Hi, I am 3 days out and my dr gave me a prescription for liquid sucralfate. I am supposed to take it 4 times a day...Yuck! I know several people who have had sleeve surgery and none of them have ever heard of this medication. I'm wondering if anyone else here has to take it. I believe I am only going to have to take it this first month. It's very expensive and nasty tasting.

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It is used for gerd and ulcers and can protect your sleeve certainly appropriate for a new sleeve.Most of us take some medication the first month following surgery to protect our new sleeve or pouch. Good luck.

Never heard of it, & my surgeon did not prescribe me anything to protect my sleeve, sorry.

LOL My doc prescribed it, and I filled it in case I needed it. But I had zero discomfort other than the "bubble" feeling when eating/drinking, so I never took it. I had my 2 week checkup Wed and she asked about it. When I told her I hadn't even taken it she laughed and said it was the single least compliant med she prescribes. No one likes it. But she didn't say it was to protect my sleeve, she said it was in case I was having burning, reflux-type symptoms.

I had the sleeve gastrectomy on Feb 20th, 2018. Carafate 1gram pill was prescribed for me shortly after surgery, I was taking 4 tablets a day. Yesterday I became curious about this drug and started searching the web for information about Carafate being prescribed after a sleeve procedure. I found very little except one article that said Carafate should be taken for two weeks only. My prescription instructions said nothing about taking this pill two hours before or after taking other medication because it could interfere with the other medications effectiveness. One article said take on an empty stomach. I was not told anything about the potential inter action that could lessen the effectiveness of other meds. I have been taking this pill for almost 5 months now and I am furious about the lack of information given to me concerning Carafate. I have stopped taking them after finding out Carafate is prescribed for treating ulcers of the upper GI tract and for treating Peptic Ulcer disease. I have found nothing that says Carafate is normally prescribed after a sleeve gastrectomy procedure.

gI

It seems like many surgeons prescribe some form of antacid - proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec and the like) most commonly. Carafate is very safe and can be effective, there's no real risk to it's ongoing use - but it can interfere w absorption of other meds, so I'd advise you review either with your internist or even your pharmacist if you're on other meds.

That said, for what it's worth, my surgeon stopped my antacid a month post-op and said only resume of there's a lot of GERD. Thankfully, for me the weightloss (which helps GERD) has outweighed the increased pressure from the sleeve, and I have less heartburn than pre-op!