Bariatric Surgery = increased likelihood of ALCOHOLISM.

 Oh hell, I feel it before it HITS.

When we were on the cruise?  I nearly died after two sips of wine. 

NEVER AGAIN.

That and some more: http://www.diabetes-book.com/book/chapter9_4.shtml

This applies to diabetics - but in our case - when our body overrects and makes too much insulin when carbs are consumed - that can create real issue.  I had a few episodes that my BS dropped and stay low after I had 2 small glasses of wine with dinner.  My dinner was nonstarchy veggies and proteins.  So once my body used the sugar - my BS dropped. And my liver was busy with alcohol and did not "make more sugar". 

Ethyl alcohol, however, can indirectly lower the blood sugars of some diabetics if consumed at the time of a meal. It does this by partially paralyzing the liver and thereby inhibiting gluconeogenesis so that it can’t convert all the protein of the meal into glucose. For the average adult, this appears to be a significant effect with doses greater than 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, or one standard shot glass. If you have two 1.5-ounce servings of gin with a meal, your liver’s ability to convert protein into glucose may be impaired. If you’re insulin- dependent and your calculation of how much insulin you’ll require to cover your meal is based on, say, two hot dogs, and those hot dogs don’t get 7.5 percent converted to glucose, the insulin you’ve injected will take your blood sugar too low. You’ll have hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

The problem of hypoglycemia itself is a relatively simple matter to correct—you just eat some glucose and your blood sugar will rise. But this gets you into the kind of messy jerking up and down of your blood sugar that can cause problems. It’s best if you can avoid hypo and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) entirely.

Another problem with alcohol and hypoglycemia is that if you consume much alcohol, you’ll have symptoms typical of both alcohol intoxication and hypoglycemia—light-headedness, confusion, and slurring of speech. The only way you’ll know the cause of your symptoms is if you’ve been monitoring your blood sugar throughout your meal. This is unlikely. So you could find yourself thinking you’ve consumed too much alcohol when in fact your problem is dangerously low blood sugar. In such a situation, it wouldn’t even occur to you to check your blood sugar. Remember, that early blood sugar–measuring device I got was developed in order to help emergency room staffs tell the difference between unconscious alcoholics and unconscious diabetics. Don’t make yourself an unconscious diabetic. A simple oversight could turn fatal.

Many of the symptoms of alcohol intoxication mimic those of ketoacidosis, or the extreme high blood sugar and ketone buildup in the body that can result in diabetic coma. The buildup of ketones causes a diabetic’s breath to have an aroma rather like that of someone who’s been drinking. If you don’t die of severe hypoglycemia, then you might easily die of embarrassment when you come to and your friends are aghast and terrified that the emergency squad had to be called to bring you around.

one of my clients has a son in treatment based on this book:  www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449002594/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_ i00

I ordered it but haven't read it yet. When we were talking it was interesting all of the vitamin talk, etc. There could be something to it for sure.

Life is about choices, no one forces anyone to drink, my boyfriend is part owner in a bar that doesn't mean he drinks.  He watched his father die from the results of a tragic alcohol related car accident at 44 years old.  He has never drank nor will he, he knows that alchoholism runs in his family.  If you never drank before what changes after wls that you find yourself buying alcohol or going into bars?  I don't get it.  I had one drink on St Patricks day and I honestly had such a terrible headache I was convinced I had given myself brain damage.  Yeah that was fun, lets do that again...Umm never. 

I would love to think that life being about choices means it's simple and black and white, but I don't think it is that simple.

Addiction is a disease, and it needs managing. The behavior patterns behind any of the addictions are so similar, and they don't involve the part of the brain that is evolved.

I think managing oneself is crucial.

 i was a binge drinker post-op, as many college-aged girls are. once a week i would go out with friends and easily drop $100 at the bar, mostly on myself, and these were relatively cheap bars in a philly suburb. i would drink myself to black-outs. now, i hardly drink. i think a lot of it has to do more with growing up and moving for me than the impact of my rny though. like i've had a bottle of vodka in my fridge since maybe christmas now. i'll have 2-3 drinks if i go out, spaced with water or diet coke, and that's maybe once a month, although i haven't gone out in probably 2 months now. i don't get drunk super quick like a lot of post-ops, but definitely quicker than before, which probably has more to do with not drinking as often than it does my guts.

I for one love my skinny margaritas. Not often, but when I do its one and it lasts all night!

I drank heavily at 16, when I lost my mother. That's when I ate heavily too...
I've cleaned up and have gotten wasted on occasion.
The older I get...the more it sucks the next day lol! I have no problem stepping away from booze forever.
I had people at my Nut meeting ask when they can drink again! They were expecting 2 months out!!! I think our nutritionist almost died right there....