caffeine

When I had my first consult with Dr. Aranow, he told me to go ahead and start weaning myself off the caffeine. I've started mixing my coffee 50/50 with decaf, and completely stopped drinking soda (well, 99% of the time). But I've not been able to go any further than that without getting a wicked headache. If there is anything I turn to for comfort more than food, it's coffee & soda. We talked about this at my psych eval, but I need to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Am I just not committed enough? Will I ever be able to do it? And, the most important question, will I ever be able to drink real coffee and tea again??

Teresa: I was told that I only had to stay off caffeine for the recovery period of my post-op diet. Within about 6 weeks I was back on half-caf/half-decaf and now I'm on regular coffee with no ill effects. (I've not had any soda of caf or decaf varieties.) I am banded, not bypass, by the way. I don't know if the policies for bypass are the same.

I hope so, Bette! Thanks

I gotta tell ya . . . that first sip of Dunkin Donuts hazelnut was practically ******ic!

Hi Teresa, Hang in there! You have to go off caffeine gradually. Cold turkey will give you the headaches. Maybe you did too much too soon? After awhile you can go back to some caffeine but they do not recommend it because it is a diaretic and it counts against your fluids, therefore if you have an 8 oz cup of coffee you will been an additional 8 oz of fluid in the day. Hope all is going well. I haven't heard from you in awhile. Carolyn

Hi, Carolyn! I've been so busy going to doctors and having tests run that I haven't had time for much else! I saw Amy today, and she really gave me a boost of enthusiasm re: my diet, and I learned all about the diet stages, yada yada yada. You know what I mean. I really liked her. I was feeling overwhelmed just from the sheer amount of testing that I've been having. I'll be glad when this part is over! How is it going with getting all that protein in?