When did your doctor say you could drink caffeinated beverages and when did you?

..... exercise?

....drink alcohol?

.... smoke cigarettes? ( I am sure the doctor would tell you not to start again.)

.... smoke marijuana?

... anything else?

I have severe back problems. I am in desperate need of surgery but presently do not have insurance so I am unable to have it. Every night, I have one or two drinks. They help me to relax and help me to sleep. Otherwise, I am awake all night from the pain. However, even without the back issues, I will continue to have a drink at night. It is a great way to unwind, that, however, does not make me an alcoholic.

I worked in a psychiatric and substance hospital for 13 years. Lets not confuse enjoying a few drinks with alcoholism. They are two completely different animals. An alcoholic wakes up in the morning craving a drink, same as a drug addict wakes up craving their drug of choice. An addict is willing to sacrifice their way of life, their families, etc. to have their drug/drink of choice. They must have their drug or they will actually experience physical symptoms of withdrawal. That is a huge difference between enjoying a drink in the evening or going out with friends on the weekend and planning on having enough drinks where you need to designate a driver ahead of time.

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I have severe back problems. I am in desperate need of surgery but presently do not have insurance so I am unable to have it. Every night' date=' I have one or two drinks. They help me to relax and help me to sleep. Otherwise, I am awake all night from the pain. However, even without the back issues, I will continue to have a drink at night. It is a great way to unwind, that, however, does not make me an alcoholic.

I worked in a psychiatric and substance hospital for 13 years. Lets not confuse enjoying a few drinks with alcoholism. They are two completely different animals. An alcoholic wakes up in the morning craving a drink, same as a drug addict wakes up craving their drug of choice. An addict is willing to sacrifice their way of life, their families, etc. to have their drug/drink of choice. They must have their drug or they will actually experience physical symptoms of withdrawal. That is a huge difference between enjoying a drink in the evening or going out with friends on the weekend and planning on having enough drinks where you need to designate a driver ahead of time.

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Very well said

I am too 40 pounds in a month ain't bad..exiting!!

I am a registered nurse so i understand pharmacology enough that when i got to the hotel today, the first thing i did was light up! The barium swallow test made me violently retch and this is no good with a new sleeve. Needless to say that now that I can hold something down i feel much better and my bp has dropped frpm 193/100 to 118/72. : )

That is interesting that your doctor said to avoid caffeine for 3 months. Mine said the opposite that we never had to stop caffeine except for the day before surgery. The doctor and NUT did say no diet drinks. The NUT explained it was because it might lead people back into older behaviors. I did not start having coffee until 5 weeks post op and, if it means anything, daily use of caffeine has not inhibited an effective weight loss. That is my opinion.

I looked at the binder that my surgeon gave me and it says that it's best to avoid caffeine but if you do drink caffeine consider cutting back or drinking 8 oz of Water for every cup of coffee. It also said its best to avoid alcohol. I have no idea where I got the 3 months from but maybe that was my rule. I love coffee but I hate feeling like I need it every morning, so I plan to avoid it. Alcohol I plan to wait until I reach goal but ultimately who knows what will happen down the line

It is still illegal in the United States to go to the store buy a joint and smoke it by federal law. In some states it is legal for medical use only you have to have a prescription to get it.

In colorado you wont need a medical card. Weed will be legal in june or july 2013 for those 21 and older

I was told not to have caffeine at all as it can slow your weight loss (that's all it took for me to give it up completely). I started walking in the hospital and regular exercise after 8 week check-up. The other questions don't apply because I do not drink or smoke. My advice is to adhere to the guidelines your NUT and Doc give you so that you can reach your goal quicker. Don't look for reasons to break the rules. I've seen people not follow the guidelines post-op and I've seen "slow" weight loss as a result. I've even seen weight gain in those that went back to old habits. We all loose quickly at first, you have to work it to keep it going. The sleeve is merely a tool to make it easier for you Think back to the motivation you had when you went into this and don't loose sight of your goals because you are focused on getting back to "normal" your "normal" is what got you here to begin with.

I am a registered nurse so i understand pharmacology enough that when i got to the hotel today' date=' the first thing i did was light up! The barium swallow test made me violently retch and this is no good with a new sleeve. Needless to say that now that I can hold something down i feel much better and my bp has dropped frpm 193/100 to 118/72. : )[/quote']

Haha me too! I thought my stomach was jumping out of my body and I expected to find it on the floor.

Due to the passing of the law in Washington and Colorado' date=' most marijuana smoker's will not have to worry about being arrested. The Feds might come and shut down a grower or a retail store, but there are way to many marijuana smokers for the feds to come in and start arresting everyone who's smoking. In those states already the local and state police have stopped arresting individual smoker's and in fact the King County Prosecutor has already dismissed over 100 pending marijuana possession cases. In fact, in most states, most people don't worry much about being arrested. Most of the people I know that got arrested were doing something else (like drinking) when they got arrested for marijuana. Drunk and disorderly is not a good time to be carrying weed around.[/quote']

So in my state of Washington, where possession of 1 oz of weed is now legal, the prosecutors are going to dismiss all pending cases retroactively? Interesting. I happen to live in Snohomish county near granite falls where people getting stoned is the least of our worries. Lol! It seems like there is news about a meth house blowing up every week.

When did your doctor say you could drink caffeinated beverages and when did you?

..... exercise? immediately focus on strenuous exercise

....drink alcohol? Immediately, sitting here sipping rum and coke with my signature straw.

.... smoke cigarettes? ( I am sure the doctor would tell you not to start again.). Doctor said I could smoke upon release from the hospital

.... smoke marijuana? Immediately, I decided instead to make low carb brownies with my weed.

... anything else?

J/k

So in my state of Washington, where possession of 1 oz of weed is now legal, the prosecutors are going to dismiss all pending cases retroactively? Interesting. I happen to live in Snohomish county near granite falls where people getting stoned is the least of our worries. Lol! It seems like there is news about a meth house blowing up every week.

Not all the prosecutors, I hear in Spokane they are still going to prosecute those that have possession charges pending - but King County Prosecutor decided that it just wasn't worth it.

I am a regular medical marijuana patient and made my doctor aware if it immediately! I smoked pre op post op I'm 7 days out and I use different methods like liquid thc in like diet snapple and it not only helps with nausea but with stress which 7 days post up there a lot of! And as for the munchies there different effect to different stuff uppers downers! Even vaporizers everyone has there own option but for me and my doc no major concerns!

What state do you live in djmelen? I would have let my doctor know, but I live in Texas, which is a non-medical marijuana state or recreational state and I wasn't sure if I should. I have told a doctor (not this surgeon) before and he said he was going to pretend I didn't say anything and that I should never mention it to him again - he didn't want to know.

I mainly use it to slow myself down. Ever since I was little I was somewhat hyperactive and would go off all excited and I was also clumsy and accident prone. Before I smoked I would have accidents such as falling down and running into things because I didn't pay attention and was careless. I rarely do this when I smoke because it slows me down enough that I have time to think and be careful.

I live in ca so I have a medical marijuana recommendation which makes it legal for me....its made my recovery so much easier I was off pain meds after 4 days

Caffeine- I was given mildly caffeinated beverages (green tea) in the hospital. Was told to limit my coffee or black tea to two cups a day

..... exercise? 6 weeks out for anything more vigorous than walking

....drink alcohol? 6 months, and even then he said it's not recommended

.... smoke cigarettes? ( I am sure the doctor would tell you not to start again.) Didn't ask

.... smoke marijuana? Didn't ask

... anything else? Soda- was told none for the first six months

Can't answer the question about when I started those things, since I'm only four days post op... but I'm a rule follower so I'm sure I will introduce these things according to my Dr's schedule.