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Hi Everyone, i had my sleeve done approx 3 years ago. I lost soooo much weight very quickly & went from 94kg down to 59kg within about 5 months. My weight stabilised at 62kg & I lived quite happily for the next few years. The only issues I had were significant (I'd say 70%) hair loss which has still not returned and reflux/nausea. If I drink alcohol I get so sick. I start sweating and feel like I'm going to vomit. So I have had to give that up too but it's not a problem. Over the last 6 months I have gained about 12kg. I constantly feel like my stomach is in my throat & keep eating food to push the stomach back down. I even get up at night and eat. I get a bit of reprieve from the symptoms then it happens again so I eat more. I also feel like eating settles my stomach. Water is so hard for me to drink that on days when I force myself to drink nothing but water, I'll be lucky to get a 750ml bottle down. I find diluted juice is okay & for some reason I can drink more of this. I feel like such a failure. The weight gain has made me severely depressed. I don't want to leave the house because no clothes fit me and I feel like a massive failure. Even though I am still 20kglighter than when I had the sleeve, my body image is worse now than it was before. I feel like there is no hope & no use trying anything else. Has anyone experienced similar symptoms?

My doc says never again to alcohol, nutritionist says wait 6 months. That said, we went out for dinner the other afternoon & my favorite winery was releasing their spring wine. Yep, stopped in and had a sample or two (REALLY JUST TWO) and my only regret was we didn't walk around enough after eating before stopping. Otherwise, the wine was wonderful. For me, i can give up the sweets but i do like to have wine with my meals so i'm thinking instead of a glass it will just be a much smaller tasting after or before provided my body is ok with it.

Tonight I did something very stupid! I made a Ham dinner with roasted vegetables. Which I ate my 3 oz portion and as many veggies as I could manage. After cleaning up My mom kept saying for weeks we never have drinks any more. So I made Pina Coladas. FROZEN I don't know if it was the alcohol, or the frozen part. Or the dinner and drink combo. Which I thought I waited long enough. But I was in agony, I couldn't be still the pain was so darn bad. My surgery was 6/30/16. I went into my shower and found some relief in the hot water. My heart was racing and my back felt like I was stabbed, I couldn't breath. So shower felt better. My husband was with me at that point. So I got him to plug in a heating pad and I laid down with the pad on my tummy with a pillow on top of it. IT WORKED THANK GOD! Spasms we're happening! Please learn from my stupid mistake. P.S. I have had drinks before but never had this happen. Awful

I can only imagine. I've been doing my low carb for two weeks. My surgery isn't for another 41 days but my doctor doesn't require any type of liquid diet, before or after. But from what I read, it's still hard to go through once we're sleeved. We only need a few bites to nourish our bodies, but five times that to nourish our souls. I guess that's why it's called soul food . Time to find something else that doesn't revolve around food, becoming a raging alcoholic, or turning to street drugs to fill that void .

Hi all: This is my first post on these message boards. I am in my first month of my six-month long physician-monitored diet to receive approval from my insurer for gastric bypass surgery. I am hoping to complete the monitored diet by early August and then schedule my surgery for early October. One of my biggest concerns with this surgery is how my husband will also have to adjust to this change. I am the cook for all of our meals and we eat take-out a number of times a week. I had my psych evaluation this morning and they stressed how important it is to recognize that relationships will have to change once you have surgery. That, like an alcoholic, you can no longer have friends that "go out to the bar and drink," so to speak. My husband has never had to worry about his weight and eats anything he wants. He is incredibly supportive in my decision to have weight loss surgery but I would like to find some additional resources for him to read or watch if they exist. I think that sometimes it's easier for a spouse or family member to have some material to look at on their own rather than me talking at them all the time. Hopefully that makes sense. Does anyone who is pre-op already attend support meetings, and if so, has anyone taken his or her spouse or support person to the meetings? I am wondering if that is a good way for me to keep him involved. Anyway, that's all for now. I am sure I will be posting more on here in the future, so I look forward to talking to and getting to know some of you. Thanks! L

For about a year after surgery I counted total carbs. I did that because anything that didn't count as a net carb, (fiber and sugar alcohol) was likely to screw with my stomach and I wanted to avoid it anyway. Now that I am in maintenance mode, (2.5 years post op) I watch the total carb count, but only count net carbs. Whether I am counting it or not, I still like to know exactly what I'm eating.

I don't buy that processed and fast foods are poison. No evidence (other than cheap movies) suggests that to be true. My mother and mother-in-law are both well into their 90's and both drink diet soda daily. That said, we are what we eat. I try to make most of my meals out of Whole Foods. I don't waste money on so-called organic foods. I do enjoy 1-2 In N Out burgers a year and 12 ounces of diet soda a week. We do not know that Type 2 diabetes is generally linked to obesity - not processed food unless that's all you eat. No own knows what causes cancer, but most of the women I knew who had breast cancer, were on birth control; lung cancer and smoking, liver cancer and alcoholism. Remember that the worst poisons on earth occur naturally; plan your diet, count your calories, and major in Whole Foods. You'll be fine!

I had my sleeve 3/8/17. Surgery went great, struggled a little with gas pain and nausea/vomiting. No pain medication worked for me (morphine or dilaudid!) and the nausea medication didn't help either. One of the things the nurse told me the surgeon told her was to sniff alcohol pads......IDK if that really worked but I had to handle the situation internally. I was discharged the next day at my request and continued my healing at home. As of this morning, I am down 9 pounds from 3/8/17. I am on day 2 of full liquids. Struggling to get all my Water and Protein in. At this point I am going by how my body feels....If I feel thirsty, I sip and if I don't, I don't. I never feel hungry so I drink broth at certain time intervals and usually just sip on sugar free crystal light, eat sugar free popsicles, drink water and eat sugar free Jello in between. Pain is at minimum, only the incisions hurt (or mainly that abdominal wall hurts when I move), but gas has subsided and I had my first bowel movement in maybe 5 days today, which made me feel even better. So everything is grand right? I never understood how much of a mental test this is. I am not physically hungry but mentally i want to eat the Snacks and foods I ate before surgery. Its like I CRAVE the physical part of chewing and crunching more than anything. To aid, I've been crunching on pickles and then spitting them out as I KNOW I cannot eat anything right now....I DON'T want to screw anything up!! Pre-op I was diabetic. My A1C was as high as 11.6. A year ago, my blood sugars were out of control, I was on a couple medications for my glucose as well as a pill for blood pressure and cholesterol. I always told myself that I was going to lose weight but after trying for so long and failing, I gave accepted the fact that I was probably always going to be big. I would go to doctors appointments after doctors appointments making excuses as to why I hadn't lost as much as I should have. Eventually I found the surgeon who I wanted to do my sleeve. He asked if I had ever tried diet pills and I told him no because NONE of my doctors felt comfortable prescribing them (d/t cardiac side effects). Anyway, I eventually started phentermine and slowly making dietary changes (low carb, low sugar, cutting out soda).....and the weight slowly came off. Pre-op I managed to lose 50 pounds and only had to do 3 days liquid diet pre-op (not even 3 days) since I lost a good amount beforehand..... so this 2 weeks liquid diet is killing me. All I want to do is EAT...even though I am NOT hungry! Its so mentally hard. I remind myself of the reasons why I did this and how it is not a permanent thing having to do liquids but I just find myself counting down to the pureed stage just to at least be able to eat some of the things I like..... I've read on various Facebook posts where people did not follow the surgeons directions and started eating sooner, but I am terrified to even try it...

There is nothing off my diet either, the doc said I have no restrictions, even alcohol. But that my diet needs to be protein focused and water heavy. lol! So I have a bite of stuff now and then but in general I'm pretty full and satisfied with my homemade low carb high protein meals.

I just had my first alcohol drink 6 weeks after surgery because of the Purim holiday. I'm not an alcoholic, never touch alcohol usually.

Me either but I have read some things people have eaten or drank alcohol soon after and such ... I needed to know some people didn't gonthrough a major surgery like we did just do have the same behaviors ....Faith on people thank you [emoji16] progress starts in the mind

About 3 months post-op, I had a small glass of white wine at my Cousins' Reunion. I've also had beer a couple of times. We drink at local microbreweries, so I can order brews that have low carbonation. I can't drink a whole beer, so usually order a 4oz. "taster." One taster is enough- then I'm full. I used to drink a lot- maybe 3 or 4 pints, once a week- so this is a big difference for me! I have been out more frequently than this, but usually don't choose to have anything alcoholic to drink. I don't find the alcohol hits me any differently, but I'm not drinking very much when I do choose to imbibe, which I am sure makes a difference.

So I ordered vitamin patches for the 2nd time through Bariatric Pal website only to later find this article....so what's true? http://www.bariatriceating.com/2016/06/faq-vitamin-patches-bad/ CAN WE ABSORB VITAMINS AND MINERALS THROUGH OUR SKIN BY USING ONE OF THOSE MULTIVITAMIN PATCHES I HAVE HEARD OF? Vitamin Use Tied to Lower Breast Cancer Death When we heard about ‘multivitamin patches’ that were being marketed to bariatric patients, we were skeptical because we remember the ‘spray vitamins’ similarly targeting us a few years back that turned out to be bogus – the FDA and Attorney General of several states thought so too. We consulted with experts regarding ‘patch multivitamins’, all of whom emphatically said that none of the claims made by the patch company were true. Not a single word. They even underscored that what these companies are proposing is biochemically impossible, as the skin is a very good seal against water soluble organics, which is why you can’t get drunk on alcohol through your skin. It’s also a good barrier against ion transfer, or else a few hours in the ocean would dehydrate and kill you. Think of all the things you come in contact with during your day – if these materials passed through the skin, it could in many instances mean death. Most vitamins and minerals fall into these two categories and anybody claiming nutrient absorption through a known protective barrier had better produce studies to back it up – burden of proof is upon the patch companies, as their claims go against widely accepted and well known medical facts. One pharmacological expert went further to say that the people responsible for the bariatric vitamin patches ‘are either willfully fraudulent or just plain stupid, but either way are a second away from an FDA Warning Letter or FTC action’. Use your judgement and please be careful of this kind of stuff. You cannot fit the entire world of nutrition in a single pill. It does not make sense that you could tape a packet of pulverized vitamins to your arm and have all that material magically move through your skin and into your body. You cannot absorb the amount of minerals needed after bariatric surgery through a ‘sticker’. People who have had bariatric surgery are often looking for something easy and defend this product because they want to believe. People cite nicotine, birth control and other medications used as prescribed treatments via patch dose – the difference is that the highly specialized transdermal medication patches available via prescription, are for tiny amount of drugs, not several teaspoons of organic minerals. There is no comparison. If you’d like to be compliant, there is no easy way out, you must swallow capsules or chew tablets. There is no magic pill and certainly no magic spray or sticker.

Our surgeons at Kaiser told us NEVER to drink alcohol again because of the risk for ulcers as well as the HIGH risk of changing your addiction from food to alcohol. Of course people still will from time to time. Something I've learned through this process is that not many things affect me the way that it does to the majority of people who have been sleeved. The only thing that I am similar to the majority on is alcohol after sleeve hurts. I've drank(not a lot) on two occasions since being sleeved 12/19. First vodka drink with club soda was okay but gave me mild heart burn. The second drink was vodka based but no carbonated drink and my esophagus and stomach BURNED after the tiniest sip. You may be different from my experience so I guess you'll have to try, just be cautious.

Yeah from what i've read on here some surgeons are pretty loose with their diet progression...mine wasn't and had a strict week by week plan Weeks 1-2: Full liquid 10 grams of protein per meal 6 meals a day (clear liquids) Weeks 3-4: Blended 10-15 grams protein per meal 4-6 meals a day (blended meat, fish, eggs, or tofu, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, bady food, cooked vegetables, fruit, soups,) Weeks 5-6: Low Residue 20 grams protein per meal 3-5 meals a day (lean poultry, fish, or lean ground meat, creamy nut butters, egg or egg beaters, soft cooked vegetables, light yogurt TOASTED bread) Weeks 7 and beyond: 20-25 grams of protein per meal 3 meals a day (fish, poultry, legumes cooked soft, fresh or canned vegetables and fruit, cooked cereals, potatoes not fried, whole grains like rice quinoa or barley) avoid sweet beverages, whole milk, citrus acidic foods, alcohol, caffeine, fried foods, breads with seeds, fruit with tough skins, high fat meals, soft gummy bread, sugar and sweets that's sort of a skeleton of what to eat if i forgot anything someone please add on

I'm 3 months post op and having a girls weekend around the time of your birthday (happy birthday!!!). My friends and I only get together once every few years and there's always a lot of drinking involved. I feel like I'm going to feel left out/ not as merry. I thought about drinking a glass of wine each day (sipping slowly), but then I also think why even go there? Will I want more and not have the best judgment? So, I'm pretty sure I'll abstain and just keep reminding myself that it's the company not the alcohol that makes the get together special.

This is so smart! My doctors also told me to wait a year before I have a drink. My best friend is getting married in July so I have the bachelorette weekend and wedding with no alcohol I will just have to psych myself out! Pregnant for the day lol

I used to drink Diet Coke/Coke Zero a lot - at least 16oz a day, but often twice or three times that amount. I had that habit for about 20 years. I gave it up cold turkey 3.5 years ago and I haven't missed it since (this was long before I ever decided to have bariatric surgery). Yes, I did have some cravings in the first couple weeks afterwards, but I was able to overcome them, unfortunately with other sweet things, like chocolate. I've heard from people that giving up soda also curbed their sweet cravings, but that wasn't the case for me. In fact, my sweet cravings went into overdrive. But eventually I was able to deal with that too. Based on what I've read, here are the reasons why any kind of carbonated drinks are not recommended, at least for the first six months (or ever): while it does not stretch your stomach, it probably feels like it does, and can be very uncomfortable for you you should be trying to keep the acidity of your stomach down, not increasing it empty calories - do not be fooled by the "sugar-free" label. Yes, you may not be consuming calories, but the rest of your body (your pancreas in particular) still thinks you are and will secrete more insulin to deal with the anticipated sugar rush. Of course, there is no sugar, but what happens over time is that you end up becoming more and more insulin-resistant and/or pre-diabetic/diabetic (if you aren't already). if your stomach is full from carbonation you won't have room for the food you really need soda, for many people, often accompanies other foods they shouldn't be eating, like pizza or burgers or fried food or chips or...You may have trained your body for years with those kinds of associations. It may be a slippery slope to start drinking soda again and not want a bite or nibble of something to accompany it. most people who admit to drinking soda weekly or somewhat regularly again have lost most of their weight and/or are in maintenance. That's a much different situation than being within 6 months of major abdominal surgery. In the end however, it's up to you. To the OP: I noticed that your profile says that you are pre-op. Like so many other habits (coffee, smoking, alcohol, etc) this is one addiction that you should probably get a hold of before surgery. The more you can deal with these things beforehand, the better.

I didn't wait as long as a probably should have. Maybe 2-3 months. I usually do vodka and water or rum and water. I'm at a point where I can have a beer if I take it kind of slow, but it doesn't really sit right and I don't enjoy it anyway. It's odd to me, but I don't feel any more sensitive to alcohol now than I did before surgery. It doesn't hit faster or last longer. Maybe it balanced out because I don't mix it with caffeine anymore. I don't know.

@OutsideMatchInside - I had purposefully skipped this thread until I saw another vet's name pop up in the unread feed. So I finally read this thread and you pretty much said exactly what I was going to say. It's no secret that I am big into tracking: Every bite I have eaten has been logged. Even the alcohol I drank. Every homecooked meal has it's recipe added to MyFitPal library. I don't know about any one else, but it is of immense help to me. My wife measures everything when cooking and then when serving. She packs my lunch with measurements or barcodes so I always have as accurate information as possible. According to MyFitPal I have 653 days in a row logged. So yeah, logging is a good idea for me.

Barring my taste buds changing to dislike them there is no way in hell I am parting with foods I can't get in Canada that I used to have back in the states: - Round Table Pizza (California and a few other states) - In N Out Burger (California and a few other states) - Jamba Juice (numerous states) - Premier Pizza (San Jose area, California) - Tacos El Grullense (Bay Area, California) - Wienerschnitzel (California and a few other states) - Jack in the Box (numerous states) - Hormel Chili (No Beans, Turkey No Beans) - Armour Chili - Yoplait Yogurt (different than the Yoplait in Canada) - It's It Ice Cream Sandwiches - Japaleno Cheddar Dip (Fritos?) and Fritos Scoops Things I have ditched due to taste buds changing during weight management program: - Pizza Rolls - Hot Pockets - 99% of chips and other related snacks - Soda (I will miss you soda, but you taste like crap now and you helped eff up my liver ) - Any and all alcohol (didn't drink much anyways, but if and only if my liver completely resolves the fibrosis issue will I ever touch alcohol again, pretty sad since I've never had an alcohol problem to begin with) The difference is with the foods I will still eat, is that 1) I almost never have them as my trips back to the US lately have been few and far between (only a few times a year), 2) I will maintain the tiny portions and caloric/carb restrictions, meaning for things like the Super Burrito from El Grullense.. I might be paying 5 bucks, eat a few bites, save more for later, or if wife/daughter don't want it, throw it away. Still plan on stocking up on the chili (Hormel/Armour) from US trips for days like Super Bowl Sunday.. one of my fav SB dips are Fritos Scoops with Jalapeno Cheddar dip and chili. Of course, my portion size will be minuscule compared to everyone else's, but don't care.

You go girl! I am greakung my addiction to sugar just like the alcoholics....one day at a time. My surgery will be in August. I said goodbye to sodas and fast food years ago,,even my beloved Pizza Hut, who moved right down the street as soon as I stopped eating it!!! Talk about ironic. Before it was a 15 mile ride to get Pizza Hut, now they deliver to my door!!! Ughhhh, I feel like Alanis Morissette singing, " Traffic jam, picking up my pizza late, but now home delivery well isnt this great. Because now its 10,000 salads and not a hot pizza in sight, ....Feeling positive because I am doing my body right!!!.....isnt it ironic, ,yeah a little too ironic. well I really do think ! LOL, FEEL THE POWER BREAKING THE ADDICTION!! I have a saying I repeat everyday because it is a day to day walk to break the addiction. "NO COOKIES, NO CANDY NO SUGAR NO SWEETS" over and over ...it helps.:) GOD Bless!

I was wrong, BlueCross Complete is going to be it. Aetna Medicaid is 12 months, not 3. After consideration, I'd feel better about a 6-month wait. There aren't many hoops to jump through either. I've got a 41 BMI, the only thing they want from me is 6 months and a drug/alcohol test.

I wrote about this in 2015 when I was sleeved. It's a hot topic and I got a lot of grief from others. 1. The big issue is babying your WLS post surgery. Not all surgeries are equal. Sleeves are the most minimally invasive and based on reviewing guidelines worldwide, I found them ranging from no wait (in England) to 1 year in most major US programs. I went with two months, but eased in very delicately. Speaking to doctors, I learned that the sleeve is pretty much healed after 6 weeks. I have also heard that a Gastric Bypass is less tolerant since you're no longer using the tough stomach tissue to process the food you eat. 2. The next big issue is your liver. When you are losing a lot of weight in a hurry (like most WLS patients), your liver is working overtime. I waited until I was close to reaching my goal and drank extra Water before and after my very weak drinks. 3. Beyond those two major health considerations, the biggest is your weight loss success. Alcohol is empty calories and when we drink, we make bad food choices. I always counted the calories in my drinks, which kept me on distilled alcohol and water. I also always planned what I was going to eat BEFORE drinking and stuck to it. 4. Although not a risk for everyone, transfer addiction is a real risk for people who may have been addicted to overeating or anything else. I have read many stories from people who never drank before WLS, but were addicted to eating or soda and became alcoholics after. 5. The carbonation myth has no basis in medical research. I researched it extensively and found zero long term issue from any doctors. I also observed that many obese people drank sugary soda all day long, which is why most programs tell us not to drink it. It should be avoided until tolerated following your surgery. I tried it after 6 months and it upset my stomach. Today, I can drink a little, but not much (12 ounces over a few hour timespan). Of course if you were addicted to soda or beer before WLS, be very careful. These are the biggies, let me know if you have any further questions...

If you didn't know.....Acid reflux/ heartburn/GERD is due to too little stomach acid. I agree with these articles about how it all works. apparently hydrochloric acid supplements are real cheap might be worth a try! Knowledge is Power ya'll.😊 "clinicians have found that giving hydrochloric acid supplements to patients with heartburn and GERD often cures their problem:" Vitamin D level is about 60 ng/ml, and I strongly recommend you use LabCorp, which is a high quality testing facility. As I’ve discussed in many previous articles, you can increase your Vitamin D levels through food triggers -- Food allergies can be a problem, so you’ll want to completely eliminate items such as caffeine, alcohol, and all nicotine products. Increasing your body’s natural production of stomach acid -- Like I said earlier, acid reflux is not caused by too much acid in your stomach -- it’s usually a problem with too little acid. One of the simplest strategies to encourage your body to make sufficient amounts of hydrochloric acid (stomach acid) is to consume enough of the raw material. One of the simplest, most basic food items that many people neglect is a high quality sea salt (unprocessed salt). I recommend eliminating processed, regular table salt for a lot of different reasons, all of which I’ve reviewed before. But an unprocessed salt like Himalayan salt -- one of the best salts on the planet – will not only provide you with the chloride your body needs to make hydrochloric acid, it also contains over 80 trace minerals your body needs to perform optimally, biochemically. Taking a hydrochloric acid supplement – Another option is to take a betaine hydrochloric supplement, which is available in health food stores without prescription. You’ll want to take as many as you need to get the slightest burning sensation and then decrease by one capsule. This will help your body to better digest your food, and will also help kill the helicobacter and normalize your symptoms. Modifying your diet – Eating large amounts of processed foods and sugars is a surefire way to exacerbate acid reflux as it will upset the bacterial balance in your stomach and intestine. Instead, you’ll want to eat a lot of vegetables, and high quality, organic, biodynamic, and locally grown foods. You can also supplement with a high quality probiotic or make sure you include fermented foods in your diet. This will help balance your bowel flora, which can help eliminate helicobacter naturally. Optimizing your vitamin D levels -- As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, vitamin D is essential, and it’s essential for this condition as well because there’s likely an infectious component causing the problem. Once your vitamin D levels are optimized, you’re also going to optimize your production of 200 antimicrobial peptides that will help your body eradicate anyinfections that shouldn’t be there. Implementing an exercise routine – Exercise is yet another way to improve your body’s immune system, which is imperative to fight off all kinds of infections.http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/25/news-flash-acid-reflux-caused-by-too-little-acid-not-too-much.aspx