fatphobic" or judgey, ask yourself why this is a worse piece of advice than telling your friend to go under the knife and permanently alter their sense of taste to save their life.  While it's possible to drop a bunch of weight superfast with pills, surgery or willpower, this often will result in gaining it all back plus more, putting you at a new "normal" high weight as your metabolism fights to maintain its balance.  The key is slow but steady progress and moderation.  Something Americans are notoriously bad at.  

If a person absolutely cannot stop binge eating on their own, medication would be preferable to surgery as it's far less invasive and dangerous.  Yet many doctors opt for bariatric surgery before trying all or ANY medications first.  This seems foolhardy considering all the risks even when surgery goes off without a hitch.  Vyvanse, a stimulant, has been approved by the FDA to treat binge eating disorder specifically and works well for curbing appetite in my experience.  Ozempic, a diabetes drug, has recently been approved as a weight loss aid in people without diabetes and works by a different mechanism.  Many diabetics who take it quickly drop 10-20 lbs.  There are a host of other medication options, though none of them is a long-term cure for obesity.  But they don't need to be--all you need is something to jump start your weight loss by temporarily curbing your cravings, shrinking your stomach & allowing you to get in a different mind state to change your life.  But again, if you lose a bunch of weight rapidly you run the risk of gaining it back and ending up bigger than your starting weight.  There's no quick fix for what must be a long-term way of life.  

Even weight loss surgery is not foolproof.  If a person continues overeating consistently after surgery, some types of surgery can be reversed, though it's harder to screw up than most other weight loss methods.  There are horror stories of lapband patients "stretching out" their newly shrunk stomachs & regaining the weight.  I personally knew one guy who did just that & is still morbidly obese to this day.  And there are weight loss patients on those TLC shows who plateau after losing less than 100 lbs, leaving them at still-morbidly obese weights.  They were warned that the surgery is NOT a cure for obesity but seem to believe otherwise.  

Conclusion

This is one of those "simple but not easy" situations.  Nobody's claiming that sustained weight loss after a lifetime of binge eating is easy, but the solution is a simple one.  It's all about balancing the risks and benefits of each treatment method vs. staying on the path that you're on.  There's no question that obesity is a serious threat to both quality and duration of life.  Understanding why some people struggle so much with their weight is a bigger puzzle.  Studies have shown that obese children are likely to become obese adults.  The reason is that the body gets accustomed to a certain caloric intake and will fight to maintain your highest weight, making your brain think you're starving if you try to eat less.  This is why preventing overweight/obesity in the first place is so important.  

But the brain and body can be re-trained.  It just takes time and patience.  You can retrain your taste buds to sense the beautiful flavors of foods and spices again.  You can retrain your stomach to feel full after eating a normal sized portion; your brain to feel excited & comforted by things other than food.  It may require therapy, addiction treatment or other types of support but all of that is preferable to surgery if you can avoid it.  

And if you must undergo the surgery, please be informed about the side effects beforehand.  The countless stories of gastric bypass and weight loss surgery regret should at least be given consideration before undergoing these often irreversible procedures.  

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