I'm still in the process of researching whether I want to/can/can afford to get banded and have a question. I am currently a major Diet Coke addict. Are sodas absolutely forbidden with the band? Does carbonation make you feel sick, even if it's just a few sips? Or do different people have different reactions?

I personally don't enjoy carbonated drinks since banding. The bubbles are very uncomfortable. It's believed carbonated drinks can cause band erosion. I just don't feel they're worth taking the risk of losing my band. If you're really serious about banding, you may want to start weaning yourself off of the cokes now. Get those withdrawal headaches out of the way. It is doable.

*my* dr says they are ok...other say NO COKES DIET OR NOT!!

i find that i can only drink them when i dont have restriction. if i have restriction it just causes pain and i am not a fan of pain...the soda sits in your pouch and bubbles (expands) and thats what hurts me.

i dont ever really desire them anymore...

My Dr. Says NO CARBONATION

So I have not even tried them since banding, it is not worth the risk to me. I value my Dr.'s instructions and expertise.

I have heard it can be painful drinking them after banding

I have also heard it can cause erosion..who knows for sure, but agasin it is not worth the risk

I know what Cocoa Cola can do to your teeth and have you ever poured Coca Cola over the top of a car battery? When you have seen what it does to that, I can only imagine what it could do to my band

I was practically addicted to Diet Coke pre-banding, six or seven cans a day, it was my favourite thing in the world - but I knew from people's testimonies on the boards, that it was out of the question after being banded, and it's wierd, but even before surgery, I accepted that, and have never touched a drop since. I don't even miss it, and now, 15 months later, I'm really glad I dropped it - it's so unhealthy! Carbonated drinks are really bad for bone density according to a new study, so I'm delighted that the band "made" that decision for me!

i will occasionally have a tiny sip just if i feel like i really want one but honestly i dont miss it anymore, especially after reading the thread on here aboit using cokes as a driveway degreaser!!!

Being banded is more than just putting a little inflatable tube around your stomach and restricting calories. To me, it's about choosing a more healthy lifestyle. In my opinion, and it is only mine, drinking several cans of soda a day is not healthy for anyone, let alone someone who is serious about becoming a healthier person.

I say this as a former diet coke junkie. I look longingly at my sister's diet coke at a meal and I - every once and awhile- take a sip and enjoy how it dances on my tongue.

But now my skin is clearer than it's ever been, my body feels clean and strong. I no longer feel lethargic after a major caffeine binge. I get a headache now just from eating too much chocolate.

Sure I miss diet coke, but it is a small price to pay to be healthy.

Megan

I haven't tried any soft drinks since banding, I really don't miss them at all. I do miss a good cold beer once in a while though, but I haven't tried that either.

I keep hearing people say that it could cause erosion of the band. How is that possible when the band is on the outside of the stomach? I was never a soda drinker so this is not an issue for me. I used to drink maybe one soda a month, so I definitely don't miss it. I just wonder how that reasoning applies. My doc said it's the carbonation that is the problem. It is gas that expands and since it is liquid it goes through the soma and when the expanded gas rises it causes the stoma to expand and swell, not only causing pain, but eventually could cause the stoma to stretch.

I swear-just before reading this post-I was going to start a new thread about how much I MISS drinking pop! Isn't that funny!?

Diet coke is such a luscious thing.

When I used to eat nachos on the computer I used to gulp it down-and how refreshing!

I miss it dearly. But, it's clearly not the best drinking choice I can make now. Now...when everything has changed (for the better!).

My family had McDonalds for lunch today. I could smell the starch from the french fries, and the grease off of the burger! Yum yum!

In a way...I am daily mourning my old eating/ drinking habits.

That is where the Band is a LIFESAVER! I know I shouldn't eat/ drink certain things because they will cause pain/ discomfort/ or aren't compatible with the band. Whereas if I was just on a diet (another diet) I would think-"oh-a few fries won't hurt" and then I would be well on my way to a quarter pounder with cheese. Now-it's no fries, no pop, no quarter pounder. But, If I weigh myself-I might see that I am now under 300 lbs.

I am learning day by day that food doesn't equal happiness.

~Joan~

Before banding I lived on diet coke and all then junk I could eat because of the calories I was saving drinking the Diet Coke. I have yet to find anyone here that was more addicted to it then me.

I work midnights as a 911 operator for a local public safety department and on my way to work I stop at the 7/11 store and buy a 44oz diet coke. I'd get to work and the officers would be in briefing that last approx 30 minutes. they then get ready to go on the street. Someone would always come up and ask me if I was ready for another Diet Coke and I'd say yes. Sometime more then one would ask and I'd say yes to each one. So I'd get several more 44 ozers in the next hour. The around 3am they have to come in to pick up paperwork and one or two would bring me in anotter 44 ozer. Then at 7am I get off and go home. I don't go to bed till 3 or 4 pm so While I'm up in the morning and early afternoon working around the house I'd drink two 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke before bed.

When I was told I had to stop dinking it as part of the band process I almost didn't get banded just because I couldn't break the addiction. But I decide to try figuring the two week liquid diet before hand was a good time to use as a test of my ability to stop drinking this junk. Well I had three straight days of a severe headach from the caffine withdrawal and on the second day almost had my wife take me to hospital due to thinking I was having a stroke from the pain in my head. When it passed on the thrid day I swore that if for some reason I didn't get banded I'd never drink Diet pop or any pop for that matter again. And I have not had a single drop and do not miss it at all.

Prior to banding, Diet Coke ran through my veins. I had pretty much stopped drinking them months prior to being banded, they started tasting like pure syrup to me. Now that I know I'm not suppose to have it, I do have the yearn for one now and then.

No no no carbonated liquids. PLUS.... I use Coke to remove the rust from things outside in my garden and cleaning my toilet bowl stains. Do you really want to put that stuff in your stomach? Grab some juice!

about a month after banding, I drank some soda at work. It didn't taste as good as I thought it would. I got about half way through it, and it began to feel uncomfortable. For about an hour after drinking it my insides were so noisy my coworkers could hear me. I stopped at less than half a can, so it didn't really get painful, but it was enough to help me know it's not for me anymore. I was a pepsi junkie prebanding, now I don't even miss it. I know if I absolutely had to I could have a drink or two, but I have gone for so long with out it that I'm not even tempted.

I am right there with prebanding Diet Pepsi running through my veins. Hubby thinks that the stock in Pepsi surely has gone down. I drank my last Diet Pepsi day before surgery and Haven't even thought of having one yet. I have drank Diet Pepsi everyday of my adult life and regular Pepsi prior to that.

I think that is one of the most amazing things that has happened to me so far with this surgery, is that I can live without a Diet Pepsi and I don't miss it a bit.

I was hooked on Dr. Pepper. The other day, I took my kids though Wendy's and I gat an Iced tea and my daughters got Dr. Pepper. Well, by mistake, I picked up one of the Dr. Peppers and took a drink. YUK! it tasted like pure carbonated water!! I asked my daughter if it tasted right to her and she said yes, So, because it has been so long, it now tasts so different. I don't crave them at all. Now I am a tea-a-holic.