ScoutCR

Only an observation...but I think gastric sleeve vs gastric bypass is the answer to why some people seem to tolerate / handle alcohol and others get hit like a brick in the head. I have a friend who had a sleeve and he can sit and drink 5 vodka cranberry drinks and it seems to not phase him. (BTW, he is 2 years in and has not had any weight regain.) I on the other hand with a gastric bypass cannot finish 2 vodka drinks without passing out before finishing my 2nd drink. Go figure, I tell my wife I am a cheap date, but seriously I will never drink and drive (not that anyone should) not even after 1 drink. My experience at home has taught me that I cannot handle even a fraction of my pre OP alcohol consumption.

and my doctor said 3 months... big difference eh? The point is that everyone's program is different. The only consistent thing is eventually they do allow alcohol again. My Dr said no alcohol for 12 weeks/3 months same as AshAsh1. My Nut said no alcohol for 1 year! So even in the same program there are differences of opinion. My program is at UPMC and they are the program that published the study 2 years ago about alcoholism and gastric bypass so they did spend time discussing that with me. I had my first glass of red wine at 8 weeks. The end of this week (July 20) will be 12 weeks. I don't plan on going on a binge or anything close to that. I found since that 1st glass that 2-3 glasses of wine and I am toasted and then I didn't remember going to bed! I had to ask my wife what happened? She said I was ok and when I went to bed I just passed out. That scared her and was frightening to me because before surgery I never had any episodes of not remembering when I drank. So I know first hand that alcohol post gastric bypass surgery does affect you differently than pre OP. Not sure if that will change for me the longer I am from surgery or not. I am not real anxious to find that out. Be careful until you know how alcohol affects you. Like sillykitty, I also travel extensively for my job all over the country and alcohol is part of entertaining customers, and it is a part of the sales culture in my industry. I am starting back on my full travel schedule next week and am dreading that I may eventually fall back into the old habits of meals and alcohol. Travel will be my biggest test yet. Knowing how alcohol affects me now and not wanting to undo all that I have done to get here is a big motivator to not overdrink and overeat.

I gagged the day after my surgery on the thumble of water that they start you out on and I have trouble even now at 11 weeks with plain water. I mostly put in SF flavors and like magic I have no trouble swallowing it! My favorite is AW Root Beer flavoring. It goes down smooth and almost too fast.

Wow, very sorry for your loss. 😞 So very sorry for your loss. I travel for a living and see those people speeding by police and service vehicles all the time! Very disturbing!

You are welcome! I am starting week 11 today and am still in my stall since week 9. I called my NUT at UPMC today and we reviewed my diet, my exercise, my fluids, and she said that I am doing everything correct. She confirmed that my calorie count 300 - 700 calories was spot on for 11 weeks, so until my body decides it is time to shed more weight I am stuck. She did give me some tips. Only weigh myself once a week, stay the course by keep doing the program, slowly increase my exercise, let my body heal on its own schedule. She also said I may be at a weight that my body is comfortable with, but she thinks I will have another drop in weight. I did lose fast at first so maybe my body is just taking it's time adjusting.

Frustr8, I am so sorry for your loss. The brotherhood of Kevin's is very strong! Every Kevin I meet is special. Please know that I am sure if I had the opportunity to ride with your son it would have been special and great for us both. After all bikers are a rare breed. Keep strong and I know that is easier said than done. Remember that we are all in this journey for the goal to have better health and a long and full life! Thank you for your post and well wishes.

The exact same thing happened to me and my surgeon and the insurance company made the decision for me. Well not exactly, my surgeon strongly recommended bypass and not sleeve, and my insurance refused to pay for anything but bypass surgery. Very glad it actually went that way as I think I will not have GERD to deal with again and my other health issues have resolved. The 2nd quote was also the same for me and I was insurance approved for Gastric Bypass only even though my BMI was 34 at time of final approval. Good Luck! It is not always easy, but very much worth all the work.

Hello 50 something bypass patients, Update: Yesterday I had my follow up with my kidney, family, and pulmonary DR's. and I am happy to report that my kidney's are now at 87 GFR and my DR said that he considers me out of kidney disease range and it would be my choice to have a 1 yr follow up (which I did schedule), my primary care DR said he now considers my diabetes in remission (5.2 A1C), my high blood pressure is now normal ( BP 116/66), my pulmonary DR gave me the option to stop wearing my CPAP based on my last month of data which shows a low incidence of sleep apnea. I did say that I would continue to wear it as my bariatric surgeon suggested 6 months to stop the CPAP. The DR agreed with the 6 months and said we would do a home sleep study at the end of the 6 months just to cover the insurance requirements. All of this good news is giving me a wonderful day today! I cannot express how much relief I feel from the benefits of this surgery. I am not saying that everything is perfect but the health benefits make it all worthwhile. I am still presently in a weight stall, but I will be happy if I stay at my present weight. On Friday 7/13/18 I will be 11 weeks post op. Thank you! to everyone who commented on my previous posts and staying connected. This site has also been a blessing as I do not have any support groups close by to where I live and seeing what everyone has in common and what is working and not working for others has helped me greatly. I have attached a photo of my visit to the Harley Davidson museum in Milwaukee 3 weeks ago. This was during my first business trip post OP.

Yes I would agree about seeking and heeding my medical team advice. I have just had a test this week and my GFR has improved from a 28 GFR to 87 which is technically out of chronic kidney disease range. To improve my kidney function is and was my main motivation for this operation. I did have a protein shake today to see if the added protein helped to turn around my weight stall/regain. I am going to call my Nut on Monday and seek her advice. I did go back in my food log and look at my daily protein intake and it is averaging around 55-65g a day. It is hard to get 85g a day without at least 1 protein shake a day. I use premier protein shakes and they have 30g in one shake. Thanks to everyone who has gave advice and commented.

Hi TeeJay! Thanks! I can relate, if I only drink water it goes down hard and gags me, but if I put in AW Root Beer flavor (SF of course) I can do the 16.9 oz in about 20 minutes. Some people here say do not use flavors because of the artificial sweetener but that has been a godsend for me. Today Friday is 10 weeks exactly since my surgery. Nobody said it would be easy and for those people who think this is an easy way to go, well they are mistaken. But I feel good most days and if I don't it is usually my own fault. What part of MD?

Thanks for everyone's advice. I will let you know when this stall and weight gain stops. I have added another mile to my walks and trying to drink more water and I had stopped the protein shakes because my Nut said no protein shakes after 1 month because of my kidney disease and am restarting to drink them.

I have been following your story and can relate completely with the 6 months and they do go fast. On top of the time going by quickly all the tests required, Pysch analysis, Nutritionist counseling, and weigh ins it is enough to make you crazy. Now I do not want to alarm you but has anyone (your family DR or Surgeon) mentioned about losing too much weight in the 6 months before your surgery? This happened to me and it took 2 months for the insurance to approve my surgery with the help of a letter from my kidney DR saying the surgery was medically necessary. Just be careful as my Surgeon's assistant said 1-2 lbs can mean the difference between being approved or denied at the end of the 6 months. I mean that was a stressful time for me to think I did all that I had to do, and then I may be denied for being too good of a patient. Thank the lord It all worked out.

Water and pills are the hardest parts for me as well. The day after surgery when they gave me the 1 oz medicine cup of water I spewed it all back up and thought I was drowning. The nurse made me try again until I got it down. It has become more easy as time passes but it is still a problem for me. I think if your Dr allows you should mix SF drink mixes with the water. That helped me tremendously. AW root beer flavored water is my go to powder mix. Something about that mix goes down smoothly for me, much better than other flavors.

Thank you, I did see the nutritionist before my surgery, but not since. I thought I was doing great, but I guess it is time to call them. I live 2.5 hrs drive from the hospital. Also my water intake is almost the full 64 oz would that make that much of a difference? Thank you for your advice.

Tomorrow is 10 weeks post op for me and I had a bad sick day yesterday with nausea and just feeling ill. This was my fault as I know that I cannot tolerate coffee with skim milk. It is the milk and not the coffee. I also still have a hard time taking meds/vitamins. Everyone says it will get better. Today is a much better day so you have to know that it does eventually get better.

I am 10 weeks Post OP on Friday. I think I may also be in a stall or worse. I was at 179 lbs last Wednesday and I then went back to 182 and slowly since then I am now back to 186. What is going on? I have not changed my diet or exercise. I may not have got all of my water in for a few days but other than that everything is the same. I am logging only about 300 net calories a day so how can I be gaining weight back? Very frustrating! I was at 228 lbs on 4/27/18 my surgery day and thought I was doing well, but something has to be wrong.

BTW, my wife has been amazingly supportive since my operation and during recovery. I think it she was experiencing the same doubts that we all experience before surgery, but she has been nothing but supportive since then.

I 100% remember the night before surgery and driving to Pittsburgh wondering if I made the correct choice, but I really never thought it would end wrong or badly. You have to remember why you are doing this surgery and yes it will be a life changer but if you have went this far you only have to cross the finish line. Now that being said I have had my freak out moments that no one told me about, like drinking water for the first time and gagging but you keep going and one day you look at yourself in the mirror and wonder who is that person looking back at me. It is all good as long as you get your head to cooperate with the program.

Dude, I had the same problem, I lost 32 lbs before surgery and my wife said surgery was too extreme, but I had health issues like you but even more severe. She was like why do you need this and your going to change our life so much! I had to reassure her that all was going to be ok. I am 5'9" and was 228 on surgery day. I am now 180 at 9 weeks post op. OK, you have to change your life but it is so worth it. I had a complete physical yesterday and my diabetes is in remission, my kidney disease is gone, and my BP is normal. It this keeps going so well I am going to wish I did this operation 10 yrs ago.

Hi All, I also did have a few second thoughts but that was not really an option because my health decided for me that i would be having the surgery. Ok, it is not that bad! I am 9 weeks post op and I do not get hungry but I do get bored by what I am allowed to eat, but not a bad problem to have. From what I have heard and read it gets better, but you do have to have discipline. Think about the good that will be and not what you will miss.

Hi Mandy, How is it going and how was Magee hospital? I did see another post about your frustration regarding your initial weight loss and I am hoping that has resolved. I am a little frustrated as well because I do not live close to Magee hospital and feel isolated from any support they may offer.

Hi Mandy, I would say the others are correct and hopefully by now you are seeing results. The healing process is a big part of those 1st 4-6 weeks. I am having a stall at 9 weeks presently as well, but I am told that once I go to my next food phase I will see results again. I will say I am comfortable at my current weight.

I had my surgery on 4/27/18. I am 56 and have lost 46 lbs post surgery and 34 lbs before surgery. Food is still not easy but this was my only choice as I had Barrett’s esophagus, diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease. I am off most meds but the diabetes is not resolved so I still take oral meds for that. I am hoping to get off all my meds someday. I am thankful that my kidney GFR is now at 63 and holding at that number. When diagnosed my GFR was 28 and my kidney doctor said I was going to have to go on dialysis within a few years. All is going well except not tolerating a lot of food that I should be allowed to eat.