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A few weeks ago Oprah devoted a whole show to people who claim they became addicted to alcohol, drugs or sex after weight loss surgery.

KHOU-TV

A bariatric support group meeting at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

A growing number of people are now fighting the battle of the bulge with bariatric surgery.

Whether it’s a gastric bypass or a lap band procedure - patients are losing weight.

But could they also be gaining an addiction?

“Nothing will give me the satisfaction that Oreos and ice cream will,” one patient said. “I can’t cross-addict that.”

At a bariatric support group meeting at Memorial Hermann Hospital, they debate the issue what might happens when over eating is no longer an option.

“If I can’t do that, yeah it would be easier to go and get a drink and not deal with the problems,” bariatric patient Kim Linden said.

Linden lost 125 pounds.

She has not gained an addiction, but she believes the risk is there.

“After surgery your stomach has changed, but the rest of you hasn’t,” Linden said. “Your way of thinking and feeling is still all the same, but you can’t medicate the same way as you did before.”

At the University of Texas bariatric center, 800 surgeries have been done since 2003.

Patients must have a psychiatric evaluation before surgery.

Dr. Erik Wilson believes only two or three of those patients developed an addictive behavior.

“The vast majority of patients are so much healthier so much more successful, so much happier if they have a tool to help them lose weight,” Dr. Wilson said.

Sherri Blatt is 19 months out of surgery.

“It really has nothing to do with cross addiction,” Blatt said.

She is also a recovering alcoholic.

“This does not even make me come close to start drinking,” he said.

In the meeting, most people weighed in on the same side of the transfer addiction issue: The problem might be the individual not the surgery.