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In my support group last week alcoholism was brought up; evidently a lot of successful bandsters become heavy drinkers. This has to do with addicitive behaviors. That surprised me but it makes sense.

I have drank several time. lol I try to stick to drinking clear liqour like Diabetics. I am from San Diego, lol where they know how to party. I usually get some kind of fruit juice and make one drink. That usually lasts me the whole night and keeps me on a nice straight buzz. I would not try to chance it with beer though. NO SHOTS either. Oh my gosh no shots. I took one once and when i burped some alcohol came back up with it and I was throwing up so bad. Everyone else is right, it hits you harder and much faster. Good luck

Hey everyone. I have a quick question that I have not been able to get a clear yes or no from anyone... I know that drinking alcohol is waasted calories and wasted room once banded, but I was just wondering if I will ever be able to go out and a drink with my friends ever again? I am very serious about this procedure so please don't think that I am not. I just am curious if I will be able to have a drink at my wedding one day you know? Cassie :confused2::cool2::smile2::w00t:

Ok so I need to get this off my chest... Last Sat my parents had thier annual christmas party. We fire up the margarita machine..yes a reaal heavy duty one thats like 5.5 feet tall..and everyone gets drunk and we karaoke anddrink and dance. Well mostly these are my parents friends but I get along really well with most of them. ANYWAYS So I was looking pretty damn hott..people didnt recognize me hott. And I was singing and being a lil crazy.. I was wearing this brown dress and some fuck me boots..as they came to be called all night long..they are these knee high leather boots. HAD to buy them bc my calves actually fit in them..anyways so I am minding my own business. drinking partying whatever and my dads best friend since like elementary school comes up to me. I call him uncle, he picked out my middle name..I have always thought of him as an uncle..well apparently now that I am skinnier..i am not family anymore. He comes up to me and compliments my appearance "wow you look hott..I mena damn hott.." ok no big deal.. then he actually offers/asks me to join him and his girlfriend for a threesome..seriously. Im not the type of girl whose commonly approached at partys and asked if they wanna go for a romp in the hay anyways, but of course this was my first party in a size 8 since i was like 4 so..ubt he actually wanted to know if I was interested...UGH. I wanted to throw up..the man named me..he changed my diapers..now he wants to do me?! Needless to say I was embrassed. thankfully no one else was around to hear this..I told him he didnt make enough money for that to ever happen, then walked off. I didnt want to get too upset, i realize he was pretty drunk..he followed me outside and asked how much money...cause he makes a 100,000 a year... Ok so I am sorry, this really was never a question of money for me. I am a biologist..we make no money, and have accepted this..I just didnt want to get into a moral discussion after Id just have my umpteenth margarita. Ugh I felt soo dirty.. Im not gonna tell my father...I am daddys little girl and hed be pretty upset...and I know alot has to do w the alcohol but still...ugh Just had to tell someone....on the plus side however I am now hott enough to be propositioned for sex at a party..now if it just wasnt someone hows the same age as my father!! Gag!:phanvan

Glad you had fun! Just be weary that alcohol is empty calories...Best wishes!!!

Does alcohol affect u differently after lapband? It does after the RNY, the RNY folks drink much less after the surgery they say it buzzes them faster. Just wondering

According to my doc, yes, we will get 'buzzed' faster. So, for that reason, and of course the useless calories, he strongly discourages (but does not ban) the occasional drink. I'm still alcohol-free...I always think of something better to have...like nuts!

I'll have a glass of wine maybe four nights out of the week, and maybe if we go out that will be two glasses. That's about it, once in a blue moon on a hot day I might have a beer, but I can only drink one. I never drink spirits or cocktails at all. Very very occasionally we might pour a Drambui or Baileys after dinner, just a tiny one in a liqueur glass. So I'm maybe get 600 calories a week from alcohol on average.

please don't use alcohol. Alcohol burns the edges of the skin and will prevent it from closing. Steri-strips to hold the sides of the wound together should be all you need along with keeping the wound clean with an anti-bacterial soap. Alcohol is actually stopping the closure.

I've read some articles that indicate that "addictive" personalities - those addicted to food, alcohol or drugs - sometimes end up "switching" addictions. Their personality traits still lend them to being addicted to something, and they switch from bad stuff to exercise. Though I don't have this issue, I, like Beth, would have assumed that people would revert to prior bad habits with food. That's what we've seen in the tabloids and on web sites - Biggest Loser contestants struggling to keep the weight off once the show is over. I've never understood anorexia - and I feel bad for those who suffer with it. I do know of someone addicted to exercise...she was a bank teller at one of our local institutions. Always thin, but usually healthy-looking. Over the past 5 years or so, she has gradually gone from thin and healthy looking (she has a small frame) to looking almost skeletal. If she were younger (she appears to be around my age, maybe a bit older) she would make a decent supermodel - she's that thin now. She's always out walking - seemingly for hours at a time...or in the gym on the aerobics machines (that was a couple of years ago when I was there too). I almost want to say something, but I don't feel I know her well enough to do that...I just hope she really is healthy and I just don't know it...:eek: But then who am I to judge? :sad:

You are the sweetest person - you and your princess are lucky to have found each other! I did love him when we got married - but really I married the him that he constructed, as he is a compulsive liar. I made my bed and I'm lying in it - no one made me marry him or stay with him. Circumstances got in the way (I was just here to visit, 9/11 happened, my flight home was grounded, and I just stayed and we had to get married quickly before my visa expired. Had I had more months to know him better, I wouldn't have stayed). I am a really strong person. I get it from my mum who had to go through hell with my alcoholic dad (which is why I said I couldn't be with someone who drank, and my husband said he was teetotal... and he didnt drink until after we were married. He can stop for months before binges). I will always win in the end - I'm patient and I can wait. He will never get the better of me. I have gained a lot through the path I chose - my amazing daughters, my breast reduction (I would have needed to wait for years to get it on the National Health Service back home), my design business, true friends, self-awareness, even this surgery. I'll be in my mid-40s when I return home for good - and if I meet someone I will be ready, and I will know what I want and need and not settle. I can wait. My daughters will be 16 and 17 then - I wouldn't want to enter into a new relationship with young daughters anyway. Not these days. In the end I'll thank him for the experience he gave me, and let him go - I am a stronger wiser person than I would otherwise have been. We are friends, co-parents, family even. But there is just no attraction for me any more, and too many bad memories of trying to bring up toddlers while he was passed out on the bathroom floor for me to rekindle a deeper relationship beyond attraction. The age difference becomes more apparent with each passing year too - he is 67 and I am 42 - and we have less and less in common. He loves me, at least he thinks he does - as much as a narcissist is capable of loving anyone. And he thinks we have a good marriage. Perhaps we do in this day and age. Honestly, I do hope he just passes peacefully at some point in the next 5 years so that my daughters and I can move on. I don't want to hurt him or wish him any ill. He's not a bad person - he is just not a very good husband (there was a reason why he had never been married at 50), and he's not my prince. So many hugs to you! I hope your recovery is going well and that your princess is taking care of you and cherishing you!

Had surgery yesterday when I woke up from surgery I was super nauseous, my throat was so dry they gave me anti nauseous medicine still didn’t work they put something behind my ear gave me more medicine then I smelled some alcohol from hospital. Finally felt better for pain in taking Tylenol I request lowest form of pain meds I’m not hurting at all. My stomach doesn’t hurt where the operation was done only the top but it’s gas I could actually feel it bubbling I’ve burpped a few times feel much better. Today I’m supposed to drink haven’t been allowed to drink anything yet since surgery it was yesterday morning right now it’s 7 am in New York. I did brush my teeth last night and this morning made my mouth better since it was dry.

I think that a LOT of people have the reacation "All fat people self medicate with food...why should anyone be delayed from weight loss surgery because they do? Are the therapists on a power trip, are they just making money?" There is some truth in this...that nearly all of us medicate with food. But why is that an issue? There's a very common phenominon that occurs with bariatric surgery called cross or transfer addiction. It is said to affect about 30% of people who have surgery. When people find they can't eat to self medicate, they can switch to other addictions for relief. Not just alcohol and drugs. They can also become sex/intimacy addicts. They can start spending too much, gambling, there are a lot of ways for this to manifest. Exercise addiction. Controlling behaviors with family/children. Annorexia. Most of us think of annorexia as something absurd that could never happen to us....but it happens! Same disordered eating...just a different expression of it. Also, there's a reason they call it divorce surgery. It can and does add strain to a relationships to have dynamics change profoundly. Eating is a big part of socializing, relaxing, relating to family, friends, coworkers. Eating dysfunction can be familial and codependent. There are some big changes that go with this whole process. Sometimes, they're easy changes, and sometimes they're not. Sometimes they cause all hell to break loose for the person inside them. Also, there is tremendous risk of remission...where you lose weight for a little while, then the food addiction and disordered eating come roaring back and you can physically injure yourself if you don't have other coping mechanisms in place. I am not saying that ANY of these situations describe any particular posters here any more than they could potentially describe all of us. Just sayin....if at your psych eval your therapist recommends more support, more preparation....that can be a good and responsible thing to do for yourself. That can help guarantee your best chances. It can make this time of change more joyful and less stressful. It can make you more successful in the long run. Figuring this stuff out is a great investment in yourself. Best wishes to all.

Will I ever be able to have a glass of wine? Not talking about everyday, but maybe twice a month? Does your alcohol tolerance change post surgery? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

At my first support group meeting, they had a woman who spoke about her experience with wine. She had an addictive personality, hence the eating, and after drinking 1 glass of wine with dinner, she continued to do so EVERY NIGHT until she became an alcoholic. When going to AA she found that 13 in her group were former WLS patients. Coincidence??? I don't know but I'm not getting involved in another addiction after recovering from my food addiction. I have fought too hard to get to where I am now in Pre Op.

As Little Green pointed out, all of our plans are a little different. I can have dairy, soy, almond, or rice milk with my protein shakes. I can also have nonfat yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese, up to 1/2 cup fruit, and 1 T peanut butter. But not all at once :-) My target parameters: >250 kcal, 20-30g protein, >8g fat, >6g sugar, >15g carb, and >10g sugar alcohols (tho sugar alcohols are discouraged). So my surgeon is shooting for up to 1,000 kcal per day.

Hi guys. Just came across this thread and wanted to say thank you for all the supportive words you've shared here. I'm currently on my way to quitting alcohol, so I really appreciate your help. Actually, I'd also be grateful if you shared more of your experience on giving up that ****.

Thanks , I reduced down on the carbs and alcohol and kept up my workout routine. I lost 10 lbs this month again instead of the 5lb. 19lbs to my goal.

Look it up on Google ... It makes my stomach hurt. It may say sugar free but check the sugar alcohol.... Sent from my LG-TP260 using BariatricPal mobile app

I personally have no issues with the sugar alcohol in popsicles, but when its in chocolate not a good comboe. Like everyone posted above just watch out for sugar alcohols, we all react differently, my wife does not do well with more than a piece or two. I might recommend trying new products at home just in case.

I'd be majorly confused too. I don't think anyone here is qualified to explain your symptoms or tell you if it's OK to drink alcohol (though with everything else going on, I'd say you should pass on the alchohol for now). Yours is an awful and unique situation and I hope your doctor can guide you through this as you heal and adjust.

The only thing I miss is a good deli style sandwich !! ( do not and cannot tolerate breads) And since I don't, (cannot) eat meat, I do miss a sandwich made from pastrami, corned beef, etc. Go to a good delicatessen or diner and have one of these sandwiches with french fries (something else I no longer eat) cole slaw and a pickle. Maybe a triple decker club sandwich! But all in all I do not miss being fat, unhealthy, and a pig! Not to mention what others thought of me. I'll take this healthy, fit life any day! Also, unlike others, I do still enjoy things like soda, beer, alcohol, ice cream, etc, etc....I am NOT on a diet!!! This is different than a diet.

I am so thankful for all the support that is being poured out! That is what so many of us need. I am treating my eating as an addiction that is no different than an alcoholic. It is that serious to me. keep checking in yall. I weigh on monday mornings so I will try to post my results, hopefully it may be an encouragement to someone!

lml, My objection to her is that it appears she's fixated on depression. she told me that I am severely depressed and have been for years...oh, and that I'm in big danger of becoming an alcoholic after surgery. Um, nope. Wrong on both counts.

I gotta 'fess... I'm a daily weigher! It is a right 'mare to see the scale jump around... but I only take 'real' notice of it on a Saturday (that was the day I was sleeved). I try not to let it affect my mood; sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't! Not a fast day today, but I have really aware of what I am eating... I am realising that I need this awareness everyday - and that can only be good, right? There were Snacks available in work but I didn't bother... also made the hubby to a healthy tea of turkey and roast veggies... totally delish! Also went to Curves, and the trainers there told me that I had made huge improvements; that I had cracked the techniques and that I looked better. I was also told in work that I looked smaller and what a lovely flat tummy I had...lol... that lady doesn't know about my TT and she never will... I think she was fishing but I just told her that I am awesome at crunches and how wonderful Curves is for toning...heheheeeee! I am also pushing the Water as much as I can and although I am peeing like a race horse it does seem to curb hunger and the urge to nibble! I'm thankful for this thread... and I think Oregon's idea of creating a group is good idea... how do we do it? Fast day tomo ... kinda looking forward to it! But, I have prom night Thursday where there will be a lot of goodies, no alcohol as I am driving... and then Friday we have a works night out and I am gonna be honest, I am gonna sink a few ciders and enjoy them... I might fast Sat to try and balance things out... see how the hang over goes...lol