pioneer5

I am going to keep this short (If I can!); I’m English and English people tend to keep things to ourselves with strangers, especially if it is a point of failure so I am nervous about posting this.
I had a gastric sleeve on 23rd July 2015, so 2 years and 7 months ago and it has been easy peasy with regards to food. I used to think that I couldn’t really support other people as I never had issues with the operation, or the months that followed nor with the huge weight loss. I felt fantastic, healthy and was going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, swimming a couple or more times a week and walking my lovely Labrador a couple of hours a day. I could walk up steep mountains and still have breath to talk non-stop. Life was great.
My second son got married at the end of Feb 2016 and I had a glass of champagne and a couple of small glasses of wine at the reception. The three drinks lasted 9 hours. For the rest of the year the drinks increased. I would have a couple of glasses of wine at the weekends. Then after a rough day at work (I have a very stressful job) I would have maybe one gin and tonic. That became a glass of wine and a gin and tonic and so on. I would have odd weeks where I didn’t drink at all so I never really saw it as an issue. I enjoyed it but did not really crave it.
Jump to January 2017 and I had skin surgery. Tummy Tuck lower and upper eyelids and a breast reduction and uplift. The first four weeks were perfect and then I started having the wounds split on my tummy and breasts. I was very ill and had to go to the hospital every day to have the wounds redressed and packed (they were black and absolutely stank at this point) initially I had three open wounds and as one started healing another would appear. In all I had 17 wounds along the scars and had to have additional surgery in June to clean 2 of them out and re-stitch them. In 2017 I had a total of 6 months off work because of this and slept in a riser recliner for 4 months.
So, I started drinking heavily around May last year (that’s not an excuse its just the reality). I did it in secret, I hid bottles all over the house where I knew my husband or sons wouldn’t go (like the washing machine lol). I hid them in wellington boots, in old handbags, in my laptop workbag, in the garden, the car, behind furniture. I tried a few times to stop but just couldn’t. I spoke to a gentleman on here who had the same issue in the past, he said he had never posted about it because it would just get backlash and I felt the same. I told three close friends, I stopped drinking and lasted 3 weeks then started to drink more than before. I would get alcohol at different shops daily, so they wouldn’t judge me! Once I bought two ltr bottles of gin and the woman behind the counter said, “watch out, you will become an alcoholic with all that”. I nearly burst out crying, I felt so ashamed. It got worse and worse then a lot worse.
I was drinking 4 pints of beer and half a ltr of gin a day. I functioned well in my job and no one suspected a thing. Even the friends I had told before didn’t know I was back on the booze. Then one night, I was driving home from work, stopped to buy some gin, and thought I’d get some ready made up ones too which come in cans. I drank 3 whilst I was driving home. That was my wake up call. Im an ex policewoman and have been to many accidents where the drivers have been drunk and I was ashamed of myself. I saw the Doctor the next morning and whilst I was telling him what I had been doing and sobbing my heart out, I had a panic attack and ended up passing out. He was so good with me and signed me off work for a month and referred me to a drink and drug support group. He then put me on a 10 day detox at home where I have to take a ton of tablets. This is my last day. Tomorrow I only have to take 6 tablets a day of one medication and the other one has stopped.
I have my first appointment next week with the support group. Once they have seen me I will again change medication and will need to stay on that between 6-12 months. I am so lucky to have had the guts to see the GP and tell him the truth. I feel so embarrassed and ashamed. Throughout all of this I have kept to my eating plan, stuck to drinking 64oz Water, and taken all my Vitamins.< span> I cant believe that I have had the control over that yet not over the alcohol. On the day I saw the GP my Blood Pressure was 202/147 so I have to go every day and its now normal.
I am now 176llb so have put 40llbs on, not through food but through drinking calories. I haven’t read through this after typing it as I might just lose nerve and delete the lot so if it sounds odd or the grammar is poor please excuse that.
I am still having withdrawal symptoms (just the tremors) but at least I wake up in the mornings and can remember what I did the night before.
I know people here who have a glass of wine every night after work. Some people can, I obviously can’t. Just be careful. Please.

Ok people have talked about this before, but I wanted to share or put my 2 cents and my experience in. I'm past 8 months, 253 days post op to be exact. I wasn't a huge drinker but when I drank it was usually more than 2 drinks, so the long and short of it was I always got a hefty buzz or drunk, but I never drank unless I went out so I didn't see it as a "problem". But it was classic binge drinking when I did drink.
Post surgery- after my ok to drink , I had some wine, first glass I didn't get drunk any faster, halfway through second I could be good but since we can't eat AND drink then why ruin my buzz, right? I eat well, I drink my Water, I quit smoking, so I'd have some wine on the weekends (not normal for me) weekends turned into many days of the week, then every night. I've lost 104 now, I was still losing when I drank because I ate very little and I only drank wine. (I'm NOT glorifying any of this) With bariatric surgery I don't think there's a ok 2 glasses and I'm ok (as in not too drunk/tipsy, etc) . Pour that third glass and I was zero to 💯 and for me I would be drunk a lot longer.
Alcoholism is huge in my family, why I thought having a few glasses of wine all the time was a good idea, maybe it filled the void. I tried to rationalize it with myself that because I couldn't eat and couldn't smoke anymore that having a few glasses was ok. I've been in therapy for food addiction, he said this isn't really transfer addiction because I didn't really have true food addiction.
I guess I'm posting this for anyone who asks about drinking and if you have a history of any addiction or alcoholism in the family I would be cautious of alcohol. I should've known, thought about it more, but now I carry a chip from AA in my pocket everyday. I had a problem binge drinking before surgery, and yes you can be an alcoholic even if you don't drink that much, with me I drank to be buzzed or to get drunk.
Im not posting this to be policed about the calories in wine or how it halts weight loss or to be bullied for making a poor choice. I'm posting this in the hopes that someone may read it who may be like me and start drinking a lot, or if someone is in recovery and wants to talk. If you do decide drink, be careful, it stayed in my bloodstream for a long time.

It really is a personal decision whether or not to tell anyone about your bariatric surgery. I let my family, co-workers, and close friends know about it before I went in for surgery, and then told everyone else after it was over. Although I was expecting some dissension, I didn't receive one negative reaction to my decision.

Husband and my mom are the only ones who know

I'm a firm believer in honesty. But I'm also a firm believer that everything is not everyone's business. Tell only who you want.

Only my husband and mom know and I don't plan on telling anyone else. People are ignorant about the surgery and are judgemental about it, and I don't need negativity, nor do I need anyone asking a million questions. I don't like discussing my personal health issues with anyone.

Welcome everyone! We're a tough group of baby boomers, huh? Good luck everyone!

I started using Bio Oil and my skin has 100% changed for the better. All dryness is gone. I’ve also seen a firming affect on my neck and under-chin. It’s cheap too! And goes a long way.

My first pic is just after surgery cause I didn't have any before good ones.

Started at 237 and that was heaviest.
Surgery was 4/11/17 I didn't have to do preop diet cause I needed to maintain.
2nd pic is 7/25/17. 60 lbs down weighing in last week at 177.

I want to be somewhere between 150-140.

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8 months out 202 pounds down total, 170 since surgery! [emoji1320][emoji1320]

I totally understand your reservations. And I agree, there isn't enough discussion on the negative side of WLS. I had the sleeve surgery May 7, 2018 and for the first 6 weeks or so I regretted it. I didn't have any complications. My problem was it hurt so bad to eat anything or drink fluids for much longer than I anticipated. I got depressed and felt like I had made a horrible mistake. I couldn't tolerate the Protein Shakes or anything with artificial sweeteners. I wasn't able to get enough fluids in and the chewable vitamins made me nauseous. It was rough for a while. Plus, I also had this totally unreasonable anger that I couldn't eat what I wanted to anymore. I was grieving my "breakup" with food and it was hard. At 8 weeks post-op, I finally turned a corner. I could finally eat solid food and my stomach didn't cramp at every bite. I was able to swallow whole Vitamins instead of having to use chewables. And I finally got some energy back and felt like exercising. All of this made a HUGE difference. I'm so happy I chose to have the surgery. I've lost almost 50 pounds and feel so much better. My advice is to understand that the healing process is hard even if you don't have any complications but to remember that it won't feel like that forever. This site helped me tremendously. Good luck to you and I hope you realize all your goals!

Yeah, my surgery was two weeks ago and its really any liquids but mostly plain Water hurts the most. It hurts in my upper abdomen area and it is a very uncomfortable feeling.

I’m 51 and just had the surgery Wednesday November 7, 2018.

Thank you both. Yes I’m home and healing. This is a much longer and slower process than I imagined. They being said I really like this app, I look at different things through out the day to help me understand what I’m going through and to expect.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Hello 52, and I have been approve with a schedule date of Dec 10th.....[emoji847][emoji847]

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Congrats

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Well well well, pioneer5, congratulations and Welcome to our happy group. I hope you are home and starting to heal. How are you feeling?

Hi everyone I'm Anna and I'm 27 years old. I had my surgery august 28th 2018 and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm new here I just found this app today and glad I did becuase I could use all the support I can get. Im on liquids still and having a bit of a mental struggle with still wanting to eat and seeing everyone around me eating. Did anyone else feel this way?
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Hi there. I’m four days post op. Just started shakes today’s. Finished about one and a half. Drinking my fluids the best I can. Get full real quick. Just be patient. It will get better.