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Hello folks! I just had my 2-week follow up with my surgeon today. I am excited to be moving onto stage 4 (out of 5, being solids food and forever based on my surgical center's directions)... I am able to take in soft foods and thicker purees. My surgeon told me that I can resume drinking alcohol again at the 2 month mark. I know this might be a contraversal topic and I know many have different opinions and experiences. But if all goes as well I plan to resume drinking and enjoy some alcholic beverages again. I have heard that others do drink beer (which is carbonated). I am willing to try it and see how my stomach tolerates it. But I am normally a liquor drinker or mixed drinks. I am used to drinking vodka in sprite or ginger ale. I am trying to plan what non-carbinated drinks I can make especially with vodka. I would love to find a ginger based drink because it would go well with vodka in my opinion. Does anyone have any ideas of what alcoholic drinks to try when weening back into alcohol. *note* note I also know that I will try my first drink at home and be aware that it will affect me quicker. I know that I need to be aware of my calorie intake and know that alcohol = sugars. -Joe M.

I had a 14 day liver shrinking diet so you definitely still have time!! Mine was protein shakes for breakfast and lunch (and I could have a small apple or orange for a snack). Then 4 oz lean protein and 1 cup non-starchy veggies for dinner. (Sounds similar to yours). And the great news is your “cheating” wasn’t with really bad stuff - or even worse - alcohol! It was a little extra of the food you were supposed to be eating!! :) I was/am a BIG girl (highest weight 365 - surgery weight 327) and this diet shrunk my liver just fine! I do agree with what others have said about alarms. I’m so busy at work I set them to remind me to drink water!! Don’t stress - you can totally do this!!!! We are here to support you!!!

14th September here. There's no pre-op diet for me other than one day of clear liquids on the 13th and NPO the 14th, but I've been weaning myself off caffeine, sugar, and alcohol and reducing the intake so that I don't go from, say, 2,700 calories a day to 300 overnight. Hungry but not as hungry as I thought I would be. Covid test is tomorrow (seems odd given that it's still 2.5 weeks until surgery), labs and scans Monday, pre-op meeting is 2nd September.

Butterthebean, I will repeat the bottom line for me. Ad hominem attacks and increased strength of personal conviction do not qualify as empirical evidence. In fact, recent longitudinal research from the prestigious National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2010) clearly demonstrates that many who had been previously diagnosed with alcohol dependency (alcoholism) in their 30s and 40s are able to safely drink in moderation once they are older. There is no empirical evidence in the research literature to support the premise that overeating is a physiological addiction. It’s a psychological problem. Consequently, as a rule—that is, on the average—abstinence is far less effective in maintaining weight loss than moderation. Insulting me doesn't change the validity of what I've written or serve as scientific evidence in favor of abstinence. Taking a few post-surgical bites of a Krispy Kreme doughnut or a McDonald's Sausage Mcmuffin with cheese is most definitely not unhealthy behavior... assuming these foods are eaten in moderation. The fact that several post-surgical patients on these forums fear the inability to have those few bites without later gorging themselves uncontrollably does not mean that all VSG patients should abstain from such foods. Notes Bufe, C. (1998). Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?, (2nd edition). Tuscon, AZ:Sharp Press. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2010, February). Alcoholism isn’t what it used to be. NIAAA Spectrum, 2. Retrieved from http://www.spectrum....alcoholism.aspx

I am MagnoliaMiss because I live in the Magnolia state. I took this name after I divorced my abusive alcoholic husband..so the MISS part..I wear with pride.I am a survivor..and I will conquer this weight thingie!!!!

I'm wondering why the huge needles? The syringe they use on me is tiny and I don't even feel it when they poke through the skin. No numbing either. . I only had one fill but the dr. used a small needle. He just wiped me with alcohol and poked. I hate needles as much as as the next guy. But it wasn't as painful as some described. Thank goodness!

leeann71, I'd say the root cause of my obesity was the sexual abuse in my childhood. Only happened once but what a profound, deep scar it imbeded on my spirit. I turned to food to soothe me in my alcoholic, dysfuntional home. Food was my friend and was AlWAYS there for me. It never turned away from me, called me names, made me feel unloved or inadequate. It was readily and easily available. Overeating put me in a stupor and buried those emotions I didn't want to deal with. I think food was the way I survived my "childhood". I put it in quotes because at times, it wasn't much of one. One of the results of this is I live in South Texas, a few thousand miles from my family. I'm going to Michigan in July to attend a wedding. I'm actually not looking forward to being in that environment again. I wish there was some kind of "brain cleaner" so I could flush those memories out. God, why is it so hard to put the past IN THE PAST and just move on? What I wouldn't give to flip a switch and just get on with my life without the past. I guess I need to see the flipside and realize--that very past which was so difficult at the time, has made me the strong, independent woman I am today. It also gave me the absolute determination to loose 75 pounds and join the Army so I could leave that small town and get an education, in both the world and at college. Got out of the Army and quit smoking--weight came back with an absolute vengence. That's what brought me to weight loss surgery. Took the same determination to escape that small town I had in my twenties and applied it to the surgery. Now here I am, strong, independent and a smaller size to boot! Clothes are falling off and a regular thrift store shopper--out of sheer necessity. Sorry to go so long and off on a tangent. Blessings, Kathleen

Chewing gum and carbonated beverages. I was never a big soda fan. But champagne or sparkling alcohol was always a joy. But thankfully I've managed to stay off carbonate drinks post surgery along with chewing gum as well. I surprisingly don't miss the gum, the alcohol is painful! Lol. Sent from my SM-G920P using the BariatricPal App

I was terrified going into it, but my Aunt died after having WLS (back in the 80's) and I didn't tell my family until the night before. However, I knew I was in good hands and not only did my research on the surgery, but also the surgeon. I stayed away from any negative reviews as I didn't want that judgement going in. I had a lap band previous so I knew a little as to what to expect. I was told the surgery was harder than the band, but I didn't think it was. This is not for everyone. It is a lifestyle change and have to be willing to give up an addiction. Just like you wouldn't bring a recovering alcoholic to a bar, you don't bring a recovering food addict to a buffet. It's not an easy fix by any means. You still have to fix what's broken only this gives you the perfect fitting tool to do so. Losing weight will not be the only thing you'll have to fix. It's the easiest, but the hardest is beating the addiction. With the sleeve, while your beating the addiction, you'll be losing weight!

ALCOHOL!!..yes you can still have it but think it will affect you more quickly..just like when you drink on an empty stomach suppose?..but a woman i work with who was banded in july, still drinks her gin and tonics but slower and she stirs it around with a straw and adds a little pich of sugar from a sachet in her bag....as fizzy drinks can repeat like mad and hurt a bit as they go down..if you like wine and spirits your fine..just watch the fizzy drinks she reckons!..I shall test this theory out well after i have been banded myself, and report back my findings...all in the name of research obviously! x

Consuming all your daily calories in alcohol is NOT healthy. Keep talking but I'll never believe otherwise.

I was told no alcohol the first six weeks. You might want to check with your doctor.

Is it a box of sangeria? I might not be able to spell it but I do love to drink it. Can I join?Dr Oz website has a recipe for healthier version, which is pretty good. I don't think anyone said alcohol should be a major part of diet and I don't think anyone else did unless in jest. Like I have said this topic comes up so many times and its always the same argument. There will always be two sides: those who say that yes I do enjoy some alcohol in moderation and those who say how unhealthy and how far it will set you back. Listen I am not an alcoholic but I do enjoy doing to a club, bar or simply staying at my house enjoying a couple drinks with friends. I do thinks I would never have done had I not lost this weight. Again I would like to state to the op you need to talk to your surgeon about this and be truthful to them. Everyone has a vice, well at least the fun ones. Lol When I talked to my surgeon about my drinking habits , he said that most people will be that honest. He said wait at least a month to heal. Your surgeon will probably say something different due to them using a different technique. He actually laughed when I told him and said well don't we all enjoy some drinks now and then.

Anyone have alcohol intolerance after surgery? I had bypass and the few times I’ve drank vodka now (a common drink pre-surgery) I get very itchy all over my body.

With my surgeons blessing I tried alcohol just recently (4.5 months out) keeping in mind that it is empty calories. My preferred drink was rum and Diet Coke so I had rum and crystal light. Well, it tasted so bad that I couldn’t even get it down fast enough to get a buzz. So for me, knowing that I was just drinking a ton of empty calories that tasted bad, it wasn’t even worth it. But no, it definitely did not hit me harder or faster??

Great posts. This is why it's extremely important for people with addictive personalities to be extremely wary of engaging in anything they find addictive post-op.. there's a higher risk of what @dsdesignamentioned is "transfer addiction". We should be wary in general of what we consume due to WLS impacting the way our body processes food, physiologically and psychologically. However, extra baggage like this requires extra caution.. and if one even thinks they might not be able to moderate themselves, abstain entirely. In my case, my liver damage was done comprehensively by a horrific American style diet rife with extremely carb dense food, carb/sugar dense liquids, and a sedentary lifestyle. While I did hit bottles pretty hard in the few time I did have a drink (would go through most of a 750mL bottle of Captain Morgan in the span of an entire day, mixing with sodas like Cherry Coke for example), never getting to the point of throwing up, but enough to have to watch how I walked, I didn't drink often whatsoever, maybe a small handful of times a year. It was a blessing because my mother and father were both alcoholics, so I had been warned that I was predisposed to alcoholism, but that never transferred to me. Nonetheless, with my phases of depression came food addiction, which, as far as the liver is concerned, just as bad as alcohol and drugs, just doesn't damage it as fast as those things can/will. So to summarize, sodas and alcohol will hit us twice as hard post-WLS as it will before.. it's extremely imperative we monitor ourselves, and it's important to identify potential addictive behaviors or addiction transfers and nix them right away: 1) Keep food, especially snack foods, further away from where you veg out and harder to reach, 2) If you're the only one in the house that eats certain junk food, just don't get it at all, it's presence is especially bad for anyone susceptible to compulsive/addictive eating/drinking behaviors, 3) Talk yourself out of it.. there's no one that will save you from you. 4) Especially monitor booze if you're going to drink it.. and drink it slow, because the sleeve might allow it to pass through us that means it makes us drunk that much faster, and it also means it can overwhelm the liver that much faster.

Below is a copy of my experiences and if you go to my pictures you can see a sideways view of my progression over the weeks. Well I had the sleeve done - This is the story. Left for Vegas on Tuesday got off the plane and headed for my appointment for Pre-surgery - everything was a go. So my wife and I hit the strip and I played black jack and won.... not much but still won. We ate normal and I did not drink alcohol. Went to bed on time for a 7:00am surgery at a surgery center. We had signed up on one of those package deals where the hotel is included. So we were up and headed to the center (by the way rent a car it is better to have the freedom to go) I went in and filled out some more forms and headed to the prep room. Met the anesthesiologist he went through a few items and the nurses were wonderful. Then I saw my Doctor (Thomas Umbach ) not long after that I was being wheeled to the surgery room. I was give something that made me feel very sleepy but could understand everyone. Then told to breath deeply two breaths and I don’t remember anything except being woke up saying surgery went fine and it is done. This was about 10:30 or so I think. Surgery was about an hour and recovery 2 . I took some pill for pain and they started me walking. It did not hurt to walk so I kept going after hearing everyone on this site telling me how walking really helped. Dr Umbach also installed a pain drip system that hung around my neck and had some small tubes planted around where the surgery took place, with a big ball that would dissipate in 3 days, this provided a pain free experience. I was released at noon to go back to my hotel which I walked and slept and drank water (very very very small sips) the fist night I had some small discomfort felt like acid reflux so I called the doc on his cell phone which was nice about 10pm and he said I could get some pepto or any over the counter acid reducer I wanted. My wife drove out to get it and also got liquid Tylenol which I recommend very much. I burped a lot and had to raise my arms when drinking water to get it down. The doc said for the first day my stomach would be swollen and until it went down it would be a bit tough. It was, but by the end of the next day it eased up. Sleeping and walking is the trick and the Tylenol made everything right as rain. On Friday we went back for a follow up with the doctor, and everything was perfect so we said our good bys and we headed for the Hoover Damn wanted to see it. I even drove – I don’t feel the surgery hardly at all it is the drinking that lets me know it is there. So we got back from there and got our flight out back to Kansas City – Because I have traveled so much we both were in first class so that was nice, bigger seats if you know what I mean. This is the first day back home and since the 2 weeks prior with the protein shakes to today I am down 27 lbs. I am just starting to feel hungry this whole time prior I have not had a desire to eat. I have force the drinking because I know that is good for me. I hope this helps with those who have not taken the plunge yet. I plan to keep you up to date on the progress. My doctor told me to walk everyday so my wife and I are headed to the gym in a little while, course I will be on slow mo for a while. Thanks for listening and hope it helps someone else.

Hi all! Just got back from being out of town over the weekend. Hoping I didn't gain very much as it was for a social (eating event). I tried to make good choices and as I look back over the weekend I think I did. I even made my alcoholic drinks with sugar free Tropicana LOL. I still probably went over my carbs on Saturday but over the whole weekend it probably averaged out. I still have two and a half weeks until my next fill so I will get back on track and be fine. I think I'm going to go out tomorrow and seek out places for us to meet. I think I know the general area, just need to scope things out and make sure it's a bandster friendly place. It looks like Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday around 7:30 is going to be the best. Unfortunately, there is no one day where everyone is available so maybe we can shift the days around a bit instead of staying on one single day of the week. Dr. Cywes gave me the talk this past appt about not concentrating on the scale and focusing more on my lifestyle. He said that once I took care of my lifestyle, that the scale would take care of itself. I think I'm doing my part so far! I sure as heck didn't go as overboard as I normally would have this weekend! I'll let you guys know what I find in my looking around tomorrow!

I just went for my initial meeting. I was immediately put on a high protein very low carb diet. No caffeine, no alcohol, no sugar, white flour, etc. It is very difficult. I get a bit angry when I see others are not forced to suffer this way. I'm soo hungry

Those are good analogies too! One of the things my therapist says about my (hopefully in-the-past-now) attitude toward making mistakes with eating is that I'm like an alcoholic who says, "Well I had a drink so I fell off the wagon. Might as well have the whole bottle." You know those days when you give in and have something sweet or eat too much at a potluck... then you're like, "f**k it I might as well have the ice cream and the McDonald's or whatever I want." Definitely trying to get better about that! Just because you had one drink/one unhealthy meal does not mean you're doomed to failure. Maybe in the mountain analogy that is like if your foot slips while you're climbing, you don't have to let go completely and drop, just hang on and try to find a new foothold. You could also draw some similarities between alcoholism/drug addiction and overeating/obesity because they are chemistry-driven diseases in our bodies but the mechanisms are still somewhat poorly understood compared to other diseases. And, in our society we moralize them and make them into solely willpower issues. The one thing that's different is the alcoholic or drug addict can live without booze or pills... we can't live without food. That's what makes it so hard! Thanks for your analogy as well, it helped to think about that! Congrats on being a week post-op!

Cool compresses. I would say wipe them off with 90% rubbing alcohol if they are not too tender. And the next time you have a wound- even in the Emergency Department- inform them you have a sensitivity to SuperGlue type suturing. I would almost prefer old-fashioned silk or similar stitching to being so miserably sore and itchy.P.S. Have you told your surgeon's office or even your PCP about this? They may have advice I haven't thought of. Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Thanx everyone. Still taking benadryl but the alcohol seems to be working. Sent from my SM-G930P using BariatricPal mobile app

Is it okay to have a glass or two of wine for this pre-op diet? I I have an evening banquet ball to attend I was Wondering if I can have a glass to socialize with my colleagues

My son receives an injection of long acting naltrexone every month. It has worked wonders for him . . . decreases the desire to drink and prevents the alcohol from having an effect when he does drink. I think the brand name is "vivitrol". It also comes in tablet form that you have to take daily. Good luck to you.

Hi, I'm a Registered Psychiatric Nurse from Canada. I didn't think that they used Antabuse anymore. My experience with it professionally was that it was not really that effective in the long term. I've seen patients get it then go out on pass, only to return and be violently ill,(vomitting and wretching severely, not so good for anyone, but so much worse for someone who is banded), and often repeat that scenario over and over. The person I'm thinking about has long since died of liver disease. Alcoholism is such a brutal disease/condition! As a child of alcoholic parents, I would urge anyone to do what they can to stop! The damage done overall, to the alcoholic and the family and friends is so severe , widespread and long-lived that it is imperative that the alcoholic get the treatment they need........NOW! (but I'm certain that you already know that.) All the best to you!