Britains Fattest Man tonight

Thats a really interesting article, although i did only read the first few paragraphs.

The thing is that even if food is addictive in the same way as drugs and alcohol, when you see someone get to the point of not being able to move surely they'd know not to feed his addiction, just as you wouldnt inject a drug addict or poor a bottle of vodka down a alcoholics neck!

I feel sorry for this man in the sense that he didnt see it whilst he could have stopped it and even if he did he didnt feel that he could have stopped it. I still think that it is 99% his fault that he has ended up this way and 1% the people who helped him get there.

As for him sueing i think that's disgusting - hasnt he taken enough money through being looked after???

xx
 
The suing thing is just ridiculous and, pardon the pun, pure greed.
 
The thing is that even if food is addictive in the same way as drugs and alcohol, when you see someone get to the point of not being able to move surely they'd know not to feed his addiction, just as you wouldnt inject a drug addict or poor a bottle of vodka down a alcoholics neck!
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When someone is suffering from addiction and they are in recovery of course you would not enable them in their addiction but if they are still actively using it would take a very strong person to deny them their drug of choice.

Show me a woman during totm who needs/wants some chocolate and you take it from her just as she goes to eat it and tell her it is not good for her that it would make her fat or fatter and I would not guarantee your chances of survival:p
 
pesty said:
The thing is that even if food is addictive in the same way as drugs and alcohol, when you see someone get to the point of not being able to move surely they'd know not to feed his addiction, just as you wouldnt inject a drug addict or poor a bottle of vodka down a alcoholics neck!
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Nope, and I'm playing devils advocate here, but the working from a harm minimilisation point of view you will see intravenous drug users provided with clean needles and sharps bins. Alcohol dependent people can be encouraged towards harm reduction even if they don't stop drinking completely

Also having seen first hand the effects of alcohol abuse, which by the way covers your weekend binge drinking, people will not stop any harmful behaviour until they are ready to do so. I've been punched, kicked, threatened with being stabbed and pinned against a wall by patients detoxing from alcohol. They are terrified, hear things, see things, pounding headaches, uncontrollable sweats and shakes. You see them through it, you take away the physical dependency of alcohol.

But unless you tackle the mental side then its a losing battle. You get used to seeing a lot of the same faces readmitted, because unfortunately some of them drink they minute they go outside.

Some families bring the alcohol for housebound alcoholics because thier behaviour is easier to manage when drunk, and not when withdrawing at home. They can then also measure how much they are drinking.

People go to great measures to get thier fix, phoning taxis to deliver alcohol if families/friends withold it, and in Glasgow we even have off liscences that will deliver at hugely inflated prices.

I know it seems slightly tangental but, addiction in all its forms, drugs, alcohol, sex, food, smoking and gambling is a huge and complex problem and not as simple as telling someone "it's not good for you, stop"
 
I agree that telling anyone to stop will not help if they are not ready to help themselves and also agree that they could even have provided him his 'addict foods' in moderation, he couldnt have hurt those around him except with words as he couldnt get up to do anything about it.

I think having an addiction is a horrible thing but to supply him with the amount of bad things, to keep his calories at 20,000, to sell your house... i think thats all a bit much.

Mini - I agree about TOTM with women but letting someone have a couple of bars which they can get themselves but i dont agree with GIVING someone 20 cause they 'want' them but cant get them

I would like to add that this is just my opinion and i dont want to cause offense to anyone :)
xx
 
Well, I watched it on 4 OD last night. Speechless! - very hard person to like or even sympathise with.

The best part of the show for me, was the superb light it showed his personal carer and especially his consultant. Fortunately we are blessed with such great professionals.

As for the newspaper allagations? - well, they may be mis-quoted, but seems a tawdry conclusion to a tawdry affair.

Must stop watching these type of programmes and concentrate on naturaly weight loss ones - less controversial lol.

Steve
 
I watched this. Couldn't make up my mind if I liked the man or not - but felt deeply sorry for him UNTIL the girls at work told me today he was suing the NHS for not helping him lose weight..........

I am now angry and won't say another word on this subject.
 
By the way folks, did I read there wa to be a follow-up show to this one - possibly next Tuesday?

Sure I saw such a post but cannot re-locate it.
 
Hope you are right.

It would be good not to be left hanging on this one. There are so many issues to answer.
 
Just set a record for it but when I've press "i" it looks like its just the same episode repeated? Is it a new one or the same thing we've all watched?
 
I looked at the website a few minutes ago and thought it looked like the same episode.

I thought it seemed like a conclusion to the story so far, so not sure what else there would be to fill another episode.
 
Hmm well I'll record it and see what it is. It's only a case of pressing one button so I'm not too worried if it is a repeat
 
I really feel for the guy & I honestly hate that people have been so cruel about him. As a person who has suffered with an eating disorder (& know many people who still do), I can truly relate to this poor man's story.

The NHS does very little to help people with eating disorders - especially those with compulsive over eating. I, myself, suffered with anorexia, bulimia and compulsive over eating at some point throughout the last 12 years of my life, although was never diagnosed until 2005 with bulimia.

After 4 and a half years of treatment, the doctors decided that because I didn't respond to CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy) or IPT (Inter personal therapy) that I wasn't treatable & told me that I was just one of those people who never recover.. & basically sentenced me to a life of binging, depression & anxiety.

I managed to get well on my own but that's not the story for many, many people with eating disorders who often get sicker & die. I completely understand his wanting to sue the NHS for their lack of support when he needed it the most. Yes, they've been supportive now, but if they'd actually helped him when his problems started then he wouldn't have gotten to this point in the first place!

It is SO easy to gain a bit of weight & then just keep going. His addiction was with food, that's not something you can just quit! It's something that requires professional help.

& I honestly believe that if I hadn't come across SW, I would have ended up in the same boat. I probably wouldn't have gotten so big - purely because I had deep-rooted bulimic roots though. I had tried many other diets before, all of which resulted in me binging & gaining weight because of the restricted foods & constant weighing/counting.

I am so proud of Paul for what he has overcome & I hope they do a follow-up because I desperately want to see him succeed & be able to live a full life.

(Edit: I just wanted to add that in the midst of an addiction, any kind, you will do anything to get your drug of choice. He clearly felt awful about making his Mum re-mortgage her house just to feed his addiction but it takes control of you. I stole from my family & spent money that I did not have just to get a 'fix')
 
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Agree with all you say, but he left himself in an unlikeable position.

A little humility would not have gone amiss. All I'm saying is he could have portrayed himself a little better. Then again perhaps he did! let's face it, the amount of footage shot for the show would have been considerable, and in the end CH4 could portray him as they saw fit.

We'd all love to think he got well, found his peace and made it up with his sisters - they are all he has and that would make a fantastically upbeat ending!

Steve
 
Maximus said:
Agree with all you say, but he left himself in an unlikeable position.

A little humility would not have gone amiss. All I'm saying is he could have portrayed himself a little better. Then again perhaps he did! let's face it, the amount of footage shot for the show would have been considerable, and in the end CH4 could portray him as they saw fit.

We'd all love to think he got well, found his peace and made it up with his sisters - they are all he has and that would make a fantastically upbeat ending!

Steve
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Well said Steve.

I am sure we would all like to see the best ending possible for him.
 
I've got to admit I really felt for him. He was obviously in the grip of a terrible addiction. He seemed profoundly depressed too. He had no shred of personal dignity left - lying naked in his own bodily waste. Just awful.

I think there but for the grace of god go I. I can't kid myself that I couldn't end up in a real mess too if I didn't keep a close eye on things. Once I exceeded 13 stone it was a wake up call for me. (I'm only 5ft 2ins so every pound shows). If you eat to cope with stress as I have done it can turn into a vicious circle where the stress of putting on weight leads to you eating more to cope with the stress and so on. Just an awful situation to be in and like any addiction very very hard to break. Thank god for SW!
 
hunibunihuman said:
He has lost so much weight
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Wouldn't we all with a stomach reduced to the size of an egg. He lost one and a half stones in one go when he had a large flap of loose skin removed.
 
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