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6 per week is a drinking problem? My friend must be a full-blown alcoholic, cuz she can knock back 10 at a time!

Lying awake in bed due to reflux caused by attempting to eat steak earlier tonight and I get this "revelation". ( Nothing like the clarity that comes in the middle of the night) My mind must have been thinking over some of the stuff I read earlier today and I suddenly realised that the symptoms in this article describe what used to happen to me in my early 20s. There were a number of occasions when I would feel hot, cold, nauseous,shaky have ringing in my ears and want to pass out. In fact the once I was at the pub with my BF who is now my DH and I literally dropped. I was fine 1 minute and passed out on the floor the next. It was so embarrassing as everyone must have thought i was extremely drunk when in fact I was on either my 1st or 2nd drink. At the time my GP said that it was probably a hernia but reading this dumping seems more likely. It was usually brought on by alcohol especially any type of clear spirit such as vodka. Luckily I haven't had those symptoms for years

Well, I was a social smoker too and, honestly, I cannot even remember when my last smoke was... maybe one month before surgery. But, I never declared myself as a 'smoker' to my surgeon because I didn't think smoking 1-2 cigarettes a month really meant you were a 'smoker'. And, I don't know all of what they tested for when I went for my pre-op testing, but they said my results were all good including my chest x-ray. As for alcohol, I used to drink almost daily. I cut that out about one month before surgery, but I still had a couple glasses of wine w/my friend about one week before surgery. I had surgery on 12/17, then had wine again on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Eve. My surgeon did not give any cutoff date for drinking alcohol. The dietition did say to try to avoid it after just because of the calories, but that it wouldn't hurt the band. I feel good that I was just able to give up my daily habit w/it and it didn't turn out to be as hard as I thought it would. I feel like I have a lot more respect for my body now that I have this band and a chance at getting my health back.

Thanks Arabesque , surely it will be that and not problems from the non alcoholic fatty liver disease .x

My latest results were much better BUT it has raised my awareness about Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease which is much more serious than I believed .I looked on the Britishlivertrust.org.uk at the stories and facts of NAFLD and realised it can take the same pattern as alcoholic fatty liver disease .I am so grateful my results were much improved , it is pretty scary reading .

Find out what kind of sterile prep they used on you. there is a newone called Chloroprep that numerous people have had an allergic reaction too. I had it after a biopsy. It occured several days after surgery. I had to wash real good and clean with alcohol, and they gave me a cortisone to put on it. It went away right away.

@@robinsmj it may be the erythritol (a sugar alcohol) in the Quest bar that is making you nauseous. I don't have a problem with erythritol but I tried something with maltitol (another sugar alcohol) and it made me nauseous and gave me a seriously upset stomach. Perhaps try a bar without sugar alcohols and see if that makes a difference?

Does anyone regret doing it? Can you drink alcohol? I'm two days away from making my appointment. Trying to get my mom to do this as well but she's afraid she will be miserable because she loves to eat.

Alcohol, shopping, gambling, drugs, promiscuous sex, even exercise.... Food addiction is tough and sneaky and loves to change forms. One of the reasons, IMO, getting mental health support lined up before surgery is so important. Thank you for sharing. Best wishes to you.

Wow, yesterday was tough. I have known for a while that I have a problem with food. But when they take it away from you and tell you to drink only liquids you begin to realize just how bad that problem was. I really feel like I have lost my best friend. Food could comfort me and satisfy me. I am really embarrassed and shameful that I let myself get to this point where I rely on food to fill my emptiness. People say things like "it is just for 2 weeks, you can do anything for 2 weeks", well I know that, but it does not make it any easier. Most people do not understand people like me who have such terrible issues with food. They can understand an alcoholic or drug addict, but food. Just stop eating they say. And quite honestly that really is what needs to happen, I just need to stop eating. But it is so hard. I really wish I could go to sleep and wake up when the 2 weeks is over. I am really questioning whether or not to even have the surgery. If I cannot learn to deal with all of these emotions and stuff in my head then I fear the surgery is really a waste. I wish I were feeling starving on this liquid diet, then at least I could say I am just hungry. But that is not the case, I have not really been that hungry, it is just all in my head. Dang it is hard! But I am going to keep forging on and checking off each day and learning to deal with the emptiness until I conquer this demon.

Some folks have issues with certain sweeteners and sugar alcohols. Could totally be that, still could be the lactose, maybe double a dose of the lactaid and see? Do you typically have issues with whole milk or ice creams?

I was worried about cross-over addictions while I was researching as well. I do know a few people that had WLS and ended up dealing with alcohol problems. However, I quit drinking 5 years ago because I was uncomfortable with my drinking habits. When I made the decision to get the sleeve last Fall, I decided that I wasn't likely to have a crossover problem with alcohol, since I don't drink (and didn't plan to start). I was sleeved March 18th of this year, and I am very thankful that drinking is not on my option list these days. Can't go cold-turkey like that on food, unfortunately. Instead, you just really have to re-frame how you think about food - I try to look at it only as fuel, not as a pleasure thing.

Sometimes baby oil will do it too but rubbing alcohol does seem to work best.

Melissa, I read the article you referred to, and saw the Oprah special on the same subject. I am going to be banded on Monday, but I realize that I could very easily trade my food addiction for alcohol because I have struggled with alcohol in the past. I am seeing a therapist who specializes in eating disorders so that hopefully I will avoid major problems. I too recommend that you go to AA or find a good counselor or therapist. This is something that you don't need to fight alone. You are already well on your way to defeating your problems by publicly admitting them. My prayers and thoughts are with you! You can do this!!! Gina

I am in the same boat you are but my story is slightly different. In November 05 I went into alcohol treatment for 30 days. I stayed sober for 16 months. Right before I was banded I started to drink again. I drink daily too. I know we are not suppose to drink carbonation but I can't get away from 1-2 beers a day. I try to just stick to 2 100 calorie beers so I can still lose weight. I don't eat much during the day but I make sure I can have 2 at night. If I had wine in the house I would drink the entire bottle and want more so that is a bad thing for me. The only advise I can give you is either cut down or go into rehab or AA. It really helped me when I was sober. I wish you the best. You can PM me if you want more information or support. Julie

Hello everyone! i have already gone through some of the pre-op stuff, i have a psych. eval coming up soon, but i suspect that will be fine. My main question is; is your quality of life that much better after surgery? i guess i wonder about 'addiction transfer'....i'm afraid of turning to alcohol or something because of not getting that satisfaction from food....anyone experience this? what are the hardest things you've had to deal with?...and how did you deal with it? thanks so much and good luck to everyone!:smile2:

They didn't operate on your liver. Common sense says it shouldn't take any longer to heal then say, your kidneys unless you have an underlying liver condition. I would never recommend anyone to go against their surgeons orders but sounds like yours is very, very cautious. Every surgeon seems to have a different set of rules. Caffeine, no caffeine, carbonation, no carbonation, alcohol, no alcohol....the list goes on. My surgeon cleared me for anything except carbonation after 6 weeks. That said, I think we have to keep in mind that all the different surgeon's opinions come down to this: 1) Medical fact, 2) medical opinion, 3) serving the lowest common denominator and finally 4) covering their asses. I am of the opinion that we use our surgeon's orders along with our own common sense. We are the ones responsible for our success or lack there of at the end of the day.

Mine says no alcohol for 6 months and I think Swimmom has it right. You might have other conditions caused by obesity that negatively effects the liver (like fatty liver). These would require staying away from alcohol for longer.

My center has said no alcohol ever !

I am 13 month post op, close to you, I am not much of a drinker, 1 margarita every couple of months so I don't have advice on that side; however, I was warned from all sides (dr, psych, Nurse, surgeon) that alcohol addition was a common problem/transference after weight loss surgery. I was asked at every visit in the last year if I felt I was transferring addiction to drinking. I really recommend you see you DR and talk to them honestly. It makes sense, we can't eat in the volume we used to so we look for something else that we can do - and liquid funnels out rather rapidly - food does not. I urge you to see your dr:)

When did you first have an alcoholic drink after post-op?

When I was in the hospital nurse told me to sniff rubbing alcohol and put an ice cold cloth on my chest and that helped.

You can get fruit and nuts and veggies past your band if you don't have it too tight. The band reduces hunger and allows you to control what you eat but if you try to lose the weight too fast and have it that tight that you can't eat anything healthy then you are setting yourself up for disaster. Most folks want to feel full and can't work out that the band is all about not feeling empty rather than feeling full. I have been banded for 16 months, lost 48kgs and 4 months ago had all the Fluid out. I have since put on 5 kgs (almost straight away and nothing since) I am working out how to eat right without using my tool before I have it removed. I have the option to have it refilled in one large hit if I decide I can't go it alone. If your band is too tight then you learn nothing, you will probably get complications and if you have to have it removed you will probably regain all the lost weight because you don't take the time to learn while you lose. These things I knew before I was banded through reading everthing I was given and researching as much as possible. Those of you saying it is a scam; can you honestly say you were given no information and you had no opportunity to research for yourself or were you given the info that told you how it works and then expected it to work differently because that is what you wanted to believe? Were you really told that you would always feel full, you'd never think about food, the weight would drop off without any work from you and there was no possibility of any complications? or is that just what you wanted to believe? Slow down, take responsibility. The worst thing is an over filled band, fill it slowly and feel the difference, have it topped up as you lose weight because it gets looser. Learn as you go and don't blame the band if you don't give up ice cream/fizzy pop/alcohol/chocolate/lattes or whatever else you claim to be addicted to. What would you think of someone who bought a vacuum cleaner and then said it didn't work and that vacuum cleaners were scams just because they couldn't be bothered to take it out of the box, plug it in and push it around. If you used your vacuum cleaner right and had lovely clean carpets you would be unable to takeseriously those saying that vacuums didn't work at all. There are folks that the band fails but there are way more that fail their bands through lack of input. You hear about the band, you want the band, you dream about the band, it is the answer to all your problems then when you wake up with the band you don't like the reality because you prefered the dream and then instead of working to make the dream happen, you just move onto another dream, bypass or whatever. Let's face it, if you have half your stomach cut off then it has to be easy, right? I wish you all luck with your weight loss journeys but I think many of you need to start being pro-active and think about how to use this tool you have. And by the way, imho, once you have healed post surgery, you should eat good food slowly untll you are no longer hungry but never until you are full. Learn the difference between 'not hungry' and 'full' and if you are hungry an hour later then have a little more. Learn the difference between good foods and bad foods, good liquids and bad liquids and make the changes. Most of you will find it is up to you and if you do it right, it will work.

Doctor told me one month and at 31 days I strolled into the local bar. I have had no problems with booz however I do not drink beer. I typically drink bourbon on the rocks, wine, perfect manhattans, martinis and a few yeager bombs but not all at one time. But as the other guys said be ready because you will not be able to handle as much alcohol as before. I mean you can still drink it but you will be totally wasted if you drink pre-surgery amounts.

I agree. Call your surgeon. Please don't put more alcohol on it. That just sounds painful! Ouch!! IIRC, alcohol actually prevents healing. I was told to leave my drain incision alone, although they did bandage it after the drain was removed.