Sharon Osbourne: I'm having gastric band out
She's swapping to psychotherapy to tackle overeating
Friday, 1 December 2006
X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne has always been open about her weight battle and admits that she had surgery in 1999 to overcome it.
‘I’d suffered with my weight all my life,’ she has said. ‘I thought: “I’m fed up with this, I’m going to be skinny.” That’s when I had a gastric band put in.’
A relatively simple procedure, it involves surgery to place a ring-like device around the upper part of the stomach. This creates a smaller pouch, so you feel full after eating less. The procedure helped the 54-year-old mother of three to shed over half her body weight. But now she’s revealed that she’s having the band removed after gaining 15lb this year ‘from overeating’.
I couldn't stop bingeing on junk
Although people with bands are meant to stick to small meals, Sharon confesses to bingeing on ‘chocolate and junk food’. Then, because her smaller stomach can’t handle it, she says she ‘throws up, then eats more’.
According to Janet Edmond, director of the British Obesity Surgery Patient Association (BOSPA), there are a number of problems that can arise with gastric bands, requiring them to be removed. ‘Ten per cent of patients who have gastric band surgery will need another operation,’ she says.
‘You can also develop megaoesophagus, when the gullet that connects the throat to the stomach becomes dilated.’ This happens when the muscles that usually move food down to the stomach become weak and no longer work effectively, causing heartburn and regurgitation. ‘This usually occurs when you continue to overeat with the band in place,’ says Janet.
Good British grub is my biggest vice
It’s not known if Sharon suffers with this, although she’s open about her overeating. ‘I keep trying to eat more and more. I’m a pig,’ she admits. ‘Everyone has something they’re addicted to. For me, it’s good British food. I’ve been this way my whole life – and I’m not going to change.’
According to Janet, conditions such as megaoesophagus highlight the fact that gastric bands aren’t a quick fix: ‘After having a band fitted, 30 per cent of weight loss is as a result of the band – but 70 per cent is down to sensible eating.’
Sharon now plans to try psychotherapy to beat her problem. ‘I think I have some sort of self-destruct button,’ she says. ‘I have to figure out why I do what I do to myself.’
Emily Watkins
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