Alcohol

[tmlawson 4]

I know we have been told not to drink. Just curious if an occasional beer or mixed drink will cause damage to your sleeve. I am able to drink a beer slowly , just wondering why I shouldn't other than the empty calories????

[liannatx 897]

I rarely drink anymore, I only know that when I had Lapband we used to go out weekly. I drank Vodka and Water with lime, and when the "tubes" of crystal light came out... I did Vodka and lemonade. It never ever hurt my loss. I am losing so slowly now that I am afraid to drink, lol.

[tmlawson 4]

Vodka and lemonade ????sounds yummy .. I may have to try that

I am not a big drinker but something about summertime lol... I just don't want to cause a major problem by doing so

[mnmlst 249]

I was a big drinker before surgery, and I'm a social drinker now. I only allow myself to drink at parties. Wine and mixed drinks without carbonation go down way too easily. You have to be careful bc it's easy to drink too much (both in that you probably have a lower tolerance than before and in that you're getting too many calories). I notice that weeks when I drink, I don't lose, so I try to avoid it. I'm 7 months out. When I drink now, light beer is the best choice for me. The carbonation discomfort keeps me from drinking too much. It might be downright painful if you're newly post op though.

[mnmlst 249]

And just be careful. Transfer addiction is a real thing.

[AvaFern 3,516]

Once you are healed you can drink more than a beverage or two and it will not hurt your sleeve any more than it would have hurt your regular stomach. I haven't been a big drinker since college like 10 years ago and since having the sleeve I have had two nights of drinking. The first was like 4 shots of tequila at about 8 months out and the second was this past weekend where we drank frozen drinks all day and then knocked out a bottle of tequila at night. Much as I have read you're supposed to be impacted far more from drinking with the sleeve than with a normal stomach, my tolerance is not much different. Since I rarely drank as it was, I'm a lightweight. I woke up Tuesday without a hangover, so I suppose at 20 months this was a good test of alcohol with a sleeve.