When in is it safe to have a drink?

[thbrown223 214]

I had RNY on October 12th. I haven't had a drink in so long. It would be nice to have some sort of a cocktail.

I would love to hear from anyone. How soon did you have your 1st drink after your surgery? What did you have to drink or what might you suggest? I use to drink tequila.... 180 0 Gold with diet lime Coke, but I gave up all soda, then I began to mix it with Minute Maid light lemonade. Now....absolutely nothing!

[cookarue 233]

I was told no alcohol for 6 months... Then only low sugar, low carb drinks. I know they sell "skinny" drinks...

[Pedro Valle-Inclan 275]

I was told to pretty much not drink anymore, period.

[Annek2014 58]

I am just over a year out. I might have a sip at special occasions (like Christmas...but have not drank yet), I have not plans to drink.

[Nina marie 7]

My brother and wife both had gastric and after 3 months drink all the time now , maybe a little too much !

[tappingmom 85]

Be sure to check your surgeon's guidelines. I had to sign a "contract" agreeing that I wouldn't drink any alcoholic beverages for one full year.

[thbrown223 214]

My brother and wife both had gastric and after 3 months drink all the time now , maybe a little too much !

Wow 3 months, I'd be too scared to do that. I'm coming up on my 3 months. I was hoping somewhere along my spring break which is in March or April. I'm also getting married in June.

Thanks!

Edited January 4, 2016 by thbrown223

[thbrown223 214]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I'll be checking with my surgeon. I have my 3 month post op appt very soon. Hopefully he won't say never or require me to sign a contract.

[Pedro Valle-Inclan 275]

Well, thank goodness it's not a big deal in the least; I mean, who cares if we have to cut some things out that were never good for us anyway, like sugar, fats, processed foods, booze. What's the big deal? I'm just doing what the doctors recommend

[Melissa Cotton 7]

Your body does weird things with alcohol after surgery. You get drunk fast and sober really fast which leads to more drinking. Many people become alcoholics because of this. Be careful. Many people in my surgeon's support group have experienced this so no alcohol is suggested.

[Pedro Valle-Inclan 275]

Yeah, that's what I couldn't remember: the weird way Alcohol works in the body post-surgery.

They say that you'll get drunk far faster than you ever have in your life, but at the same time you'll sober up very fast as well. The potential for trouble from this is great as anyone can

see; basically if you had any propensity towards over-doing it with booze before, you can get in

serious trouble

[hhbbmm4 38]

I had my first cocktail 1 month out from surgery - did just fine. I have cocktails on a regular basis now - no problems at all - I'm 7 months out. My surgeon says try it out and see what works for you. No carbonation though! ENJOY!

[muzical1 85]

I had glass of wine after three months and was fine.

[Cape Crooner 589]

Well, if you look at my posts, you'll find a couple of heated discussions about alcohol.

I have been a confirmed social drinker and disciplined low carb dieter for 40 years. I never drank during the week and generally followed low carb diet guidelines. I gained 75 pounds very slowly over 40 years by eating too much low carb food (nuts, cheese, dark chocolate) when I drank alcohol.

I entered this journey knowing that I'd have to abstain from alcohol for an extended period of time. My program guide said 6 months, but in further discussion, it became clear that this was just a typical guideline - "your mileage may vary!"

There are three issues to consider.

1. Damaging your surgery: The biggie here is creating a fertile condition for ulcers. Discussing this with the surgical team, I learned that the surgery effectively heals at 6 weeks and if you google around, you'll find some surgeons who recommend 6 weeks as the earliest green light.

If you have ever had any kind of acid reflux, you should proceed with caution. I did have a glass of wine at 6 weeks with the extra protection of an extra antacid pill and plenty of Water and food before and after.

2. Your Liver: The kind of rapid weight loss we see through WLS puts a stress on your liver; as does alcohol. One surgeon mentioned this in the context of waiting until you're near goal to restart drinking. I was about 75% toward goal before imbibing and have continued to limited my daily and weekly intake.

3. Your Weight Loss: I have found that the top rated programs have the longest abstinence waiting period. I think this is for our own good, because alcohol is generally a empty calorie and many drinks have lots of carbs.

In addition, alcohol can increase hunger, which makes it tougher to stay on track. I continue to log calories on days when I drink - including the alcohol. One doctor told me 300 liquid calories won't hurt my Weightloss, but potato chips, candy, and ice cream munchies will.

My program closely tracks patient weight loss for life and uses our data to promote their effectiveness. If none of us every drink again, they're numbers would likely look better.

I am about 4 months out and I've added 10 ounces of alcohol to my weekly 9,000 calorie diet since Christmas. To my surprise, it has not reduced my weight loss one iota.

Now the biggie for you is RNY. I had the sleeve and in my orientation at Newton Wellesley, one of the top surgeons in the country (Sheila Partridge) recommended the sleeve for social drinkers and/or people who needed to take NSAID'S. She suggested that RNY patients should abstain from both!

That said, I have heard from plenty of RNY patients on this forum who do drink.

That's all I know...

[Cape Crooner 589]

By the way, I found no difference in how booze hit me, but I do drink much less and much slower. Before VSG I would have 5-6 drinks over 5-6 hours. Now I'm having 2-3 over the course of an evening.