Is wondering has anyone had any effects of alcohol and smoking after their band? Heard horrific story's of the effects of them with the band but also story's of no effects what so ever...

Effects of smoking to me = causes my clothes/hair/truck, basically everything to STINK. Eyes to burn. I don't smoke...YUCK, but when I am at places they do, those are some of the ways it affects me. Similar to pre banding.

Alcohol, I haven't noticed any difference pre or post banding.

For me alcohol is about 3X more potent after being banded. So, I drink much less. Maybe one beer or one glass of wine. Rarely any hard liquor mixed drinks. The calories are empty so there's really no use for the stuff other than a stress reliever. You have to be very careful with alcohol once being banded. You can't afford to over-indulge and get hungover or throw up. Throwing up with the band is one of the main causes of slips.

I've never smoked and agree with Catfish but I've read of many on this forum who say most docs won't do surgery unless the patient stops smoking. Recovery can be diminished for people who smoke. Something to do with slow healing.

Best to just quit altogether.

Non smoker here so no answer for that question.

Alcohol - you will weigh less and eat a lot less... Therefore for most of us our tolerance goes way way down. I used to be able to drink half a bottle of wine now a glass gets me buzzed. My vodka drinks have a lot more Water in them than before. Beer is difficult due to the carbonation but half a beer gets to me quickly. As the other poster said - be careful about over indulging. Too intoxicated to where you need/want to throw up is a bad thing. Just take it slow. Oh and the more you drink, the more you'll want to eat so that messes the weight loss efforts too in addition to all the empty calories.

smoking stimulates your gastric secretions which in turn could affect your band and possibly cause erosion.

I have a band, and I will have a few drinks when on vacation... but just remember every shot you intake is probably worth one or two hours work on a treadmill. It is all empty calories--zero nutrional value and over 100 calories for a 1.5 oz. shot. Alcohol doesn't bother me, but I suspect tolerance is an individual thing; along with the usual caveats about alcohol absorbion being more rapid in folks who've have WLS. Whenever I think about a drink, I think about the long hour I spent on a treadmill at the gym the day before--that is a reality check If my weight was falling off, I'd might be a bit more liberal about indulging in libation.

Smoking I gave up thirty years ago.... if I hadn't I wouldn't be here now. But I believe that adults can do what ever they want, so long as it is legal.

Edited June 20, 201412 yr by labwalker