hi guys, before my surgery 2 months ago i was an alcoholic. i kept this even from my doctor. a friend of mine from work informed me that certain draught ales with widgets had low carbination. i have been cheating a bit and even had hard liquer a few times. my surgery was 8 weeks ago, what kind of damage can i be doing to myself? any bad stories to tell?

Clearly in the 2 months since surgery you could not have had that much to drink.A few drinks didnt kill you post op but why start this again now just because you can?This was the ideal time for you to get rid of the addiction.

Not judging you,I started smoking again after surgery.Its just it feels to me its soo much harder to kick it after surgery.It really is.The crutch is bigger (replaced food for me) and you cannot eat when you try to quit again and like the smoking,the booze will have to be quit if it gets to be a problem again,which it will if it was before.

Dont go there.I am feeling very strongly about this as I've quit smoking last week and Im suffering like never before.Dont do it to yourself.

We need to get healthy and do exercise and we cant do it smoking and drinkng to much...lol.

Go for a run!

When you say "alcoholic" do you mean "I liked to drink a lot" or "I really think I need help"?

My life has done a complete 180 for the better since I got into AA and quit drinking back in 2008. It was an even better choice than having the VSG.

If you need help, all you have to do is reach out. Don't hesitate. There's a whole community of folks who only want to help. Look for an AA chapter near you and just go visit.

If you want to talk with me privately, that's fine.

i am a funtional addictive personality type. i never drank and became violent and it never affective my lifestyle to initiate change other than me thinking i need to slow down. im almost 33 and for the past twelve years i drank at least 6 beers a day and up to 18 with hard booze occationally. right now i can drink about 6 pints of ale if i pace myself to make it fit and i know its gotta be hurting my sleeve. its hard to occomplish a head change so i am excessive.

Scotty,

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Alcohol is empty calories that after the sleeve are hard to justify. I'm not clear on any sort of physical damage you may be doing. Is that what it will take for you to quit?

Like Desertmom, i'm not judging. I like to partake myself - usually just on weekends. I'm in the pre-op phase, and I did pretty well the first 6-weeks or so, but I had a couple of bottles of wine at thanksgiving and again last weekend. I'm keeping it more-or-less in check, and I know I'll miss it in the months following surgery.

Back to my question above.. I guess that's the sort of thing you'll have to ask yourself: what will it take to want to quit? Damage to your body? To a relationship? Losing a job? DUI? Then ask if that's what you want to go through. Many people won't make the change until they hit the proverbial "Rock Bottom." You either need to decide you don't want to hit rock bottom, or wait for it to happen.

Good luck to you, man. And we don't want to hear you complaining about a stall! lol

Its not that I want freedom, I need fear. Alcoholism has been a struggle and don't get me wrong I try hard not to cave in. Today I was glad to be honest with the doc, they gave me a medicine to coat my stomach and to prevent ulcers. Doc said u don't want bleeding because your stomach being small, makes it more difficult to repair.

If you need fear... then you need to seriously fear that those 61 pounds that you have lost will be back on and then some with all of the extra calories from the beer. Fear that you will have went through a major surgery and failed yourself. It will be a total waste of a surgery. It's not worth it... I hope you are able to stop drinking and focus on the success you have had so far and on losing the last 28lbs to get to your goal. Good luck.

Everything Gene said ... plus ...

You just cannot fathom the sheer number of people who are just waiting to help you in AA. They will be thrilled to tell you their story of battling alcohol, and will be eager to guide you through your own journey. All you need to do is take one step toward them, they'll come the rest of the way.

Even if you're not sure about it, go to a meeting, introduce yourself (first name only), and kick the tires. Hear the message. Toss it around in your head. See if it's something that interests you.

It's anonymous, so nobody will follow up with you later unless you ask them to. You can choose to never go back again if you like. I swear, if I lived near you I'd offer to take you to a meeting. Tell me your zip code and I will try to find a meeting for you.

Seriously, you sound like you're almost ready to say something like "I wish I knew how to stop". If that's true, please, consider what I'm saying. Like I said earlier, I've lost 100 pounds so far, so many things are better now that I've lost the weight ... but quitting drinking was a much more important life change to me. I wish I could share this with you.

I drink regularly and my surgery is Feb 4th I'm not looking forward to it but I'm going to give it up for the full 18months I was told I had too. Honestly you are putting your self at life threating risk of infection and stopping the healing process. Why even get the surgery if you cant dedicate yourself? No offence, I mean I love drinking and it would be hard because everyone does in my life. I look at like I have ko choice basically you are setting yourself up for. Failure. You should have even gotten sleeved. Not go be harsh I feel for uou- but you just got to be told how it is! Stop drinking!

Well take what you can from my last post, damn auto correct kindle'!! Good luck!

Its not that I want freedom' date=' I need fear. Alcoholism has been a struggle and don't get me wrong I try hard not to cave in. Today I was glad to be honest with the doc, they gave me a medicine to coat my stomach and to prevent ulcers. Doc said u don't want bleeding because your stomach being small, makes it more difficult to repair.[/quote']

Just want you to know my husband had gastric bypass 10 years ago. He lost almost 150 lbs putting him around the 225 mark. His alcohol addiction not only lead him into making decisions that now have him on probation (where I can assure you, you DON'T want to be) but he's also back up to 320 lbs. The wasted calories in the beer plus the carbonation will make all the time and effort put into having surgery completely pointless. He spent two years unemployed, almost 1 year away from me, waiting for his probation transfer to be approved, and now hands over more than half his pay every month for legal costs he's responsible for before he can get off probation. This doesn't even touch what issues it's caused with the people in his life. Please consider the AS option. Even my stubborn husband learned a few things just by going and listening to other peoples stories.

You having a major surgery should be fear enough possible complications it's nothing we can say to you that u don't already kno you have to care enough about your self love for your being are support and convincing will

Only have u thinking its not enough u have to want it for yourself I've been off my cig for 9months I decide I wanted this surgery I had to be serious no smoke no soda 9 months I'm not sleeve yet

Sorry..AA...dang autocorrect!

I just realize I'm in the mens room .. Hahaha I'm lurking

W

still having 4 guiness at least every other day and sometimes a few shots. stuck in a head battle but im hoping its just a phase. its adding about 600 calories i dont need. no gaining on the weight side but im really tired of the same food. breakfast (yogurt or hardboiled eggs) lunch (tuna or lunchmeat wrapped in cheese) dinner ( roast with steam veggie, or any light meat. any breakfast or lunch ideas?