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Alcohol after WLS



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Alcohol is either right or left for many bariatric patients. Since getting the sleeve my alcohol sensitivity is very high and i barely have some alcohol in my body to automatically feel the effects of it. My wife has the bypass and she consumes wine as her sole alcohol source and drinks wine like is nothing which has created a tolerance level for her much larger.

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I have since surgery starting at about 6 weeks (I know baaaaaad-- shame on me) I had a few cocktails socially. I usually only have 1 on average of about twice a month. I'm 3 months post op. I did have to explain to my husband although I know we enjoy an occasional drink or glass of wine together I really need not to. I explained how this will impact my weight loss with empty calories and I'd just prefer not to have a drink but don't let me stop you. I guess that wasn't fun to him-- he didn't want to drink alone even though I might order a Water with lemon or diluted cranberry juice. So instead of hanging out at our favorite Jazz club every Tuesday night or meeting up at Fridays for a mid day cocktail-- we try to do other things. Like today We'll go to the Gym. We got tickets for a musical on Friday. So I'm trying to introduce other things. HOWEVER--- let's get back to your question....

So over the weekend we were out celebrating my friends 30th birthday and I bought patron shots for everyone. I figured I'd have ONE-- hell I hadn't had a drink in over a month. I'd done well with the previous drinks. No issues. No overly drunkenness. So we clank glasses and take the shot. Within about 45 seconds I immediately feel like things are just about to get bad quickly. My stomach starts BURNING like crazy. Then I started to feel very woozy and I started to feel flush and nauseated. I started thinking about DUMPING and got just a little anxious. I grabbed my hubby and told him I was F****** up! Like we might need to leave F****** up. He grabbed me some Water told me to calm down... deep breaths and drink. I began sipping and the burning subsided. I found a tolerable level of F****** up and proceeded to have a blast!!! #1 because I realized I wasn't going to die, I wasn't dumping, I gained control-- did not drink anything else but felt like I had 3 shots in me. That was my first experience like that since surgery and lemme tell you I won't be doing that again anytime soon. I'll stick with an occasional red moscato. Sipped very slowly... I may revisit this shot thing 1 year from now and only on special occasions like on the white sands in Jamaica LOL!

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I'm gonna put this disclaimer up first: I'm almost 5 weeks out from surgery and am NOT thinking about drinking now or anytime in the near future.

That being said...

My NUT told me that after getting the sleeve, one's alcohol tolerance is really low. I don't drink very much...a drink at Christmas, a drink out at dinner with friends, etc. So, not drinking right now is no biggie at all. However, I'm curious, if and when I have a drink at some point down the road, how much of a lightweight will I be? Are we talking one sip of a Fuzzy Naval and I'm stripping my clothes off and licking the bar top? How bad is it?

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They tell us not to drink for several reasons. One is because alcohol contains calories and we shouldn't drink our calories. Two, we are lightweights. Three, most of us were overeaters. If you haven't found a way to deal with why you ate your feelings then you are trading one addiction for another. I am almost 18 months out and still no alcohol.

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Wow, this is a tough one for me to respond to, but, I am going to be honest. It can be a very slippery slope. As many have already said, I too became a total lightweight after surgery. But, my real problem came in that I began substituting alcohol, White Russians, to be exact, as my choice of "comfort" instead of food. Unfortunately, that led to some major weight gain for me, nearly 40 pounds,which I am now working very hard to take back off. At six years out, it doesn't come off as easily as it did in the beginning. I am lucky now to lose a pound a week, which is quite frustrating. Now, I am drinking mostly Water 24/7. I will have an occasional drink, but for me, I have learned it is just not worth it.

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