Search the Community

Hey everyone, I'm Angela. I'm a 31 year old nurse (You'd think I'd know better then to let this happen to me...). I've been overweight now for the last 12 years. Basically since I got married. The interesting part is that I lost the husband, but not the weight LOL. Too bad it didn't go WITH him. I'm 5'4'' and 250. My heaviest was 275, and about 4 months ago, I busted my ass at the gym, along with a diet (shake and whole foods plan) and got down to 221. I've since, gained it back. I had a consultation with Dr Paul Cirangle in San Francisco and it went well, I'm just not sold on the Band. It's invasive, it's surgery (although smaller then any other option out there), and it's "permanent". I feel like I should be able to succeed without the Band, however, obviously haven't up to this point. The one thing that Dr Cirangle said that resonanted most with me, was that the band helps you fill your stomach from the "top down" not the "bottom up". That made my analogical mind think "coffe pot percolating method", so its a "drip down" kinda picture. That made sense to me. I know I'm addicted to food, and unfortunately, unlike alcohol, drugs or even sex, you HAVE to have it to survive. So where that leaves me, I don't know. I'm an emotional eater and have portion control issues. Just thought I'd come here to see what I could find, and talk to some people who've been here too. Thanks, Angela

Exactly 6 weeks post-op I will get on a plane and fly back east to the wedding of two of my best friends. I have not seen this group since last Thanksgiving and I'm totally nervous about this trip. My weight loss isn't dramatic, but we are a party group and my non-partying ways will be noted. I admit to testing my limits with alcohol with this new stomach which I know is a no-no but I made sure to be super active for two days to combat the calories. I knew I would never go back to my partying ways and as 30 looms another year away I made my peace with that. But now... knowing what I'm heading back into.... I wonder how I pull this off. I am not telling anyone about my surgery. My body is my business and they love me regardless so I feel no need. I just worry about how to combine two lifestyles that do not go together at all. Oh and also about making a fool of myself if I have three glasses of wine. The best part is... I have another wedding to go to at the end of August and I get to do this all over again.

I was told by my surgery team to not drink at all. Due to the increased risk of ulcers, transfer addiction & alcoholism.

My doctor doesn't allow alcohol for one year after surgery. Too many empty calories.....

You can also fight candida by taking live enteric coated lactobacillus and bifidus, found at the health food stores. The enteric coating allows the capsule to only open in an alkaline environment which is in the latter part of the small intestine. These good biotics sometimes referred to as probiotics excrete enzymes that are hostile to candida, and viruses. There is so much danger by not geting rid opf the ulcer causing bad guys!!, at least candida will not kill you. the candida does require sugar to reproduce so there are cleansing diets that you can go on, no refined carbs, no sugar, no potatoes or rice, chips etc. This combo gives the candida a one two punch. Another thing is that when the candida reacts with sugar, you can actually produce as much as 1 pint of alcohol in your gut causing headachs, lethargy and later on liver produced cholesterol. I would visit a naturpath DR. asap and get on the natural cures for candida and also take the antibiotic the get rid of the stomach bacteria and then be able to get the band. If you noticed that you continually crave sugar, the candida is asking for your cooperation... Dont give it!!!

Tough Love: Alcohol slows lipid oxidation (the burning of fat) by about 75%. So yes, it's likely the alcohol causing your weight gain. And it's probably contributing to your nutritional deficiencies. You should be eating nutritious food, not alcohol. Particularly if you are deficient. DUI is selfish and dangerous. You are extremely lucky that you...or anyone else.... wasn't injured/killed by your poor choices. 3-4 mixed drinks, or a whole bottle of wine a night....is an addiction. I think you're trading one dangerous addiction (food) for an even more dangerous addiction (alcohol). Try to stop drinking for a month. If you can't? Seek help. I don't mean this to sound overly harsh, it sounds like you've been through a lot. But sometimes being kind means being honest....even if the truth hurts a little. Please take care and let us know how you're doing.

Look up the terms 'cross addiction' or 'addiction transference.' Cross addiction is a very common phenomenon in the bariatric surgery population. Instead of overeating, many weight loss surgery patients simply adopt another addiction (e.g. alcohol abuse, shopping, smoking, gambling, risky sex, video gaming). Essentially, bariatric surgeons operate on our stomachs and not our brains. Therefore, overeaters who abused food still have addicted brains after weight loss surgery. Nothing, other than professional help, will properly address a person's addictive tendencies. Yes, the wine leads to weight gain, especially in the quantities you drink. It is full of empty calories. Combined with the sedentary lifestyle, it's a perfect recipe for weight regain.

You'd have to look up the carb content but yes it will hinder your pre op diet- so will the vicodin. You are trying to shrink your liver before surgery to reduce risk of injury to it- and both alcohol and vicodin are not conducive to shrinking the liver by any means. You really would be endangering yourself to not go off both of those before surgery.

I had my surgery 5 years ago, and just this year had to have my gallbladder removed. I had small persistant issues starting around a year after my surgery. This year, my gallbladder threw a freaking temper tantrum, and I got hit with about 4 gallbladder attacks in about a 2 month timespan. Oh my good gracious, I can't tell you how painful those suckers are! I have never been in so much pain in my entire life. After the first one, they did a ct scan and found a whole mess of stones in there. They suggested I schedule sugery to remove the gallbladder, but I was stubborn. After being hospitalized for the 3rd time, they finally sort of forced the surgery on me. My suggestion: if they find gallstones, just get the surgery. Since having it removed, I feel a thousand times better. Only side effect I've noticed is that I can't handle my alcohol as uhhhhh gracefully as I could before.

Well I wanted to give a short account of my surgery so I can remember it later on... I checked in at 10:30 AM and the guy smelled of alcohol that was checking me in. I had to laugh... oh well. Went over and got into the pre op area. Made me take a pg test which of course is negative because effectively believe I am in menopause, am on day 40 something of my cycle, longest I have ever had but who knows if the stress of getting ready for this scared it away. They had to get a special IV nurse over because i have sort troublesome veins. Got that and then I got a shot of lovenox in the belly due to my father's history of blood clots I guess. (dunno) They started me on some kind of fluids in the IV. Pushed me over to the waiting area where the anthesigiologist spoke with me. Told him to be careful because I am a singer. (he didn't listen, I still have a little irritation LOL) Saw my doc and he asked me if I was ready and I said yup. Rolled me into the ER and I wiggled from gurney to operating table then they started strapping me down and put my arms out so I looked like a t. That's about all I remember. Woke up in post op and was pretty alert. They rolled some other chick in a few minutes later who was crying. I told the dude... get me out of here I don't want to listen to that. He made me breathe real deep to prove I could go out of there. Rolled me up to my room. Gave me more lovenox I think. Put something else in my IV. Put those inflating booties on my legs. Got a lovely room and bed. Overlooking the bay... large room looked like for VP, all mine. Husband came in. Got up and went for a walk rolling my IV with me. Night fell could see the sunset, pretty nice. Went back to room. Gave me some tray of some crap and told me to try to have it. I tried the lemonade and my throat was too iritated. Ate the ice chips. Decided to ask for osme malox and some pain killers. Got a bit loopy, was testing with friend, finally gave up and called her and then fell asleep. HUsband left to take care of our dog. Woke up by some respitory woman made me inhale into this thing. Said I was a champ. Went for another walk. Ate some more ice chips. Got them myself. Went back to bed but couldn't really sleep. Dozed on and off listening to my ipod. Nurse Came back and gave me some insulin because my blood sugar spiked a little due to the whatever's in the IV. Around 4 ish I asked from more pain killers more to go to sleep wasn't in much pain but the distention was driving me crazy. Got a little more insulin. Woke up around 6 or 7 and got up and took another walk and got some more ice chips. Tried to eat some Jello. Not too much fun. the tray it came on had a bug on it. Had to prove I could eat something so I ate some damn red popsicle. Someone came along and took out my IV. I went and got cleaned up and dressed so I could get out. Had a post op welcome to your new life class and went out on a wheelchair. Was feeling pretty crappy on the way home but stopped to get something at Walgreen's can't remember what it was... think it was maloxx or something. Damn curb nearly about killed me. Went home and got in my lazyboy sofa... and watched TV! Feeing like... damn get this thing out of me! Took a shower later on. Everytime I wake up, I feel a bit better. Today I don't feel like get this thing out of me... so... making progress.

I agree with the AA plan. I think you need to address your issues with alcohol before you even think about weight loss surgery. The first year after surgery is enough of an emotional roller coaster on its own without trying to stay substance abuse issues.

Thanks chica. I'm going to take it real easy with my eating this holiday. I'm going to attemp to eat right and walk/exercise the entire 4 day weekend. No oreos No subway Peanut Butter Cookies No Otis Spunkmeyer cookies No alcohol :rambo

I've told my immediate family and closest girlfriends. I'm not sure who else I'm going to tell - I'll figure that out in the future. One question though - to those who aren't telling anyone, how will you explain eating such small portions, or in the beginning after surgery - liquids and then pureed foods? We'll be going to a lot of social events this summer and I know people will notice if I'm not eating, and especially if I'm not drinking alcohol lol. Thoughts on how to handle that?

Hey Guys, Can anyone give me some insight on how alcohol reacts when the band is in place? As we all know, the heavier you are, the more you can consume without getting very intoxicated. A martini for me is nothing compared to a thin person drinking the same amount. Does the band make the alcohol more potent....something to be aware of? No serious drinking problem here. I just do not want to be surprised if I decide to have a glass of vino.... Please share your thoughts...... Thanks, Heather

My huband just asked me about alcohol. WE go out alot with friends and drink beers. I had heard abit about this but have been thinking more about food then anything else. I better be prepared to cut it out for awhile and stay home. That is a concept. Stay home and save money. Thanks all for the info.

I have a question!! I am going out with the hubby tonight to a concert and I haven't had an alcoholic drink in months! I was wondering if anyone has had any since being banded??

All I can say is, make sure you have something in your stomach before you start drinking, i.e. eat dinner before you go to the concert. If you drink after not eating for several hours, you will be TRASHED in the blink of an eye. Seriously, I speak from experience! I did this on Halloween at one of our local bars...I had two glasses of wine over a couple hours and I was so drunk we had to leave. It's crazy how much alcohol tolerance changes after banding!

@@Annieof2 I too have multiple medicine allergies and now that I have had bypass, nsaids are completely out of the question. I also have stage 3 kidney disease in addition so surgeons are careful with me when it comes to medications of any kind. I used to give myself shots of torridol as a rescue drug for migraine and I can no longer use that either. I don't think it is unreasonable given your allergies that you know the plan ahead of time. In fact, I would insist on it. If it helps any, for me the bypass was not what I would call painful. There was discomfort. For the two days i was in hospital, they gave me liquid vicodin because I am allergy to percocet and NSAIDS were immediately off the table. I can take vicodin or even dilaudid if the pain is really severe but I honestly did not need it for this surgery. The only time they gave me that was in the recovery room when i woke up and my chest was hurting but once that was under control, that pain never came back. I took liquid vicodin 3 times per day, then went home. I took it one more day and by day 4 i was on liquid Tylenol. That stuff is horrible to drink after having stomach surgery because I think it has alcohol in it. I found that simply avoiding all of it made me feel better. Any kind of pain reliever was actually more of a problem than what it was worth. I used a heating pad and chewable gas x which helped with the gas pains when your bowels start working again. I walked the gas off that they use for surgery, honestly the pain medications did not help that discomfort anyway. I do have a high tolerance for pain but I have seen many many many posters like me that just did not have a great amount of pain. The gas is the worst part and meds really dont help with that. Lots of Water, walking, heat and gas x is the only thing that helps. Let me know if you have questions. I would be happy to help.

Um, yeah, lol. Dont know what that could be. I have something weird that happens to me, totally unrelated. If i have a bad couple of days - like too much alcohol or bad food, I get sore all over. I notice it towelling myself dry, it hurts. I've NEVER liked massages, that kind of pressure over and over on one spot is utterly exruciating to me, even light, relaxation massages really hurt me. I go for a run and every time a foot hits the ground, of course, your flesh vibrates, that hurts. Its only when I've overdone things (although massages hurt all the time). Nobody has EVER managed to give me an answer. Every naturopath of course thinks they can fix it, that its a wheat or dairy allergy (of course, isnt that the answer to EVERTHING?), but its never proven the case. Just weird. Like your feet. Hope they feel better soon!

I find that opinions like that are baseless yet popular..ignorant I guess you would say. I think a person only suffers from constant purging, and not being able to eat normally if you don't follow the specific set of directions you are given for the rest of your life. Im just about 6 months post op and I drink alcohol (wine), eat steak, treat myself to some dark chocolate or halotop, and sometimes eat taco bell in a pinch and I'm down 86lbs and still going. It is all about getting out of your own way to listen to your body. If you are full after 4 bites then stop eating and save the rest for later because there will be a later. The biggest thing I had to get used to was fixing my portions. Even sometimes now when I am at a restaurant or eating at a party I immediately fix a plate the way I would a year ago and have to take a second to realise well this is just too much and then i make it right. I won't lie, I had my band converted to bypass because my band and i were complete failures so I KNOW what its like to fail with wls and now I know what its like to succeed.

Guess others will have to be the guinne pigs for this experiment ;P LOL Did wonder about the amount needed though. When drugs can't be given IV in a code situation, you can give some through the breathing tube, BUT at 4 times the dose to do anything. Figured alcohol would require same 'dose' adjustment. IDK Need to keep every last brain cell I have ;P

Smoking............I know, I know....I don't need a lecture...at least its not alcohol!!

I can't eat tortillas, either. I avoid bread, pasta, and other starches and sweets, but probably could eat them if I wanted to. I do have dessert sometimes. When eating out my husband and I will share something and he even eats less, which is good for him, too. I drink little alcohol, but do have some when the occasion calls for it. Sometimes I want to eat a big portion of something, but I'm not hungry for it. I have also given up some behaviors: I no longer have to check the desks at school to see if I will fit; don't have to worry about booths in restaurants or seats in airplanes; don't have to wear baggy clothes to hide the rolls; and don't think I'm the biggest person in the room wherever I go. Giving up many liquids takes getting used to, as well as "pigging out" on huge amounts of food. It takes adjusting, but is every bit worth it to be healthy and more of a normal size.

Hi Angel and Welcome, There really isn't anything I can't eat... I am careful with bread as I sometimes have difficulty with really soft types... but other than that... I can eat everything I used to eat but in smaller amounts. I find that I do not crave carbs as much as I crave Protein now. I try and avoid high calorie things that are liquid as the band does not restrict Fluid intake... so... I avoid ice-cream... milkshakes... cream Soups... alcohol etc. The biggest changes are that I chew everything REALLY well and I don't drink fluids with or for one hour after eating. I also do not drink anything with carbonation or take ibuprofen. Hope that helps. Darcy

amillerjones, I struggle with alcohol too. Right now I am trying to not drink during the week. I haven't had a drink in a few days now which is really good for me. Try and just limit yourself.