I'm going to become an alcoholic

I'm going to become an alcoholic. At least, that's what my dreaded mental health counselor (DMHC) told me, repeatedly. Let's dig into this more. I understand that transfer addiction is a real thing, and many people suffer from it. I think it's important to discuss the potential for this to occur in our sessions, discuss why and how it can happen, and talk about what we can do to prevent something like this happening.

Why might a bariatric patient become an alcoholic? Well, many of us are addicted to sugar, and after having bariatric surgery, we're making drastic cuts to the amounts of sugar we previously had in our diets. For others, it's an addiction to food and eating in general; we just no longer can physically eat the way we used to. That addiction can transfer to another substance to compensate for the absence of the sugar. For some people, that can be alcohol. It's not the only potential addiction to be wary of, but it's the one that my DMHC focused on, a lot.

Alcohol is something that bariatric patients need to be cautious of to begin with; we can no longer drink the same way many of us use to (not everyone). I myself used to be able to kill a bottle of wine in a night, solo, and only have a buzz. I stopped drinking in preparation for surgery as of June 2023. This is to help our livers heal and shrink to make the surgery easier. It also helps the stomach heal. Once a patient resumes drinking after surgery, most find that they can only consume a few sips or one drink before the effects of the alcohol are strongly felt. As of writing this, I haven't reached that stage, so I can't comment personally, yet.

She talked about how we'll get drunk fast, now that our stomachs are smaller and we'll metabolize the alcohol faster. Makes sense. And, she said that we should never drink in public. Only drink at home with supervision so that we have someone who can care for us if something goes wrong. That part seemed a bit extreme. Perhaps the first few times I'll only drink at home so I know my limits, and I'll likely never again be able to have a drink and be a designated driver. But the idea of never having a drink while out again seems unlikely.

I thought this would be a quick stop in our discussions, but it was a main focus for nearly 30 minutes of our hour-long session. I reminded her that I'm not a huge drinker, and she said it doesn't matter and told me that I'd have to wait a year before drinking again, and even then, she highly recommends I remain sober for life. She also told me we'll talk about it more in the workshops we'll have in a few weeks. Fun.

My friend who had bariatric surgery in spring 2023 has been drinking, and doing fine, I pointed out. "She started already?!?!" Her voice got high and strong. DMHC started lecturing me as if I was my friend. I tried to interrupt her and point that she had a different, less severe procedure than I was getting, and perhaps that was part of it. "No, it sounds like she's an alcoholic. You should be concerned. She probably needs therapy and help." I was shocked that this woman would judge my friend so harshly after I said essentially one sentence about her behavior.

The lecture continued, and she warned me about hanging out with my friend too much, for fear that her behavior would rub off on me. We can't have me becoming an alcoholic, now.

While I think the concern is valid, the presentation of it was beyond disturbing and felt like it was very personal to DMHC. Like I said, I'm not a big drinker, so I'm not concerned about this becoming my transfer addiction (iPhone games will likely be my new addiction if I'm being honest). So, I'm not going to be afraid of having a drink once my time comes. However, I will exercise appropriate caution.