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Hi everfeels9, Your situation sounds remarkably like mine. I gave up beer when I got banded and went to wine then vodka etc.. like you. It got to be a self sustaining cycle and I finally realized I was no longer in control of it. I finally reached out for help and surprisingly it was more difficult that I thought it would be. I seemed to think that making one phone call to a doctor,mental health center/detox would be all that was needed and all would be fixed. For me it required persistence, self realization and discovery and talking honestly about my problem and loss of control. There are some medications that can help make things a bit easier (naltrexone/vivtrol) but there is no magic pill that does it for you as I have no doubt you are aware. I was down about 55 pounds and feeling much better weight wise but much worse in other ways at my 1 year anniversary of being banded. With the help of nurses at the surgical weight loss dept were I went for followups as well as doctors and counselors I was referred to I will be 8 months sober as of next week. I have also lost an additional 25-30 pounds since then and have reached a normal weight for the first time in almost 18 years. I highly recommend talking honestly to your Dr./Nurse who you do you band followup appointments with. They have invested time and work in helping you to this point and if they are as committed to your success and holistic well being as they are where I was banded they will hopefully work with you to help with this issue. Cross Addiction should be nothing new to them and with honesty and a commitment to your own success you may be able to work together with them to lose the alcohol and get back on track to weight loss success. Best of Luck and send me a PM if you would like to discuss further.

Wow, this thread is old. Since I have last posted to it I have now picked up my 31 year medallion in Narcotics Anonymous. I think the reason so many here have trouble from this is they look at alcohol as a seperate problem. AA teaches that unfortunatly and I believe it kills manypeople. Addiction is a disease. It is not, "I have a problem with alcohol, ________ "fill in the blank. Alcohol, weed, sexual issues, herion, gambling, eating, pick your posion, is like switching seats on the Titanic. I am glad I am an NA member, we look at it all as addiction, an all encompassing disease and don't split them into categories. I laugh when I hear, "I'm clean and sober" that's like saying, "I'm sober and sober", or "I'm clean and clean", one disease. plain and simple. This is just my experience, and I am not trying to make light of anyone on here. I respect everyone's situation, I just think to seperate things into little boxes can be fatal for some people. God Bless everyone of you and I wish you well on your travel. PS I have gone from size 54 pants to size 40 pants since being banded, I do not weigh.

I have been banded for 2 1/2 years. I have been an addict/alcoholic for 33 years. Last summer I lost my mind and got deep into drugs and alcohol again.:smile: I all but stopped eating lost a lot of weight this way, but do not reccomend it. Went to rehab again and finally started working the steps. I now have almost 7 months clean and sober. I have gained 10 pounds but know I can get it back off. My goal is 150 was at 155 at my sickest point. This time I plan to do it with exercise and diet oh and my higher power.:thumbup:

Good Afternoon....I am a recovering alcoholic and my sobriety date is September 29th 1996. woohoo!! I love my band and I knew there had to be some of us out there. Love to all fellow alocoholics. Lori

I lost weight really fast at first, I had a BMI of 35, but overall, although Im within my healthy weight range now, its taken me a good 18 months to lose 80lb. After the initial 9 weeks or so, in which I lost about 30lb (which is a lot when you're only 80lb overweight), my weight loss has been slowish compared to others. But then again, I havent had to lose 100lb before every few lb makes a difference iykwim. Like even when Iw as still 90kg, even 3kg made a visible difference on me, whereas you wouldnt even notice it on someone much bigger. So there's a trade off to the slower loss. I felt I was blessed becuase I was still light enough and fit enough to plunge straight into running after my surgery and was able to exercise intensely from quite early on. Also, I was banded right before Christmas 05, I had a champagne or two over the Christmas period. I'd avoid it for a week or two after surgery but after that, in moderation, alcohol is fine for a special occasion.

Just to clarify, I was not implying that your surgeon is lying or that you shouldn't trust him. I believe this is going to fall under the same category of "per my surgeon" kind of like the soda post sleeve thing, or pre op/post op diet guidelines. Only 30% of RNY patients dump, so maybe we can hope that percentage will be considerably less with VSG. I agree with the motility/transit time. But, look at the consistency of the foods discussed here that caused those issues. At 5 months out, I could have 1 glass of wine, and I was pretty well toast. Now, give me about 4-5 heavy poured rum/cokes, and I might catch a buzz. I do not drink on a regular basis. I might have a glass of wine once a week. By glass, I mean 4oz of a nice Riesling. So, it's not like I've been knocking them back and have built my tolerance back up. It's just different now for me. Obviously, liquids (ice cream/alcohol) are going to hit our intestines faster, and that's where the absorption of glucose occurs. Since it's liquid sugar hitting our intestines, I'm sure some of our bodies are gonna be pissed off. Luckily, I haven't had those issues. So, for me, I can see how the liquid sugars could hit the intestines quicker and cause dumping symptoms because there is very little digestion of sugars by the stomach when they hit the pyloric valve. Plus, our sleeves are much smaller than that big ole stomach we had before surgery that allowed all that ice cream to sit in there for a bit before moving on as quickly. If we saw consistency of dumping with carbs (these stick around a little longer in our tummies), or other high glycemic index foods, I think it make more sense to me. Again, let me say that I'm not arguing, just giving my thoughts on the subject. Also, if we look at people that discuss the dumping symptoms or nausea, it's with liquid sugars, cake icing, ice cream causing these symptoms. Now, I'm all interested to find out if DS patients have this issue with dumping. I mean they have the sleeve, a little rerouting, and some switching going on. So, I'll talk to a few of the DS'ers that I know on OH, and find out. The little bit I do know about DS, they do not dump based on the same theory that the sleeve keeps the pyloric valve intact. Do you dump every time? Do you dump on carbs? Like pizza crust, potatoes, other carbs? I know we've talked about your issues with ice cream and some super sweet slider food stuff, but I don't remember if you get the same symptoms with carbs or maybe fruit? Does regular milk cause you issues as well?

<p>I am seriously considering getting banded. I have already done all the testing, except the psychological testing, which I go to next week. I am starting to get a bit anxious. I have also been thinking a lot about my social life. I am no alcoholic, but I like to go out 1-2 times a month and drink beer with my friends and family. I usually drink about 6 beers. Is this something the band will not tolerate?</p>

Thanks for the fast reply. I found some other info that stated pretty much the same thing. I may need to find some other non-carbonated alcoholic beverage for my nights out. It will be very difficult. I love a cold beer after a long week at work. Where I live, everyone drinks beer! I will talk to my doctor about my concerns. -Lori Waiting for my insurance approval......

Thanks Delarla, I appreciate you and everyone on this board and I am soooo glad I found it.... I am struggling with bad choices right now... Breakfast is a good example... I can usually only eat about 1/2 an egg , sometimes the whole one and a piece of bacon... Sunday.....I ate 2 eggs and 2 bacon strips and might have eaten more but got up... Then I went to town to do some stuff and at lunch I ate a pint of "real" ice cream.. then I came home and ate about 1/2 of a pork chop.... I didn't eat anymore till night time and I ate a huge bowl of homemade chicken and noodles. I weighed 213 this morning... My lowest weight is 204, which means I have gained 9 lbs... But I am having to do some stressful stuff right now so I am going to try to not be so hard on my diet. But I am going to start my old thinking again and stop the real ice cream, etc...(beer, and pina colada's I didn't mention) The other stuff shouldn't hurt me.. I have been drinking way to many pina colada's with alcohol and virgin ones too. they are Real high in calories... But darn I love them... They go down so well with a burning belly. My daughter had a wreck Friday you guys... She had a 2004 Mazda Tribute and an older Calillac hit her in the side. She was turning (her fault) going about 4 miles an hour and he was speeding and he hit her so hard it flipped her car into the air and it landed upside down. On the good side of this, the seat belt held her in tight and it has a roll bar, and it didn't hurt her much at all. Thank God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had 8 stitches in her elbow and that is it. The reason I am even telling this, is because I get so wrapped up in this weight loss, lap band , stuff that it consumes my life literally. I get pissy if I gain, I worry if my belly burns, I over react lately to everything.I drive everyone around me crazy saying, "Do I look like I have gained, wonder why I haven't lost any, do you think I will lose anymore, etc........ God helped me put things back into perspective, and I realize that it wouldn't matter if I weigh 700 lbs (you know what I mean) as long as my family is ok, and etc. It brought me to my knees, I am humbled and appreciative of my wonderful life I have been blessed with. I won the life lottery...lol..... I am so lucky... I am sorry for getting so carried away about what I look like and how much I weigh. Don't get me wrong, I care about it, but I needed to calm down. I don't know. Maybe the new attention made me want to strive harder to lose more, and then I got impatient. Wanted to lose more and lose if faster.... Anyway, girls, (and guys) when you get to this point, be careful and don't run the people that love you away , don't get carried away... This is an important journey, but don't let it consume you.... Like I said, I am lucky.... I got brought back to earth....without damage..lol....too much anyway.. Terry Evans

From a medical standpoint I have to agree with your nutritionist. Alcohol is a poisonous liquid that has no real nutritional value on its own. Also, WLS patients are more likely to suffer from transfer addiction which includes alcohol. From a WLS patient perspective, one drink isn’t the end of the world and if that’s how you choose to spend your birthday then that’s your business. Just choose a really good drink and just have the one as alcohol can affect people different after surgery.

Yeah alcohol lol...

Hello Brian, I am also like the other Wendy. I have not been banded yet. I have learned from the forums on LBT that the Lapband is a tool, it will help you lose weight if you are willing to try. Yeah, that would be my first step, see a doctor. One that knows! If you didn't like your first doctor, go see a new one. Sometimes there is a fee. If you find one search thru this forum and look at the other people that have used him. Check out their weight loss, send them a personal message. I feel everyone out there on this forum is very helpful. I myself am worried about the alcohol. I drink beer. But looks like that might not be in my future. Maybe I will be able to have a shot and water ocassionally. May you find happiness with you band and help keep me posted. WendyAnn

Hey everyone, Name is Brian. I have had the lap band for about 3 years now. I lost 50 pounds in the first 3 months with the band. In the last 2.5+ years I have not lost any weight in some cases I maybe gained a few. I have a 10cc band and have 9cc`s currently in my band. No restriction. You would think that not loosing weight is the worst part. But its not. No matter how little I eat. No matter how well I chew my food. I am constantly throwing up, It has had serious Psychologically hurting implications. I am self medicating with alcohol on a constant basis and I am constantly thinking about going back to smoking methamphetamine's to loose weight. I have survived through drug induced heart attacks(2) and I have also survived a shooting 1 bullet in my side and 2 in my stomach, and I dont think I have ever felt lower then I feel now. Lots of people know I had the Lap Band and I am always the center of Jokes that I dont know how much more I can take. Is their any RESTART that I could do? Like Open my band all the way and fast to shrink everything ? Like you would restart your computer when it is running slow. I also need a doctor Local to Los Angeles where I live. Who is caring and will help me. My doctor is about 3 hours from Los Angeles and its too much to go up their and even when I am up their he has little advice to give me. PLEASE HELP.

Hi Brian, Sorry you are having such a hard time. Please go to another Dr. on Monday!! Don't waste anytime. You have done the right thing by asking for advise, so that shows you are a strong person. YOU CAN GET THROUGH THIS HUDDLE WITHOUT HELP FROM DRUGS OR ALCOHOL!! I am new, only been banded 6 weeks, so I can't help you with the right advise, but I do know you sholdn't be drinking alcohol, so please call a friend and don't isolate yourself. You WILL get thru this. Hang in there buddy. Junibug

Check to see if your sugar free products contain sugar alcohols. Those are notorious for causing gas, bloating and diarrhea.

Much of Carnie Wilson's weight re-gain after her bypass had to do with her being an alcoholic. She was drinking a bottle of wine a day. Some people have addictive personalities. It may be genetic. Her father has dealt with substance abuse problems and mental illness his whole life.

I totally understand why you don't want to tell anybody. I'm right there with ya! I will be banded tomorrow. I told the people who I eat out with... close friends and family. Friends I see every other month, none of their business. As for work, I told my supervisor for the same reasons, and 3 others at work who have been struggling with weight loss as well. They know it's secret. Only tell who you want to tell. I am going to say, "I cut down on my portions, calories and alcohol" ~ the rest is up to their imagination... ! haha... Dana

I hear you! I am 4 weeks post op now and I have 2 mantras: "I'M NEVER GOING BACK!" and "IT's JUST NOT WORTH IT!" (when tempted to taste or take a bit of something not allowed.) This is way too much work, money, and risk to throw it away. Use this pre-op time to really clean up your eating. After surgery, you want every bite to be as nutritionally dense as possible, and as healthy as possible. The "New you" deserves nothing less. Get rid of the artificial sweeteners, colors and flavorings. Get rid of the soda and caffeine. (Caffeine may come back later, but you may find you feel better and more stable without it and really not want it anymore. I LOVED coffee, but can't even stomach the thought of it now!) Absolutely get rid of the sugar! ALL sugar! Get rid of processed food. Cook it yourself. Get rid of simple carbs/starches. Minimize wheat or get rid of it altogether. Learn to enjoy other whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, millet, teff, amaranth. Learn to enjoy veggies - LOTS of veggies! They will be the life saver of you success. Of course, get rid of alcohol and tobacco. If you can start making these lifestyle changes NOW, you will have a much easier time after surgery. Recovery is hard enough without having to cold turkey off addictions like sugar and caffeine. Use this time to really EMBRACE the changes. Each change you make means you "WILL NEVER GO BACK!" As far as temptations go, yes they are there, but..... "IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT!" I had to fix a full Mexican meal for a family party, make muffins for work, and cake for a birthday party. I did take a couple of tiny tastes to check for seasoning, but then I spit them out. I remind myself that my time will come to have some of these things, but not right now. Each choice you make is a choice to "go back" or "never go back." Remember that a slip up one day is a mistake. A slip up 2 days in a row is called RELAPSE. Just get back on board immediately. I found that keeping my food journal is critical. I plan all my meals (as tiny as they are) the day before, so there is no guess work the next day. We got ourselves where we are by a lot of bad choices over a long time. (Even if we thought they were good choices at the time with the dieting, starvation, and other crazy stuff we did to wreck our metabolisms and disrupt the normal hormone pathways.) It will take a lot of GOOD choices to rewire our brains and reframe our thinking about food - what is wonderful (veggies) and what is poison (sweets and simple carbs.) We can do it! Let your OCD and rules work for you!!!!!

I think it is different for different people. If the group of people who you spend time with socially only socialize based on eating food to excess, you may want to change the people you socialize with. It would be like alcoholics who give up drinking or drug addicts who give up the drugs not socializing with their previous drinking / drugging buddies. Other than that - I don't think your best friend and sister should be concerned. Good Luck with the journey! I have never been happier.

Eating is a survival behavior. We must eat or we will die. We are therefore hard-wired to find pleasure in food. It's the same reason we find pleasure in sex and find babies and children irresistibly cute - survival of the the species. The things that keep us alive and perpetuate the species are designed to be pleasurable so we will do them. Please don't try to overcome the love of food and pleasure you find in food. Abstinence works for drugs and alcohol because we don't need those things to survive. You will not be able to stop loving food - nor should you!!! If you don't find a way to enjoy your new life, you will either fail miserably, or succeed more miserably. Continue to enjoy cooking and healthy food. That's what we are supposed to do. All that junk food and unhealthy food we fed those cravings never satisfied because our bodies were really screaming for nutrition. When you find ways to give your body the nutrients it needs - that you can also enjoy - you will finally satisfy those cravings for good!!! I'm a foodie for life!!! Shelly

Hi Gang! First, I want to say that this board has been a GODSEND to me. I have learned so much from you guys and received so much support from here - wow - I can't even thank you all enough. But Thank You All!! :sad0: I cannot BELIEVE I'm finally here writing about my journey three months out; time went so fast but at times, it's like, it's about time!! The journey has been nothing short of incredible, mind boggling and, like Tiff said at one time, a mind twist for sure! It's all good and I wouldn't change a thing! I am so happy I did this!! I have posted some pictures in my album, I'm .5 pound short of 60 pounds today - I figure I'll hit 60 later today after I ride my bike - that's always good for a pound or so. The pics are 50 pounds down and also include the other two that had surgery the same day as me - you all are familiar with Gary_B - that's him before. I'm in the pink shirt. Samantha had rny with Aceves. My goal was 50 pounds by tax day - I beat it by three days. A few observations thus far; people didn't really start to notice my weight loss until I was well into the 40+ pounds lost. Very aggravating. Now, less than 60 lost, some are saying don't lose more. Moral to the story, keep the public tuned out!! They mean well but they really don't know what they are talking about most of the time! Eating has been wonderful; I have always had an Iron gut and that remains. Nothing has bothered me and I'm happy about that. I've only "hurt" myself twice; once when I first went onto solids and ate a hard boiled egg too fast... so that's what sliming is all about... that was horrible, and a second time when I was trying to eat on the fly and ate some wings way too fast again... Not as bad of an episode as the egg but gross nevertheless. I've never thrown anything up but came close these two times. I still have a terrible time slowing down eating - it really is hard for me, especially being around my family that inhales their food. I am trying to get better with that and hope I don't damage my sleeve in the meantime. I do know when to stop, however, and don't do anything to make pain, obviously pain is bad. I also have very bad head hunger sometimes and am thankful (mostly) that my sleeve is there to keep it in check. I was in New Orleans by myself last week on business where every other business is a fantastic restaurant - I thought I was going to go nuts. Double whammy on going out to eat alone, I won't do it because of the tiny portion business... I do find myself obsessing about food more than I like; the old fat girl is still there, no doubt. I'm hoping this gets better, I really hope it does. I am staying under 1000 cals per day, under 25 carbs per day and as much Protein as I can get in - I try for 90-100 g's. I log religiously on myfitnesspal.com. Hunger; I have had plenty but I know it's just gastric juices and not real hunger. My stomach likes to toy with me, however. I've really tried to listen to what my body is telling me and I've found that when I get these so-called hunger pangs, I've noticed that the feeling only lasts for a couple of minutes, usually. If it doesn't, it's rare and it's usually late in the day; I've had to take an extra half nexium on occasion because of this. If I don't, or if I forget to take my dose in the morning, I pay dearly. I'm hoping this gets better but at least I know it's all acid related, controllable, and I'm not truly hungry. Weight Loss; I have been thrilled with the ride so far, haven't had any real stalls but a couple of slow downs of barely 2 pounds in a week. I average about 4 pounds a week, give or take. I am following a very low carb diet while I'm in the losing phase. I know I could just take the restiction and lose slowly but that's not how I work. I am looking forward to a few more carbs once I meet goal for sure, but, I have to say, this has been the easiest "diet" ever. Even starvation didn't take 60 pounds off of me in three months. Not that I ever did starvation for three months... Anyway. I?m hoping to meet goal by my birthday; July 30. I think it?s very possible but I'm not going to obsess any more than I already am! :wink0: Drinking; I was surprised to find that I was/am more disturbed about not being able to chug liquids more than I ever thought I would be. I still can't chug like before but what I can drink is MUCH more than at the beginning. I still wish I could take more, especially when exercising but it's all good. This bothers me more than food issues. I am, however, getting in plenty of fluids; easily 100 oz per day. I keep a sport top Water bottle with me, mix single packs of Lipton or Arizona tea in them, and refill the same bottle for about a week from the tap before I toss it. Trying to do my best to be green. Tried alcohol once, two bloody marys, didn't get intoxicated, really a non-event. Avoiding alcohol now because of the calories. A glass of wine would be sooooo nice, however... coffee has been the best thing ever, I started back probably 2 or 3 weeks out; heaven. Just my one power cup in the morning. I make it extra strong with splenda and powdered creamer. Yummy!! My periods have been a little whacked since surgery... will save the details but I'm hoping they get back to normal... Any regrets? NONE! Would I recommend this for someone thinking about it? Absolutely!!! I know that I had an easier time than many and anyone thinking about this should absolutely do their research including plenty of soul searching. Thanks again to everyone for listening, you guys are the best! Carol

I don't know if I mentioned before but I have put a lot of stock by the book "Potatoes, not Prozac" by Kathy De Maison - she talks about being MO and addicted to sugar - she originally found out while working with recovering alcoholics, if they stayed away from sugar they could keep up their resistance to alcohol much more efficiently. She then applied this thinking to herself, she was overweight, depressed, having a Jekyll/Hyde personality etc, and realised that she was sugar sensitive. When I read the book I was positive I was too sugar sensitive but did nothing for close to two years as I couldn't bear the thought of not having my sugar every day - when I was out at gatherings/parties/pubs people used to tease me about being tipsy/merry/slightly drunk and I wouldn't have had any alcohol at all - I definitely got a high from my sugar addiction - I was almost manic at times - I had a close friend at the time who is bi-polar, and he used to tell me my "symptoms" were almost exactly like his - swooping manic highs one minute, devastating depressed lows the next. When I was preparing for my surgery for banding, I decided to apply the principles of this book to my future W.O.E. (tm Donali!) and I cannot tell you enough about the difference it has made on my life - forget the weight loss, I feel so great, so in control - I can sleep, I don't feel depressed, I have more confidence, less mood swings etc - Food is definitely an addiction. It is never cured, just managed day by day. I strongly believe I will be managing this addiction forever, with the help of my band.

Or they tell you about people who die. Now, Nightline just ran a segment on WLS makes people more likely to be alcoholic. When my friend started in on me today, I just told her to go ahead and let her do it, knowing this is going to happen. I reminded her that I need to do this to regain my health. She then went on to talk about her struggles with weight, being on a fast and being short of breath when walking. Great. It just seems to be part of the territory.

@@ZetaStar my husband was taken off of insulin and started back on the pills. I know exactly what you are experiencing because my husband has everything you mentioned and including fatty liver disease, and non-alcoholic pancreatitis the neuropathy is the worst of it all. He wakes up in the middle of the night in lots of pain and sometimes can't get back to sleep for hours. He now works out 5 times a week during his lunch at the company gym and has lost over 100 lbs. If there is a possibility that going with the sleeve won't resolve these issues I would think long and hard before making your choice. I am sure that you will make the best decision for you. I am happy that you found the website. I stumbled upon it too.

I don't think it's a good idea this early out, you're still healing. My doc recommends at least 3-6 months before alcohol. There can also be detrimental impact to your liver as it's working overtime due to rapid weight loss.