OA News and Information for the Professional Community	2008

2008 Highlights:

Also in This Issue:

Why Should You Refer a Patient to OA?

When I arrived at Overeaters Anonymous (OA) in March of 2006, I was at my highest weight and in constant pain. My joints ached, and a walk from my car to the OA office left me short of breath.

Another side effect of my disease was a fear of doctors. I was afraid of the doctor’s scale and the ensuing lecture that would come from being so overweight. The number on the scale changed exponentially with each appointment. My last visit to the gynecologist brought a lecture that was especially demoralizing because I had been dieting and my weight was lower than it had been in a while. To avoid the lecture, I neglected my worsening health by not going to the doctor.

About a month ago I decided it was time to go back to the doctor and get a better picture of my health. My first visit was to my primary-care physician for a complete physical. A student doctor conducted the examination and asked questions about my weight loss.

A few minutes later I heard my primary-care physician pull the chart from the door and flip through the pages. He came blasting into the room. “What’s going on with you?” he exclaimed, and noted my weight loss (over 100 pounds [45 kg] since joining OA). My story came flooding out, including details about OA and examples of how the program was changing my life. For another 20 minutes he and the student doctor asked questions about OA and my eating habits.

I asked what my weight had been at my last visit, and after flipping through the chart, he said I had refused to get on the scale the last two times. I laughed and told him my highest weight just before joining OA. It shocked him, and he insisted I could not have been that large. But it was true. I also told him I remembered a visit many years ago when he asked what was going on with my weight and I acted as if I had no clue; the truth embarrassed me.

He then requested more information about OA so he could pass it along to other patients, and I told him I could provide it.

A week later my blood tests came back. My cholesterol had dropped over 100 points into the “very good” range. All of my results came back in that range—much different from a year ago.

I’m grateful to OA for helping me get my life back — my friends, family, career and health.

— Beth T., Atlanta, Georgia USA

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Dentist Recommends OA

My involvement with Overeaters Anonymous started several years ago when a patient of mine asked if we had ever treated or recognized one of our dental patients as someone with an eating disorder. Following our discussion, she suggested we keep the OA Fifteen Questions profile on hand and presented us with several copies. Since then we have kept these questions in our reception area for our patients, and the questions have been a great aid to our practice in many ways.

Having OA as an adjunct has been invaluable because it gives us an opportunity to present information to our patients in a nonthreatening, nonjudgmental fashion. It also opens discussion with our patients, if they so desire. It allows them to broach the subject of their eating disorders without confrontation.

While many physicians are able to raise the subject of eating disorders with their patients (because people feel their doctor treats the entire person), the dentist finds it more difficult because many people are reluctant to have this door opened.

Over the years the practice of dentistry has changed drastically. Gone are the days of dentists being “mouth carpenters.” We are now trained to work in such diverse areas as private practice, public health, hospitals and other treatment venues. We are also trained to treat the entire patient, not just the mouth; yet many people feel we are still limited to the oral cavity, making patients reluctant to discuss such private maters.

Some people exhibit definitive oral signs of eating disorders, such as bulimia. With them it is easy to open discussions about their condition. The OA Fifteen Questions profile has opened further discussions and provided more information to those patients not yet ready to confide this information to their dentist. In the future, through education, we would like to make it easier for people to use us as a source of help; but for now, Overeaters Anonymous has helped to fill an important position in our practice.

— Anonymous

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Medical Students Learn About OA

As part of the fifth-year training of medical students in New Zealand, speakers from OA and other Twelve-Step programs share their personal experiences with addiction, talk about their fellowships and answer questions.

Kay, an OA member abstinent for 24 years, is a seven-year participant on the panel.

“I like to be involved in carrying OA’s message of recovery. This, in turn, helps keep me well.”

The following interview reflects Kay’s experience with five of the most common questions medical students ask.

Question: What is OA recovery?

Kay: In the panel discussion, I outline the Twelve-Step program of recovery and usually mention the concept of a Higher Power, saying, “I am beyond human aid, and many of us have tried all kinds of human aid that hasn’t worked for us.” The Twelve-Step banner hangs on the wall. I mention the Steps, which involve clearing away the wreckage of our pasts and living a different way. I admit I can’t carry on the lying and stealing and stay abstinent. I mention the importance of giving away what I’ve been given, which is one of the reasons why I speak to the medical students.

Question: What does “putting down the food” mean?

Kay: Students ask me, “How is it possible to give up an eating addiction as people do with other addictions?” I explain how I must put down all troublesome food just as an alcoholic has to stop drinking. I live on a weighed-and-measured food plan, and my Higher Power gives me the strength to stick to it. Eating anything else would be like taking the first drink or drug. Students may say, “Do you never eat ice cream?” They find not eating ice cream hard to comprehend, and I answer, “No, never! Just like an alcoholic can never have another beer, I cannot eat my problem foods.”

Alcoholics often come to OA once they’ve stopped drinking because their eating can escalate as the addiction swaps from one substance to another. I often mention the problems I’ve had with gambling and painkillers.

Question: How will I know if a patient is a compulsive overeater?

Kay: We are hard to spot. We’re usually lying. Denial is the main symptom of our disease, and you may hear a huge patient say, “I just look at food and put on weight.” We can also present with many other problems, and we are probably depressed. The weight can be a red herring because at different times people can be anorexic, bulimic, normal weight, medicated and/or overweight. Some people are overweight but not compulsive overeaters.

I try to include the experiences of different OA members because many members have been to a range of doctors, counselors and other treatment professionals. OA is a last resort for them. I suggest to seeming compulsive eaters that they ask themselves the question, “Is food a problem for me?” Regard less of what they say, I plant a seed by mentioning OA. Your patients may not be ready to look at the problem, but they may come to OA months or years later.

Question: How much should we (doctors) tell our patients?

Kay: Just saying the name Overeaters Anonymous puts OA into your patients’ consciousness as a treatment option. You can give a brief outline of OA and suggest they call the OA phone number to talk with an OA member. If the patients seem open to this, you can suggest they attend a few meetings before deciding if OA is for them. If they deny they have a problem or are not interested, at least you are sowing a seed.

Question: If students want to find out more about OA, can they attend meetings?

Kay: All the OA Fellowships in New Zealand are keen for the new generation of medical professionals to have a greater awareness of the help available from our Fellowship. Medical students are usually interested in our stories and surprised at the hard times we’ve had. We also share our experiences dealing with the medical profession, and the students find this helpful. I always encourage students to attend an OA meeting to hear the experiences of a room full of compulsive eaters.

OA is open to everyone, and we charge no fees, although meetings are self-supporting for things like the meeting-room rent and literature. The other Twelve-Step fellowships do the same. In recent years we’ve had at least two students from the panel discussion come to a meeting, and they’ve found it beneficial.

— Kay, member of the OA Canterbury Intergroup of New Zealand

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Preamble Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive overeating and to carry this message of recovery to those who still suffer.

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