Caffeine

I used to love my coffee too and always drank it black.  My Dr. told me that it could cause ulcers so I need to stay away from it.  I miss drinking it though. 

I drink decaf at home and regular coffeewhen I'm out. 

I was told no caffeine until I was 3 months out.  Then, I was limited to one cup of caffeine a day. Many years ago, when I was diagnosed with GERD, I switched to all decaf. Unfortunately, decaf tea isn't available at restaurants, and since I was always hot before surgery, I occasionally drank reg tea, when I was tired of water.

I'm already back to drinking teas that have caffeine. I was only told to avoid caffeine until I can meet my daily hydration requirement, and I just couldn't function normal with no caffeine. But I'm keeping it to a minimal amount right now. Eventually I plan to go back to drinking non-fat lattes. Yes, they have carbs and calories, but only from the skim milk, which is a protein source. A tall non-fat latte has about 10 grams of protein. 

I was told not caffeine for the first 6 months, but somebody else told me I could have it anyway.  So, my 2nd month after surgery, I had 4 ounces of coffee each day for 5 days.  At first it felt great to have energy again.  But I developed a sharp pain and had to go back to the hospital.  The first thing they asked me was, "Did you have any caffeine?"  They were afraid I had developed an ulcer.  Thankfully, it turned out I did not have any ulcer; but my intestines were aflame.  After 3 days in the hospital on an I.V., I didn't go back on caffeine for about a year.  Now, I have at least 1 cup of coffee (10 ounces) each morning with my protein in it.  I'm fine.  Maybe it was a fluke in the beginning, I don't know.  Anyway, long story short, be careful -- but to answer your question, it's NOT forever.  Eventually you can have your caffeine again.

Hope this helps. 

If you got the H-pylori  (spelling) test... if it is positive, caffeine will and or could get you ulcers. H-pylori is a gut bacteria... you get or can get that causes ulcers. H-pylori is with you always and no treatment to get rid of it, as I've been told. Post WLS you could develop an ulcer and have problems post surgery with both VSG and RNY. I love tea, but having ulcers or the potential for getting one got me off it... You can try it to find out but really I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself... irritation to your tiny pouch and at least. It takes quite, a few months at least for the cuts to heal, rerouting inside not so sensitive... just say'n. Can you live with decaf...? decaf is ok.

Just to let you know, I love sweet teas, and tired them... and started feeling a burn... so I stopped. It was enough... it was telling me by the uncomfortable feeling... you were warned. So I skipped the second attempt. Health is more important.

My program also says no to caffeine, but reading feedback on here about other folks having caffeine I decided that it would be fine.  I was not a really huge coffee drinker, but in the last few months I'd noticed my caffeine consumption ramping up.  I'd have one in the morning, one in the afternoon and if we went out to dinner, I'd have coffee with dinner or sometimes one in the evening at home.  I was also having a Chike coffee protein shake in the morning, so some days I'd end up with 4 caffeine drinks in a day.

Well.  I started having abdominal pain that would feel like really bad gas and radiate over on my left side.  This pain would last for about 16 hours and go away and I would feel fine after it passed.  The pain usually came on at night and I would just go to sleep and wake up fine.  One day it started at 5 am and went ALL DAY.  I went to urgent care and they tried a mixture of Mylanta and lidocaine which did nothing and neither did a shot of Demerol.  The liquid not helping the pain was worrisome to me because that indicated that whatever was going on was in my blind stomach.  A CT scan showed nothing unusual with my RNY and confirmed my gallbladder was not the source of the issue.  A followup with my regular doc said it might be gastritis and I'm on the tail end of a 4 week course of Prilosec which I'm doing well on.

I think what happened is that I had a bit of a transfer addiction with caffeine.  I don't drink caffeinated soda anymore, so coffee was my go-to source and I had started to have what my body considered too much.  I'm not going to tell you to go cold turkey with caffeine or that you can never have it again, but I will advise you to take it slow and be very aware of your consumption and how you feel even several hours after drinking.

Jen

My clinic is no fun... They say no caffeine, no carbonation and no alcohol E V E R  :(