(InvestigateTV) – For the millions of Americans living with severe obesity, bariatric surgery can feel like a miracle.
The procedure is often a last resort after years of failed diets and health complications, offering not just the promise of significant weight loss, but a new lease on life. For manny, it delivers a healthier body, renewed confidence, and a future free from the burdens of obesity-related diseases.
Though, the surgery comes with a hidden and devastating risk for a significant number of patients. One that is rarely discussed in the surgeon’s office.
It’s a phenomenon where the compulsive need for food is replaced by a new, equally destructive dependency.
It’s called transfer addiction, and for some families, it turns a story of hope into one of heartbreak.
From a New Life to a Deadly Struggle
Amanda and Carey were more than just sisters. They were best friends. they lived next door to each other, traveled the world together, and shared a bond that felt unbreakable.When Carey decided to undergo bariatric surgery, Amanda was her biggest supporter.
The results were everything they had hoped for.
“I saw how happy she was and how she was coming out of her shell,” Amanda recalls. “She was being more social.So the surgery seemed successful. Yeah, totally successful. It did exactly what it was intended to do.”
Two years after the procedure, a shadow began to fall over Carey’s new life. Amanda started to notice a change in her sister’s drinking habits.
“I started noticing her drinking more, or the drinking being two drinks and her being so incredibly drunk,” Amanda says.
Before the surgery, Carey was not a drinker.”Six times or less a year,” Amanda estimates.
Now, alcohol was becoming a regular part of her life. The change was alarming, and Amanda believes it was a direct consequence of the surgery, or a classic case of transfer addiction.
Carey’s struggle with alcohol escalated. Despite her family’s desperate attempts to get her help, including four separate stints in rehab, the addiction’s grip was too strong.As she was preparing to enter rehab for a fifth time, Carey was found unresponsive on her kitchen floor.
In November 2018, she died of alcohol poisoning.
What is Transfer Addiction?
The Obesity Action Coalition, a patient advocacy group, defines transfer addiction as a phenomenon where individuals with a history of compulsive eating swap their addiction to food for another compulsive behavior.While alcohol is one of the most common transfers, it can also manifest as an addiction to drugs, gambling, or even shopping.
According to studies cited by the coalition, as many as 30% of bariatric surgery patients may experience it.
The risk with alcohol is twofold.
First,there is the psychological component of replacing the comfort or coping mechanism once provided by food. Second, the surgery physically alters how the body processes alcohol. Changes to the stomach and intestines mean alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream much more rapidly, leading to a quic