When did yall start drinking normally (more than a sip, breathe, a sip, breathe)? and more than a medicine cup?

About 7 days post-op for me. Until then, I found that if I took a drink too big (bigger than a small sip), my stomach "cramped" up terribly and it hurt like a son-of-a-gun! At about the 7 day mark though, I guess a lot of the swelling had gone down and I could start to take more normal mouthfuls (still not as much as I used to, and no chugging of course!).

Now I'm 17 days post-op and I can take a couple of mouthfuls (moderate amount) one after the other.....though I've developed a habit of holding a bit of the liquid in my mouth so I don't overwhelm my stomach with too much too fast.

I am so glad you asked this question. I am 8 days out and on the 7th day, I could drink a mouthful of water with no problem. I worried that I was going to do some harm to the new belly, but I have no side effects at all. I really love water and I was so glad to be able to drink again. Now, I am breaking it up with some Nestle Prue Life Splash. It's not as sweet as the Fruit 2 0, and it seems as if it's easier on me, too. I also hold the h20 in my mouth and exhale before I swallow, so I don't get any additional air in the new sleeve.

I still make a very real effort to control my intake, because I dont want to train myself to aim for a feeling if total fullness, and I don't ever want to fall into eating or drinking being a passive thing.

With that said, I had some complications, I dont know if I am typical but I could take a small/moderate drink after about a week, but only a few.

I think I was a little more swollen then the average bear as I was at least a month out before I could take what I would call a drink, not a sip. 11 months post-op, I still do not take drinks like I used to do and, of course, the amount I can drink is drastically reduced. I used to be able to drink two 8 oz glasses of water without blinking an eye. Now, I can drink about 1/3 of a glass and I am done. I have to take two drinks to get that 1/3 in.

Ummm, I actually took that funky blue stuff & the nasty tasting clear stuff they use for the leak tests in 1swallow each.

3 weeks and I was taking pretty normal drinks. I sip, sip, sipped at first but now I can gulp about 3x w/o getting that hard knot in my throat.

Everyday your capacity may vary- but in the early post-op stages I am betting you will be seeing daily improvement until you find your "new normal".

It took me about 3 weeks... I too was told that I was very tight in my esophagus and liquid passed through slowly. I miss my gulps though... I used to drink a bottle of water in about 5 minutes each morning lol.