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How soon has anyone had alcohol post op? I admit my social drinking habits were a little extreme. i'm in my 30's and I'm quite a partier. Not having any kind of alcohol in about 3 weeks is killing me. Is it too soon for me to have a glass of wine or something? Anything? Or maybe a pina colada! whew!

I'm just checking in, too. I rarely come here anymore, but I've been feeling like I need to re-focus, you know? I've been at the same weight (144) for ages and ages, but I'd really like to lose another 15 and be down at 130. It's not so much the weight, but I'm feeling less in control of my eating than I used to feel. I'm reasonably good diet-wise, although I probably eat too many carbs and drink too many calories (lattes and alcohol are my biggest downfalls) but I mostly stick to "the rules" which helps a lot. I think right now I just mostly miss feeling like I was in charge, not my stomach. I get hungry more often than I used to. I might need a fill, since I haven't been to the doctor in a pretty long time - probably almost a year - and I can eat things that used to be hard, mainly hamburger and rice. I ate cold sushi recently without getting stuck and that's usually a big tip-off that I need a fill. My life is going through a lot of changes right now. It's my birthday tomorrow and I will now be closer to 40 than I am to 30. I'm not admitting to anyone how much that bothers me. I don't mind getting older. In fact, I love it, because I care less and less what others think of me. But I don't like it because my body is less able to adapt and to adjust. I need more sleep, I need better nutrition, I need to take better care of myself than I used to. And that bugs me. I'm not big on self-care. So, I'm glad there are still some people around. Our issues are so different than people who were just banded. I love my band. I would never go back for anything. But I'm still learning how to live with it and how to face that I still have weight issues, even after all of this time and work.

I have absolutelly no problem with alcohol. I drink on the weekends when i go out and the only different thing is the tolerance, in other words i get drunk with almost nothing. Take it slow and always drink with moderation (and don't drive hehe)

PS. For those nauseous - some times a small sniff of rubbing alcohol gets rid of it for me. In the hospital, when I was having trouble, they gave me a few alcohol swab packets and it helped almost every time. Can't hurt to try. That's the worst feeling ever! I hope you guys get over it soon!

Great Post, thank you. The following changes I have had/made in the past 3.2 months. I have lost 60 lbs and very very pleased. No fills here yet. 282-222...... My goal is 206 by May 29th, which is my birthday. I WILL DO IT! One week after surgery I sleep through the night. Which is so amazing for me. I used to get up every 90 minutes!! When I go to a restaurant I don't have to ask for a table anymore, I can now sit in any booth, without adjusting it or having my friends switch sides with me to accomadate my fatness. I've have gone from size 28 to a size 18, and they are getting baggy!! I am working out regularly again without back pain and without being sore for days. I don't have any acid reflux anymore I am saving $300.00 a WEEK on food. I used to go out lunch and dinner and have HUGE meals with alcohol. 14 meals out a week, 7,000 calories plus a day, now I consume between 700-1200 calories a day and I now I cook at home I am constantly on the GO GO GO!!! I am a happier person overall now and look forward to my future. I can wear my necklaces again. I can Tie my sneakers without getting winded from bending down. I actually now have a wardrobe to pick from now and not just wearing my live-ins all the time. I DO NOT DRINK ANY ALCOHOL ANYMORE, nor do I even have the desire 2! I have been drinking for 20 years!! This is only after 3.2 months.....I can't even WAIT in 9 months how many more accomplishments I have made. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!! REEN

What does it mean to be “full from within?” "This concept refers to the idea that we no longer have this psychological “black hole,” that needs to be fed through external things such as; food, drugs, alcohol, spending, relationships, gambling." ~ Dr. Colleen, The Psychology of Finally Being Full From Within To be truly full from within means that our “tank” is mentally full. In other words, our self, although beaten up, bruised, and broken sometimes as a result of our journey down each of our unique life’s path - is repaired and felt as whole again. Like a patchwork quilt that only gets stronger as a result of its many tears and reparations. How does one achieve this, you ask? Borrowing from Aaron Beck’s cognitive triangle - we have three components of the mind that work to repair the self: THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, BEHAVIORS. These are the different components that must be running on all four cylinders to ensure that we aren’t at risk of developing or perpetuating an unhealthy relationship with any of the topics mentioned above, for the purposes of this article, specifically - food. Thoughts To Repair The Self Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is a 25 cent term to describe the process of looking at the old tapes we run in our minds day in and day out for years upon years, and stopping them in their tracks, and replacing them with new ones. A hallmark approach in Byron Katie’s book “Loving What Is,” is to continuously challenge one’s thoughts by asking “is that really true?” 13 If we deem that we can’t say with absolute certainty that a thought is true, then we can replace it with a more constructive thought. For instance, if we find ourselves with a running narrative that goes something like “you are just never going to be someone that stands out, it’s ok you have other good traits,” then what is the behavior and feelings that it produces? Perhaps the person goes on feeling invisible like many people who are overweight feel. Maybe the person gives up on trying to stand out in the way they look and participate in life. Feelings To Repair The Self For my clients suffering from depression, I will often assign them a task of doing one social event, one bout of exercise (if they have never been inclined to exercise), and one learning activity (lecture, take a CE, attend a webinar, go to a pottery class, painting class, attend a speaking event). Many of them balk at the idea. Some of them have been doing things their way for years and there is an undercurrent of fear related to breaking their routine. It is almost as if the depression has a voice that says “don’t do it, you will only feel worse.” We must realize that when we have depression, our mind is sick. It is no longer serving us, and the messages are coming from crossed wires. In order to uncross those wires, we must physically and literally put one foot in front of the other and re-engage in those activities that we know from the research lead to a sense of happiness or at least contentment. Behaviors To Repair The Self One of the biggest misconceptions about our mind is the idea that we must feel a certain way to engage in certain behaviors. In other words, we must first feel happy if we are going to go to a social event and relate to others in a positive way. However, the cognitive triangle mentioned above is tri-directional14, meaning our behaviors can influence our feelings and/or thoughts, and vice versa. This is powerful information. This means that we don’t have to wait for happiness or joy to come around to engage in behaviors we know lead to more happiness. In fact, one of my first interventions with my patients who suffer from depression is the “just do it” approach, meaning they are given the task of doing three behaviors they don’t necessarily feel like doing in the six days in between their next therapy session. To explain depression via a very simple analogy- it is like the flu for the mind. What do you typically do when you have the flu? You cancel your appointments, stay in bed, drink lots of water, and get lots of rest. The reasoning is that if we minimize the number of life events for a brief bit of time, we will heal more quickly, and we do. BUT, this is not the case with depression. The same intuition we use to combat the flu is the antithesis of what we must do to combat depression, yet somehow our instincts tell us to do the opposite. When we feel depressed, our inclination is to isolate, do less, and wait for the clouds to part. The problem with this is that this type of behavior is what feeds the depression. Suggested Behaviors Benevolence - reaching out to others and getting out of our own head, focusing on how to make someone else’s life or day better through connecting or giving. Play- engaging in something that requires enough effort that we can’t run old unhelpful tapes (I’m not good enough, other people must be more disciplined than me, things will never change, etc), but provides us with enough fun that we leave the activity feeling light, like surfing, artistry, building, writing, playing an instrument, etc. When we are kids, we spend about 95% of our day playing and even trying to find play in our responsibilities (have you ever watched a kid brush their teeth or get dressed? it is never a straightforward buttoned up process). Yet, as adults - we flip that on its head and spend 95% of our time being a human doing vs. a human being. Learning- engaging in novelty is something our brain requires to feel happy and fed. It could be as simple as learning a new card game, all the way to enrolling in an MBA course. When we allow our minds to do what they are best at - our minds give back to us. Connection- We are social creatures by nature. There is a physiological rewiring process that occurs as result of being in near proximity to other humans. It is how we survived so long ago, and our minds still provide the payoff. We are not meant to live in isolation, yet so many of us drift in this direction when they are depressed. Even introverts require some social connection. While extroverts tend to thrive and recharge their batteries on social connection, it is true that introverts recharge in their solitude. However, there is a difference between being alone vs. lonely. As introverted as you may think you are, none of us are immune to going from alone to lonely if we don’t make time for some social connection. Exercise- There are about 99 reasons to exercise and happiness is one. I’m not going to waste space and wax poetic about the many benefits of exercise because I’m sure you’re well aware. But in addition to producing endorphins that have been proven to make us feel better, as far as weight loss goes- it also makes us less likely to put junk in our bodies. Ever do an intense sweat session and then make a beeline to the nearest McDonald’s? I didn’t think so.

:confused:Hi my name is Andrea, and I am new to this and just wanted to say I had my lap band surgery on 6/9/08 and had been doing really well. I went in for my 3rd fill on 1/10/09 and at that time I had lost 81lbs. But I noticed shortly after my last fill that I started having alot of acid reflux, somedays are worse than others, it's only kept me awake a couple of times, and pepcid otc worked for me. For the most part it happens generally throughout the day, I am going in for another fill on 3/30/09 and I know I have lost more, but I am afraid the dr. will take out fluid inplace of a fill. I do notice the acid reflux more with spicy foods or eating to much, and especially if I drink alcohol. I don't want it to get worse, has anyone experienced this problem with the band?. Any suggestions?

My surgeon said no alcohol for 6 months. There's a 4th of July party, I really want a glass of wine, I'm 3 months out then, I'm toying with it but I'll probably behave. I was warned by other veteran WLS people that IF you decide to drink in public, try one at home first, you never know how it will effect you.

If it can go in a blender (and not alcohol lol) then I don't see why not!@@yaya77nc

I agree with all that has been said, and would like to add.... like someone said, the sleeve will not "fix" the depression, anxiety, and the many other things that might had started the whole rollercoaster of unhealthy eating, so is super important that whatever that might had been for you, you figure it out and find other healthier ways to deal with it. After talking to many doctors and nutritionists, I have heard many times that if we do not work on that, we will just find a different unhealthy way of coping (such as alcohol). So keep in mind that the worst thing that can happen is not gaining the weight back (I know none of us want that). This is a journey in which we need to do more than just eat healthy and exercise, we need to find ways of dealing with our emotions and other things which do not include food. The sleeve allows us to concentrate in those things since we don't have to worry about all the bad food we are eating and the stress of being fat and doing the many unsuccessful diets we have all done. I go to keep reminding myself of this. Good luck!

yeah, for the wine. ha ha. Been scared to drink any alcohol yet because of eating so little it will good straight to my head.

From what I know, Kat, there is a diagnosis of Substance-Induced Depression, which includes medications and legal/illegal drugs. It is also extremely common for people to "medicate" their depression with drugs. This is a red flag especially when looking into teen depression, which can symptomatically look different than how it presents in adults. When care providers are doing differential diagnosis for Major Depressive Disorder, one of the criteria is to refer a person to a physician to rule out medical conditions and drug use. This helps with separating mood disorders and substance-related mood disorders. But, they are still psychological diagnoses. I'm sorry if that was confusing. Regarding your two friends, it's true that those with mood/anxiety disorders in the family put them more at risk, but it's not a surefire predictor. It's also true that you can have no history of mood disorders in the fam and still develop clinical symptoms. Like Jachut is describing, I think the drama mamas will always be out there, seemingly thriving on misery and having unrealistic expectations. An interesting question to ask about some people is this: is this person recreating the drama he/she experienced in the past? There are plenty of people that have perfectly "average" childhoods that love emotional roller coasters, but there are also others that hop on that coaster willingly (perhaps unconsciously) because it is familiar. It's home. Anxiety, depression, abuse are thus produced again and again, through the generations, because it's his/her foundational model of relationships. My personal experience has been discovering that of the children of alcoholics that do show codependent behaviors as adults, they often choose partners and behave in ways that emulate the dynamics of their original, unstable alcoholic homes. That is, unless they break the cycle with insight and therapeutic support! There are also the more rare cases of actual, clinical personality disorders (e.g. Borderline, Histrionic, Narcisisstic, and many more). In the case of those with Borderline diagnoses, it can be very sad because medication will often often not impact the depression--it's a chronic emptiness of self. The term depression is indeed bandied about pretty liberally! So there is a difference between depressed mood and full blown clinical depression, which is a constellation of symptoms.

Hemlock grows from the good earth too. Ask Socrates what it can do for ya. I don't have any more issue with pot than I do with alcohol. I spent years being the only sober person among pot smokers and drinkers and mostly I didn't mind it. However when things got down and dirty once neither group were much help until they sobered up. My significant other had AIDS and he used pot for nausea and for an appetite stimulant. It worked wonders. My oldest son smoked lots of pot and he has issues with short term memory and now he discovers he has a very low sperm count, both common side effects of pot. Pot is illegal, and if you grow it, everything you own can be taken from you for manufacturing a controlled substance (at least a few years ago that was the case). Everything has a price. You just have to reckon if you are willing to pay it. By the way, I used Chantix to quit smoking and I loved it. It distanced me from my addiction and took away the pleasure. It enabled me to quit. I thought I would always miss smoking, but I don't. Cheers.

In Australia the police now do random roadside drug testing for marijuana as they do random breath testing for alcohol.

There's absolutely no physical reason why you couldn't because of the lap band. You need to factor it into your calorie intake for the day, though, as the empty calories in alcohol add up pretty quickly (roughly 135-190 cal per glass). You can get caught in a situation where you have used the restriction the band gives you to keep yourself content on a 1000-1200 cal a day diet, then blow it out the water with 2-3 glasses of sweet wine. My advice would be - use it sparingly, but don't cut it out altogether and don't forget to count the calories! PS: You may find that your tolerance for alcohol drops significantly. I know mine did! I used to be able to drink half a bottle of scotch easily and on a "heavy" night, could down the whole thing. These days 2 scotches gives me a really strong buzz and I don't dare go beyond 3 in case it makes me sick. I think it is because I don't have that "cushion" of food in my stomach to help slow the alcohol absorbtion rate - like drinking on an empty stomach all the time.

obviously Australia is full of ridiculous "pot-heads", because there are so many of you on here. The only reason any of you are so upset about my opinions, is because you are part of the problem. I was just voicing my opinion about drugs, (BTW if you had paid more attention, you would have read that I said alcohol was worse than marijuana), and voicing opinions is what everyone is doing on here. You don't need to get so upset because being overweight is the least of your problems!

But I am leaving after this. I can't feel right in a place like this. Especially since there is no consistency. And here is what I mean. Lisa came back after being banned, again, with a party of people at her side talking about how "honest and real" she is and how she tells it like it is. This is a crock of shit. I have lurked on this board longer than I have been a member. And I have people that are close to me that have been here even longer. Lets go back shall we? Way back. To when all these folks who think Lisa is so "honest and real" were here an the pseudo newbs weren't. I have people telling me about how during the BigChix incedent that she swore up and down that she was NOT BigChix, and formed an all out witch hunt to trash anyone who said otherwise. We now know that is not the case. She was BigChix. Yet Lisa an her ban of cronies stood by her and attacked anyone that said otherwise. Well...guess she wasn't "honest and real" about that. Good job on sticking up for her during that time. I hope you feel righteous about it. Now lets look at the time right before Lisa took her big break. Lisa posted some of the nastiest, most crude and hurtful things about different members on this site. She claimed that she was being stalked, and that different folks were harrassing her. Go back...look through the threads. OH! that's right! You can't. Why not? Cause Lisa is so foul mouthed and insane that entire threads were not only locked, but deleted. Not only that she is married to a man who took over her account and came on threatening the lives of a particular member. Wow. That is so cool to have a friend like that! I wish all my friends were as evil and twisted as her! I bet I could really gain a lot from that relationship. I know others who have been friends with her, and now are so fucking terrified of her that they would rather run and change their names than speak out against her. Hmmm. Sounds like a true human being. "Real and Honest". Are you proud to stick up for someone like that? Now some of the posts she was crude and evil, but not so much that the thread warranted being shut down and deleted. So go back and do a search. I bet your eyes will be opened. But wait...there's more! Lisa comes back. She comes back to new friends. Friends that used to think she was sick and twisted as well, but pm'd people so much about it that they told them to back off. These people, feeling rejected, ran to the other sie and picked up Lisa's torch. so be it. With the friends like these... But then these people start doing Lisa's evil work right along side her. The go through the posts, taking things that people share looking for support, and turn them into ... are you ready for this... more foul and disgusting and repulsive posts that get more threads locked. Threads that have nothing to do with them an everything to o with the support of the lap band patients. They jump from thread to thread screaming obscenities and making wild accusations of other people stalking them. So Lisa gets banned. Woohoo! We all breathe a sigh of relief. OH WAIT! Not all of us. there is still this group that thinks Lisa is wholesome an pure and has never done anything but tell the truth! Was it a big shock to you when she came back and told you she was a huge raving lunatic liar this whole time? that she had deliberately made a seperate account to brow beat another member (wow doesn't that sound familiar!). No...she still had her core group. Lisa can do no wrong. Even though she was BANNED and told not to come back, she did. So then that brings us back to the last few days. We have all been witness to her losing her mind on the boar, running from thread to thread, begging for photonut to come out and fight her. Yeah...cause a sane person can't just let it lie. And she brings people (according to her) to the site to also brow beat people. No.name, Nothanks aka PSusan, Happy Gilmore. Hmmmm.....is Bukkake777 you as well Lisa? I guess time will tell what personality shows up next. Lisa and Dody and 3loves go on a posting rampage, spreading their hate and filth all over the board till this morning they finally get banned. Can you hear it? Its laughter. People enjoying themselves in a lisa free environment. People conversing on the boards without fear. People having fun on LBT again. What a wonderful afternoon it was! For a little while. In comes noname and nothanks and happy gilmore. Noname and nothanks break into the threads telling everyone to "fuck off", an telling the moderators they have done a piss poor job of shutting all of us "assholes" up. And Happy Gilmore chasing photonut from thread to thread with sarcastic remarks. I guess Lisa just can't stay banned. And why not? She is so loved and cherished and adored by 5% of the LBT population! that has to count for something right? And look at all the good she has done. She started posts and gives support, and spreads rumors of members having alcohol an drug problems, and calls them fucking cunts and phucknutz and tells the entire board publicly that they can go fuck themselves. Absolutely!! Who wouldn't want that here?!?! I know life just isn't the same without a raving lunatic running around!! But the weird thing of it all. Photonut gets banned today. No warning, which I KNOW Lisa got a thousand of. Just BAM! Banned. Ok...I can respect the "ban all involved" to make the whole situation go away. I know even Photonut respects it. She is fine with the decision and has walked away, never to pull a "Lisa" and make new names to come back and seek revenge or take others down with her. But let me ask you this... Why are noname, and nothanks, and happy gilmore still here with full priviledges? Why is Lisa, who so OBVIOUSLY is trying to stay here to wreck LBT, still here? If it is going to be "ban all involved and the problem goes away" then why are not all of them banned. I know I personally reported the posts of noname and nothanks and happy gilmore way before Photonut got banned. I know I am prolly gonna get banned after this post, and frankly I don't care anymore. I got a lot of good support from this board, and I really enjoyed most of my time here. I made some awesome friends, and hate to say goodbye to all of them. I am going through a tough time with my band right now too, and really need the support. But I just don't feel safe here knowing that the boar is no longer even trying to keep Lisa out. I might have been next on her list. Or maybe one of my other budies would have been. She has it out for so many. It must be har to sleep at night with so many imagined enemies. Lisa, I pray for you. I really do! I have prayed for you from the moment I read about you losing your band. And I say this to you now as a totally sincere person, with no anger or resentment. Please get some help. I worry that you are spiralling, and it scary to me. It must be terrifying to you. And I really do hope, from the bottom of my heart that you find peace. What you are doing here is counter productive, and is only truly hurting yourself. You may have "won" with photonut, but you are losing yourself in the process. I want you to know that I forgive you for the things that you have said to me. I have to in orer to move on from this. But I post this letter so that everyone else can see that you need to be steered in the right direction, and supporting these actions will only hurt you more. Goodnight, godbless, and if anyone wants to get in touch with me they can at amy.fromlbt@gmail.com. See ya'll in the funny papers!

Use rubbing alcohol to get the old tape glue off, and put some antibiotic cream on your incisions .

Ok , so here the deal ....... I quit Testosterone Replacement Therapy, after 2 years on it. I was not on steroids !!!! Its testosterone replacement therapy, it makes a man at 40 years old, feel great, high sex drive, etc.. It is not pills and 5 different steroids going to you stomach. Its one low dosage intermuscular injection per week. I do not drink alcohol, or smoke nicotine. I quit cold turkey, ["weaned off, TRT with very low dosage weekly shot"], 5 weeks before my successfully , gastric bypass surgery , I am still currently off TRT probably forever. I am 40 years old, ex powerlifter. I am currently 6'3" 299 lbs , i lost 48 lbs as of today in 3 weeks. I only choose gastric bypass surgery because my insurance covered it 100%, i knew it was not reversible, going in. I was told I could continue TRT for life 4 weeks after post op. but now I read No NSAIDS and no Steroids , and they are to opposite things ???? because they can? cause ulcers in the new smaller stomach, and around the staple line. That being, said I am prepared to quit TRT forever !!! But I don't understand why ? It makes no sense. I know for a fact my natural testosterone will come back in a few months, being off TRT, I am not worried about that. *****These are some things that I cant understand and it makes no sense to me , during 4 week post operation. ******* NSAIDS is an appreciation for "NONSTEROIDAL anti-inflammatory drugs" but then it says you CANNOT take Steroids' either ????? Can someone please explain to me how that makes sense ? One is NON STEROIDAL and one is STEROIDALl ?????? Now on to the Clomid brand name drug name is clomiphene , it can be taken by men or women, i have read many posts about women using Clomid post operation to get pregnant !!! there doctors said it was fine but , as I did further research Clomid is a NSAID !!!!????? how does that make sense ??? Clomid taken by men post cycle therapy off TRT will help a man boost testosterone 200% i have done it before in the past it works bringing back natural testosterone levels. The Clomid comes in crushable form pills and liquid too, obviously because , after gastric bypass surgery, your body does not absorb medication like it did before. This is a serious post for people who know what they are talking about please respond with personal stories or any knowledge or insight that you have would be appreciated thank you.

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.

Hello! I am in Gainesville, Fl. trying to having surgery at UF Health Shands Hospital. I had my consult with the surgeon(Dr. Mann) Feb, 1st and have completed everything on my check list for insurance approval except my psyche consult which I have an appointment March 29th. When I went to preop for my required EGD they drew my blood for all the required labs. I was not expecting to have those labs drawn that day. I am not a heavy drinker, but I do drink moderately every other week or so. I have stopped drinking and was planning on getting those labs drawn a little close to the end of my check list to give my body time to eliminate the alcohol. So, of course I tested positive for alcohol and now the surgery coordinator is saying the bariatric team is reviewing those results, but not giving me any further information. Does anyone have any experience with this? Could I be denied all together for having the surgery or will they delay submitting for insurance approval? I am anxious because they just handed me a booklet with a list and said go do everything on this list then call us when it is all done, but they never said stop drinking that day or gave me any real direction. I work for the State of Florida and have BCBS PPO insurance. Does anyone else have this same insurance and how long did it take to get approval after they submitted your file? Any and all help would be appreciated!

Wasa: Thank you for that information. My Dad was only just recently diagnosed with lung cancer and has refused any more tests and treatment, so I don't know how advanced it is at this point. So far he doesn't seem to have much pain, just exhausted all the time. Your suggestion that he might become the "good" dad again at the end of his life brings me hope. I want so much to end this chapter with love in my heart instead of frustration and the anger he constantly provokes in us all. I appreciate you telling me this. By-the-way, my Mom was an alcoholic, also, since she was 17. She finally quit drinking at about age 70. Her drunken brutality impacted my life in ways I only recently have come to terms with. On the plus side, she has now become, at age 82, the wonderful Mom I could have used growing up, but at least get to experience now. So I understand somewhat the pain you feel regarding your mother. Laurend: I work with elderly people and their families and I know the devastation of Alzheimer's. I don't blame you for fearing it; it is a dreadful disease. But I know that there are breakthroughs now in medications and treatments. Hopefully there will be even better help available if/when you need it for your parents, so hold on to that. I have several patients who are being helped tremendously by these new drugs, so there is hope!

I was told that the sleeve is a high pressure environment and that it will increase, albeit slightly, the predisposition to reflux. But of course so do spicy foods, milk products, fatty foods, alcohol, smoking and possibly caffeine, tight clothing and laying flat. What i do is take it every other day and if that works then i take it once a week. when it flares up ( in a month or three) then I start over. I lived with reflux before they invented any of these meds and it was horrible, i dont mind being on them and dealing with whatever problems may or may not come up. alex

Regarding exercise, it doesn't need to be a long, grueling workout. Just go for daily walks, and start small and gradually lengthen them. Regarding the alcohol, I'd suggest seeking out a support group or counselor.

Wondering what alternative drinks people order when at a bar or restaurant if you aren't drinking alcohol. Most of the low cal options are highly carbonated e.g diet coke Non alcoholic drinks such as lemon lime and bitters or lime and soda are generally quite high in sugar and calories. Plain soda water is boring and plain water even worse.