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Doctors' philosophy on this vary from a few weeks to never again depending upon their experiences. The basic issues are: Healing - alcohol is somewhat corrosive to the stomach lining so one needs to give things a chance to heal first, Alcohol tolerance - rapid stomach emptying means it tends to hit faster, and with less (i.e., a "cheap drunk") so care must be taken there, Transfer addiction - we can no longer satisfy whatever addictive tendencies we have with food, so it is easy for transfer that addiction to something else, like alcohol, drugs, shopping, gambling, etc. What was a casual habit of a glass of wine with dinner occasionally can easily turn into full blown alcoholism. Liver health - starting as morbidly obese, or worse, our livers are not usually in very good shape to begin with (hence the "liver shrinking" pre-op diets that are often prescribed) and the liver is further stressed from its role in metabolizing all that fat that we are rapidly losing. It doesn't need any more stress from ingesting a known liver toxin like alcohol (not a judgemental thing, just our physiology at work). My surgeon is also a biliopancreatic (livers and pancreas) transplant surgeon, so he is in the no alcohol as long as we are losing weight camp (and ideally forever) and indeed we sign a contract to that effect - he doesn't want any of his bariatric patients coming back onto his transplant table! Those are the issues in play, and some aspects bother different surgeons to different degrees, so they have different policies. Check with what your surgeon's policy is, and decide for yourself - we are all adults here.

Sounds like it's working, good job!

Yes. I have been using Genepro to break a weight loss stall that began about 8-9 weeks post-op and continued through to 11 weeks. I'd still be in it had I not changed what I was doing. I came up with the solution described below to break my stall/slowed down weight loss as I was thinking about the days right after my surgery. My surgeon has her patients on clear liquids for 14, yes, 14 days!!!!! following surgery. No protein, no vitamins.....ONLY CLEAR LIQUIDS and medications for 14 days. I lost a pound or two a day on the regimen. Since my weight loss had drastically slowed, I was significantly behind on the amount of weight I am expected to lose by my next surgeon appointment and decided I would go back to post-surgery basics, but with protein, meds and vitamins added. I began this regimen on Thursday, March 14th, weighing 219lb. Today, I weighed in at 210 pounds. Here is what I do: I take three 16 ounce bottles of water and to them I add 1 scoop Genepro, which is flavorless, 30g protein and only 60 calories. You can drink it plain or flavor it however you,d like, just don't add calories more than 20, perhaps, with whatever you choose. I add sugar free decaffeinated ice tea powder to mine. These three bottles become my "meals" for the day, breakfast, lunch, supper, giving me 90g protein for the day and only 180 calories. In between these "meals" I drink another 16 ounce bottle of water, giving me a total 96 oz water for the day. Additionally, I take all my meds and vitamins as I am supposed to throughout the day. Once I reach 209 pounds I will be at the bare minimum of where my surgeon expects her patients to be at 3 months post-op, which puts me at the 50th percentile. I plan on continuing this regimen for the entire 14 days in order to get as near to 201 by the end on March, early April, which will put me in the 75th percentile, which is a MUCH better place to be. Anything below the 50th percentile is considered to be a weight loss surgery patient failure. This info is taken from a Duke University study conducted to discover early weight loss predictors for success or failure among weight loss surgery patients. I explain this study and provide links in the video I've posted here in my status update on Bariatric Pal. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. :-)

I gave the coordinator his name and phone number and she said she would call them. Maybe she'll have better luck with him then I did. The wording could have been off but he seemed very adamant that he does not do that. I just wish he could've said something from the begining. Sent from my moto e5 plus using BariatricPal mobile app

I would check with your surgeons office about it, as you have the tests and data that is required - if a bariatric surgeon doesn't know how to interpret an endoscopy, then he shouldn't be in bariatrics! Mostly, they are looking for a CYA from another doctor before they proceed, but if the report is clean and there is nothing to worry about, then it should be OK. The important thing is to know what is going on inside as that can influence what procedure is done or how to go about it, which is what the report would tell him. To be somewhat fair, the gastro doesn't necessarily know what the surgeon may want as a clearance in this case - that is often an interpretation on the surgeon's part - and not just a "yes/no" thing from the gastro. One surgeon I know prefers to do some of these things himself rather than depend upon a gastroenterologist report (particularly when he is doing a revision) as he knows better than the gastro what he is looking for. A cardiac or pulmonary clearance, which are also common, are more of a yes/no thing ensuring that there are no big showstoppers that will cause grief under anesthesia, but an endoscopy or upper GI gives the surgeon information that is useful for planning his operation, so should be something that he can handle.

Most surgeons want you to obtain from alcohol but it will vary. I've seen 3 months, 6 months, a year.... There isn't a hard and fast rule of one year no alcohol.

Those are the ones you wish would get massively impacted and can't secure any relief!😖😰

Yep. I am from the Burgh. Had my surgery April 20, 2017. Lost 134 pounds and maintaining great so far. Dr Felix gave me the tools. Hope Bariatrics

I had gastric bypass. I was hoping I'd be one of the lucky one's to go a long time without feeling hunger but I wasn't that lucky. My hunger came back after about 4 weeks. It's different now though. I feel hunger, can eat a couple of bites of something and it's gone. It usually happens at work where I tend to go longer periods of time between meals and drinks. I now take a little bag of nuts in my pocket for those times. Sometimes I need them, sometimes I don't.

I need a GI clearance to have my surgery and I made an appointment with him back in October and told them very specifically why I needed to see him. I have been back and forth with them telling all the people I have seen in his office why I was seeing him when they asked and none of the ever mentioned that he doesn't do clearances for surgeries. I had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy done a few weeks ago and on Wednesday I went in and was told "I don't give clearances I just do the procedure. Talk to your family Dr." My final weigh in is in less than two weeks and now I have to find another GI doctor and hope that they are taking new patients. So any hope of having my surgery any time soon is in the toilet. Sent from my moto e5 plus using BariatricPal mobile app