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I apologize in advance if this sounds annoying, but I just feel like I have to vent.. It was my bday yesterday, and I don't have anyone to make me feel special on it(husband, bf, kids) my own family basically ignored me, I got a few bday texts from them, but to them showing that they care would be eating out and over eating with cake... I have gone out once since surgery with them, my surgery was on 12/10 btw, I ordered from a kid's menu and they saw how incredibly fast I got full, maybe they think I'd be a waste of their money to go out to eat with me, and I can no longer have alcohol, that was another thing.. It's been a very depressing bday bc I don't feel loved or wanted by them, no one else offered to see me or take me out somewhere, I cried a lot. They don't realize that there's other things that I like to do that would be fun( movies, bowling) food doesn't always mean a good time.

I agree with mkardh, I see no reason to not enjoy an occasional drink now & then! With that said, alcohol IS a blood thinner...so you may be pushing it a little 2 wks out. I almost had a drink at a party last night, I'm a month out...but then thought better of it & drank water....however I DO see an occasional cocktail in my future. We have to learn to eat/drink smart...not deny & punish ourselves for the rest of our lives!

I know someone who uses Vodka to strip paint off some of their crafty things they do... Hmmm? IDK. Doesnt really matter to me, I was just sayin'. Probably not a smart thing to drink alcohol 2 weeks after surgery, but like I said before. Its her body! She can do as she pleases!

I haven't read all the posts so someone may have touched on this but I'll give you one REAL answer as I'm sure you are getting lots of hate for this one (which is why I didn't read them). When you have surgery, especially this one, your body goes into shock, if you will. This includes all of your major organs, liver being important in this answer. Also, when you lose weight, especially at a rapid rate, your liver is under major stress. Adding alcohol to that, which is filtered by the liver could possibly put you into liver failure fairly quick. This is why it's important to give your body time to heal and adjust to it's new normal before throwing any added stress at it. Hope that helps

JP do you think the the FDA would allow alcohol to be legal if it was to strip off paint it is a different alcohol it is just like DON'T swallow gum cause it will stick you stomach together it is wives tale

I started having my glass of wine at about 6 weeks out I have had no issues I would say that because alcohol is a blood thinner there is a risk of bleeding with a new surgery on your stomach and the stomach needs time to heal. I would also just like to put something out there why do people think that the sleeve is some sort of special surgery and ask some very odd questions. It is a surgery just like surgery anywhere else in your body. It has also been around for many years but was perfected a few years ago it was just not used for weight loss but to fix bleeding stomachs then it was discovered that with the procedure it kept people from gaining weight and would also cause weight loss due to the new size of the stomach. I have known of patients that have talked about it and knowing people have a similar surgery back in the 50's for bleeding ulcers and wow they lost weight. I am just putting this out there

I would be WAY too scared to drink THAT soon... Cant it cause a leak? I would imagine it could since some alcohols can strip paint.. What would that do to a healing stomach? Its your body, but I would just be careful. Complications of any sort are no fun. Not worth having a drink to me.

My doc instructed no alcohol for the first year. I'm so surprised and jealous to hear its okay to drink a few weeks/ months out?!?!? Anyone else willing to admit to having some drinks? Any negative effects?

I was advised not to drink alcohol for at least eight weeks, and I followed that direction. Now, at well over three years out, I do enjoy my White Russians without any issues or guilt. Sent from my iPad using VST

The hard part is there is going to be LOTS of alcohol flowing but I have to make sure it doesn't flow my way 0_o

You are a true inspiration. My surgery date is feb 5. Thank you for telling your story. I too have alcoholism in my family (my siblings) and it hurts to watch them through their lives away. Fortunately i have a wonderful supportive husband who wants me healthy. God bless you and your husband.

Alcohol is a stimulate and can hinder ur healing process and can damage ur stomach lining as it goes thru there remember u have staples stitches that alcohol can slip thru bc it's so harsh - basically can irritate ur stomach and can cause inflammation pain and side effects - on all meds it says do not mix with alcohol bc of side effects u can also get winded and get dizzy and fall and hurt urself

Hello to everyone!!! I am so glad to find a forum/blog to be able to talk about this!!! In the beginning of 2012 I had a big birthday coming up that was affecting me emotionally. I was turning 47, I was in a marriage that was very toxic (Spouse that was an alcoholic, and not working), and i was coming to the point to where I was aware of my own mortality. Let me explain... My father passed away at the age of 57, and he well over 450 lbs. Here I was, turning 47, just 10 years younger, and I did not want to die. On top of that, I had an issue with my Husband and his drinking and lack of employment. In March 2012, I separated from my husband, and my son (who is 19) and I moved out. Two months after leaving my husband, he called me and said he was ready to get healthy. As of today, he is almost 9 months sober and we are back together. I digress.... After my Husband moved back in, and we started talking about the new journey that we were on together, we started looking into help for me. In August 2012, my Internist referred me to Dr. Sami Hamamji, with St. Joseph's Bariatric Program in Orange, CA. I was advised that I needed to go to an initial Seminar. Hubby and I went and we were excited. We wanted both of us to be healthy. Now that he was back on the right road, I needed to be as well. August 2012, I had my initial meeting with Dr. Hamamji. I was ecstatic with him. Very open and willing to answer each and every question I had. I went thru all the required necessities of acheiving insurance approval, support groups, psychiatric evaluation, and what my husband and I found to be the most important part, meeting with the Registered Dietician. I finally received insurance approval December 5th. My surgery was scheduled for December 17th. Surgery day came, and to be honest, I was not nervous or excited. I think I was resigned to the fact that I was beginning a new journey in my life. Surgery went well, no complications. I was released the next day and went home to sleep (finally) in my own bed. Christmas was very difficult. As we all know, the holidays go hand in hand with food. I am the one in my family that does all the cooking. Christmas eve, I made 2 batches of enchiladas and 4 dozen deviled eggs. Had a great time with family. Christmas day was more difficult. Now, I am back to work, and am finding that each and every day brings anew... I am wearing clothes that I had not put on in 2 years (thank goodness I kept them). The scale is my nemesis. I am finding that I am losing inches rather than pounds. But I know it will all even out in the end. Good luck to everyone on their journeys... I know that for mine, I have a healthy husband and I am working on being healthy myself!!!

Here, I found a pic. I put a red arrow pointing to the sugar alcohol. So this sugar free cookie would only actually count as 10 carbs, because you subtract 3 for fiber and 3 for sugar alcohol.

Yes correct. Stevia wouldn't have it because Stevia is an organic sugar substitute. Look on the back of something sugar free, like sugar free pudding, and you'll see sugar alcohol.

So you subtract sugar alcohols like the fiber which will give you the net carbs? i'm kind of confused with that one.. I only see 0 sugar alcohol on my stevia.

I saw it in my sugar free pudding last night. Was kinda funny because I had enough calories in my budget for it, but it was a low carb day, and I didn't want to go over in carbs. But I looked and sure enough when I subtracted the sugar alcohol, it fit into my carb budget. YAY!!

You are welcome. Sugar Alcohols will only show up in sugar free items, when they add sorbitol or another form of it. You can pull up the nutrition labels at the Atkins website to see an example to make it more clear. I was pretty happy when my nutritionist told me this and I trust her because she teaches other RDs at the University of Cincinnati and also had the lapband and kept her weight off for years, her picture is outside of the doctor's office door, she lost a huge amount of weight.

I love me some white wine!! Wine has the lowest calories (i think) and will be a good alcohol beverage for this lifestyle. I mean, as long as it is not all the time...

Alcohol sugars? I don't think I've ever seen those, well haven't noticed so I am going to check for that also!! thanks 2012! Never knew there was such a thing!

so...here come the emotional issues welling up...spoke to someone I'm very close to last night, who loves me, but also has a terrible way of making me feel unworthy. I've gotten much better at letting that stuff roll off my back and even calling him on it (with the help of therapy) but it rears it's ugly head now and then, and I think because I'm feeling particularly vulnerable right now, it's more apparent. This person congratulated me on already losing some 17 lbs or so..but of course mentioned that it was surely mostly water loss...so that's a dig right there. Then last night, same person asked how I was feeling and doing, and then had to mention they were at dinner at an Italian restaurant eating eggplant parm and it was delicious. Would you tell an alcoholic you were at a bar and downing a delicious cold beer? I would hope not. I told this person that his comments were not nice and there was no reason for saying what he did and he realized it was a cruel thing to do because he got embarrassed and tried to make a joke out of it. An apology would have been better. Anyway...just wanted to get that off my chest so I can let it go and move on. Thanks to you all for letting me vent in what feels like a safe place to do so.

Hi, I am a little over a week away from flying to MX for my surgery. I travel for work every week. It is about an hour flight, each way. I keep my main bag at the hotel. It has all of my main work clothes, toiletries, makeup, etc. Thus, I won't have a heavy bag to lift or carry. I just take "undies" back and forth and my laptop. I have a small bullet like blender at the work site. I currently go to whole foods every week and buy food for the week for lunch and dinner. Thus, I am used to not eating for the most part at restaurants. But, I do have semi-required dinners when the hot shots come to town or we are celebrating a milestone. In fact, we have one the first week I am back from surgery. I think I am going to try and skip this first one, but I can't do that every time. I have purchased the Dr's recommended Vitamins and Protein powder. I have a set in my desk and a set at my apartment. I purchased broth for both locations. I have told my immediate team that I am getting this surgery. In fact one of my team mates did the Y thing about a year ago. She lives closer to the work site and drove back and forth every week. She also convinced them to let her stay at an apartment. I really don't want to stay at an apartment as I don't want another place to clean. (call me lazy). Anyhow, my immediate colleagues know I will be eating weird and can't drink alcohol. But, the larger team doesn't know that I know of. I am sure they will find out eventually. Also, there are three of us that have gone together and we have a personal trainer that comes to the hotel twice a week. I told him about the surgery. I told him I probably couldn't do anything my first week back except walk. I am hoping that the next week I can start doing his workouts, but just making sure i am not lifting ... yes, I will talk to the Dr. in MX to find out more details. Any experiences with that would be helpful. What else can I do to make this VSG lifestyle work for me. Any and all tips are welcome. Mary

My initial post on this thread was a highly critical indictment of the abstinence model in regard to compulsive eating and I have been taking this position professionally since 1985. I have written numerous articles and professional book reviews that have essentially made the very same points. Not once have I ever been attacked by other professionals who also happen to be members of OA or AA or believe that abstinence from sugar, wheat, and alcohol is essential to their own personal recovery (and there are many who do). I appreciate that this is not a forum for professional people (although there are members with professional degrees) but I am not going to apologize to those who took offense because they live by an unsubstantiated model of recovery that I happen to be critical of and have been professionally critical of for 28 years. Does my promotion of moderation mean that I am encouraging people to live an unhealthy lifestyle or to subsist on junk food? Of course not and that's a completely disingenuous distortion of what I've written. I don't see this as a contest or issue between strict vs. "undisciplined?" sleevers. For me, this is strictly a matter of two competing models: disease vs. mental health. I stand behind everything I've written on this thread with the caveat that nothing I wrote was deliberately directed at anyone in particular. If you took offense, then challenge the argument, don't attack the member. You and Dean are right about one though: I really shouldn't be writing here with professional authority as an academician and then claim "regular member status" when feathers get ruffled and buttons get inadvertently pushed. I have been writing as if I were addressing colleagues, yet another book review, and you and Dean have made me realize that I need to write at all times as if I'm addressing patients, i.e., with a very different kind of sensitivity and mindset. Quite frankly, that's a burden I rather not assume. I won't be posting on these forums anymore. Best of luck to everyone in their life's journey towards a healthier and thinner body.

So now that I have "officially" accepted responsibility for my weight gain over the years, now I'm trying to figure out what led to this roller coaster life I lead! My last blog, I talked about being on phen-phen and loving it... then getting married and 2 kids later - poof I'm topping 259.6 lbs! But there is a lot in between that time span that I need to reflect on! So - in my late 20's and early 30's - newly married, fabulous job, living in DC - smoozing with the politicians, climbing the work latter, away from my mom.... hmmmmm - can't think of a single reason emotionally that I should have gained weight... I think I stayed a size 10ish - wavering between an 8 and 12 probably - so not too bad. Though, again, I thought I was HUGE! But honestly, other than eating out, and enjoying an adult beverage (oh and not working out) - I'd say life was even for me during this time! Moving into my 30's - 2 kids now! Moved to Atlanta - lived in the burbs with the white picket fence (literally, a white picket fence)... hanging in the cul-de-sac in my sweater sets.... I gained about 40 - 50 lbs with each kid - though I lost "most of it" each time - but stayed in the 170s - 180's for the most part. I played tennis on the neighborhood tennis team - and in my late 30's, started running... I got down to a size 8 - 10 again and looked and felt good! Then BAM! It hit! My daughter is in kindergarten - teachers think something is "not quite right"; tests begin... nothing unusual - but still something "is off".... she enters 1st grade... and now the fun begins.... without going into the details of how we got there... we found out my daughter was dyslexic! The end of the world!!! We thought we had to brightest (her IQ by the way is 1 point below Genius), most perfect child... oh my god... what are we going to do? What did I do? I went into Mamma Bear mode.... started looking at private schools that specialize in dyslexia, started taking her to special tutoring sessions (driving an hour home from work to pick her up, then driving another 45 minutes to the tutor, waiting an hour, then driving an hour back home (rush hour). We started eating in the car - snacks on the way there, dinner from Mickey D's or Chick-fil-a on the way back... 3 x per week!!! I stopped running - who has time for that when you have a full time job, 2 kids, and this new "the world has ended" weight on my shoulders? My daughter was accepted in the top school - whew!! but that meant commuting 1.5 hours each way every day... but I was willing - because it was only supposed to be for 2 - 3 years (a transition school, where there is remediation and you go back to the "real world"). So we ate in the car...ALOT!!! My daughter isn't gaining weight because she is active (see a pattern from my mom here?)... but she is also on ADHD meds with acts as an appetite suppresent. I however, am gaining weight... not on the tennis team anymore, and definitely not exercising! Now add in my son - the pre-schools are saying he has some issues too - oh here we go again - at least we know what to look for this time - right? But we have him in a pre-school that is for advanced kids - and he is falling behind - and the teacher is bullying him - yes bullying a 4 year old. He went into a depression - 4 year old!!! He was the happiest kid - every day is a good day - and then boom - depressed! We pulled him out of that school and went to another school - he was happy, but not learning - but happy :-)! In Kindergarten - we decided to nip it in the bud - have him tested and boom - he is dyslexic too (it is hereditary and I probably had it but overcame it with my intellect and my dad is). We enter him into the same private school as my daughter - and now have $50,000 in tuition plus uniforms... plus the commute... and eating on the go! But - it was only temporary - right? So we did it... and then.. came the time for my daughter to be retested (every 3 years) and to start thinking about the next school..... I remember it clearly... I had just started a software development leg of my company... I was 30 minutes from walking into a board room filled with CEO's and CIOs from major companies (7 of them) to pitch my latest product.... and the psych called.... "Hey Krista - just wanted to let you know I'm coming up with some "weird" results for Natalie".....pause...."I'd like to run some additional tests"....pause...."I think she may be on the autism spectrum...and by the way I think she comes by it from her dad"! THUMP!!! OMG!!!! Did she just say AUTISM? OMG!!!!! So I compartmentalize that, and do my presentation... them come out and just CRY!!!! Turns out... after the initial testing and 2 second opinions... she is on the spectrum... and my husband is accepting that he may be too - but what is he going to do about it at almost 50 years of age?... Now my world is crumbling... AGAIN!!!! I have to find a new school, I have to put her in a "social skills" class (she was "shy" all this time - not autistic), I have to rearrange my life... AGAIN!! My world ended during this time - how can this be? So I started taking Lexapro to "deal" - and I probably drank way more wine than I should any given week... and I most definitely ate out every meal and did not exercise! OK - so, I found a school - only it is 2 hours from our house... my son is still at the dyslexia school - the complete other direction... so now what? Oh - sell our house and move closer! We also decided to go ahead and move our son to this school as it is a school for all types of learning differences! So - we move, move schools, and I also decide to sell my businesses.... I had to make changes - I had to do something!! But selling my business turned out to be a VERY bad idea (I'll write more on that another time)... and turns out, my son has Asperger's too - OMG - TWO KIDS on the spectrum!!!! Though actually with my son, they don't know how to diagnose him - so they just gave him that DX - he really has more working memory issues and his IQ is on the low side! So - moving from my past - I think I did very well overcoming my mother and childhood stuff... I did very well with moving up the corporate ladder, and I did well early in the childhood raising area.... My weight gains - major weight gains started when trouble hit my perfect little life! I turned to food (and alcohol - though I wouldn't call myself an alcoholic) to solve my problems - to comfort me! Food was the one staple that was there - no matter what - I could count on a drive-thru... I could count on a good sushi meal (I mean like $50 - $60 of sushi for me alone)... I could count on a bottle of wine! I can see the crisis that hit - I can see how I used food - but what I don't know yet, is how will I overcome the "next" crisis?????? More to come as I figure out this journey! Look for my scary boss story coming next - this is when I hit the top of the scales!!!

I'll admit it's awkward and a little frightening at first, but the needles are very small and barely hurt at all. I gave them to myself 2x a day for 7 days. I was taught to wipe an area on my lower tummy with an alcohol swab, pinch an inch (or two ;] ) and just stick the needle in then push in the plunger until the medicine is emptied out. Then all you have to do is remove the needle from your skin and push down on the plunger to enclose the needle prior to disposing of it. You won't even need a bandaid, but you will need to do it in different spots each time, and have some kind of container on hand for disposal.