My daughter, age 33, sustained a severe brain injury at age 19 secondary to cardiac arrest. We have struggled with her weight and food obsession ever since. At the time of her injury, she (5'2" tall) weighed around 130 lbs. She currently weighs about 240 & could easily be one of the morbidly super-obese people seen on this show. I see so much of the same behaviors in her as the people struggling with their relationship with eating. She wants to eat to relieve boredom, to try to alleviate loneliness & depression. It seems that her brain never sends the signal that she is satiated and she begs for more food constantly. Emily watches the show with me and wants to have the surgery, but I keep explaining that it only deals with actual physical hunger & wouldn't work on someone like her, for whom food is her best friend & preferred form of recreational activity. We do the best we can to not be her enablers, but it is a constant battle from the minute her eyes open until she is asleep. She is an extremely charming manipulator if she can find an unsuspecting "victim" to provide her with a "fix". I wish so badly that there were a magic wand for these people; it can such a miserable existence Sorry about the novel, folks...thanks for letting me vent!
