Carnie Wilson Talks About Struggle With Alcohol After Surgery

I had gastric bypass about 7 years ago. I am now an alcoholic. Not because I'm looking for something to take the place of food, but because I actually crave it so bad that I can't stand it. I know I have an addictive personality, but alcohol is not just something I'm substituting for something to "fill the void". I have never had a craving for alcohol in my life until I had the surgery. I am so upset about this and AA doesn't help. I am not one of these people that does it to forget something or to ease the pain of something. I have been dealing with this since my surgery, and I'm getting better at it, but I still have a problem. No one understands, including my family, and thinks I do this because it makes me feel better. I HATE IT! I feel so much worse the next day that I can't stand it. I wish someone would help me to deal with this.
Why did I start CRAVING alcohol?, and feel like I would die if I didn't get it?
I don't want to drink, but it's like something else takes over my body and I just have to.
If you feel this way - you are not alone - like I feel that I am.

Dear Sheri,
You are not alone. I had my gastric bypass in 2002 and was well on my way to alcoholism by 2005. I was on the episode of Oprah with Carnie Wilson. I am "Linda" from the Suddenly Skinny episode.
I pretended I had things under control when I was on the show, that the worst was behind me. But it got so much worse. I totally understand your craving for alcohol. I was also someone who drank to escape, to not feel things, to forget what hurts. But it is a very temporary fix to feelings you still have to face when you sober up.
In five short years, I went from never drinking alchol to a raging alcoholic. I managed to get 2 DUI's,a Drunk in Public, lose my job, my family, and my home. I did 4 outpatient treatments, one inpatient treatment, lived in a halfway house for three and a half months, was in jail for a total of 7 days and had three psychiatric admissions. AA works if you give yourself to the program. Step one is the only one you must do perfectly every day, and that is Admit you are powerless over alcohol and your life has become unmanageable. No one who is a real alcoholic can argue that point. I went in and out of AA many times over a the last few years. I felt like I just couldn't get it. Here is what you have to do. You have to physically stop craving alcohol, and there is no way to do that but abstain. If you have to stay with someone for a week to stay clean for a week, then do it. When you start to feel physically better by getting all the booze out of your system you will feel stronger and have more will to resist the psychological cravings. On Feb 1st I will have one year of sobriety. I am working as a nurse again, living in a nice place and seeing my kids regularly. I have a wonderful man in my life and I am starting to have some money again to begin paying off my debts. Life only gets worse when booze is added. Booze makes everything worse, not better. You will always have an unmanageable life if that life is governed by your next drink. Try to keep in mind how bad you feel, both physically and psychologically, the next day. You say you can't stand it. Think of that before you take your next drink. Ask yourself Is this worth how bad I am going to feel later? Tomorrow? How much more can I afford to lose? Because anything and everything you put in front of your sobriety you will lose. Guaranteed. I am living proof of that. But I am also living proof of the promises coming true, sometimes quickly sometimes slowly, but I am gaining my life back. And you can too! You just might need some help. I am here if you want to start up a dialogue. I will pray for your strength and success.

I am four years post op. I have been drinking consistantly for the past to years and it has now become an addiction.

Going to AA. I am wondering if you know if there is a AA meeting for GB patients?

I'm in NYC.

I am writing as the wife of a gastric bypass patient. My husband had the surgery 6 years ago and has been battling acoholism for 5 years. It started out as "hey I can have a drink and no hangover in the morning" to physically dependent on it. He has been to detox three times, been good for a few weeks and then relapses. Do you have any advice for me and my family?

I know exactly what Sheri feels like! I try to fight the urge, but my body craves beer at a certain time every day! I limit myself to 3 during the week, but on the weekend I drink until I pass out. I am in school and work full time and I can't sit up late studying b/c all I think about is getting that beer in! I started anti-depressants 2 weeks ago and I hope it helps once they are in my system fully. I can't be the students that I want to be if this keeps up. So we shall see.

OMG.I was NEVER an alcoholic.had surgery in 20.started drinking in 2007.trying to pick myself back up.I wondered..what the heck happened..i have a facebook page for women who have developed alcoholism after gastric bypass.glad to know that I am not alone!

They said - don't have a drink for a year after surgery, ok, big deal, I rarely drank anyway. Then a year after, I had a drink - wow, what a rush. Next think I knew it, I was drinking every day, then all day. I am trying to stop, I think I can do it, I have to do it. I agree, there should be something for GB patients who have a problem because it isn't the same, one drink, I am drunk, 20 mins later, sober, then drunk, sober, drunk, or passed out. It isn't a transfer additiction, it is something that our bodies instantly take to, then crave, and then you are dependent on it. Ugh! I hate this!

I can so relate to Mary and the others on this posting. At 2 years post op WLS, I started drinking wine daily and next thing you know I had a full blown addiction. I am a health care professional and knowing what was happening to me I sought advice from my MD.my WLS surgeon was no help at all.I told him that I thought that I needed help emotionally about 6 months out and he just said "Go find a therapisty yourself".that was before I started drinking. Anyway, I went to see an addicitions specialist and a therapist regarding the alcohol abuse to no avail. Nothing helped until I surrendered completely and asked to go to rehab and since then attend AA faithfully, with a sponsor and a home group. I did not think that anything could ever help me to overcome this addiction it was so severe! But with A.A. at least I know I have a chance! I am also required to attend weekly group therapy, bi-weekly individual therapy and bi-monthly urine tests for the next 5 years! This is just a condition to keep my professional license, I was never in any trouble at work or with the law, however, these are only places that my alcoholism has not taken me yet! I still could lose everything if I let this horrible disease win! This disease is truly chronic, progressive and fatal! Seriously, if you are considering weight loss surgery and even have an inkling that you might have alcoholism in your genetic makeup, i.e. family history or you like how it makes you feel.give this serious consideration.going through this is pure hell!

I am 7 1/2 years post op and was fine for the first 5 years. Within the last two years, I find myself addicted to wine. I can polish a bottle or two off a night easy. I tried AA last summer and found it was not for me. I am not a stranger to the 12 steps, but I do not feel like an alcholic. I feel like an addict. I am a devout Atheist and found I was judged harshly at AA and critisized for not having a "higher power". I am unable to go that route for help. I have gained back about 30 pounds in 2 years from drinking and am just miserable. I hide my drinking and no one considers me an alcholic. Not even my boyfriend who seems oblivious.I am deciding if outing myself will help me overcome this addiction. I feel out of control and depressed over what I have let happen. I have never in my 42 years of life been a drinker. This is just awful.

It concerns me that the only thing that is EVER discussed when talking about transfer addictions is the patient’s psychology – and never considering that it could be related to a side effect of the malabsorptive component of the surgery. This is not directed to anyone here - more towards the medical profession in general. What I’m afraid may be happening in more cases than they know is that sometime around 18-24 months, the body’s stores of reserve nutrients have been depleted and the body begins to experience malnutrition for one or more nutrients due to the malabsorption. I think this, in turn, may cause neurological problems (along with others) and health problems that result in behavioral changes that can include anxiety, rapid heartbeat, aggression, insomnia, confusion, among others. This is not unlike iron deficiency causing Pica which causes people to crave eating strange things such as ice or clay, or pellagra (the B3 deficiency) which can cause mental confusion, insomnia, and aggression, or beriberi (now they have a version called bariatric beriberi). In trying to self-medicate those symptoms, and with the double-whammy of the way Roux-en-Y affects the way alcohol is metabolized (you are intoxicated faster and take longer to get sober), I think alcohol can then be more addictive than it would have otherwise been with a pre-surgery stomach. I had RNY surgery and have learned more about nutrients in the last three years (the hard way) than I ever did pre-surgery. It took a while for me to develop a plan that kept me healthy and kept the addictions and cravings away but I've been healthy and back to my old self for a while now. If AA has worked for you - I'm very happy for you and don't knock it. But if you weren't a drinker before hand, at least consider nutrient deficiency (and rectifying it) just in case it could be a combination of things.