Coffee

When my surgeon stopped in to see me before I went home from the hospital he was emphasizing staying hydrated. He said that the nut probably told me not to have coffee but he told me not to listen to her and have a cup if I wanted it. I haven't had any problems with it so far.

My WLS program required that we stop it a couple of months ahead of surgery, but allowed resumption of it a few months later. I limit my intake to four 8 ounce cups a day, but I LOVE those 4 cups.

My program officially says no caffeine, but to me that is like saying don't ever sleep again. I started with decaf about a week after surgery then moved to caffeinated coffee at about 3 weeks. Three months out I drink a full mug of regular with splenda and half and half every morning as my breakfast. It takes most of the morning for me to drink that. Two mugs makes me so hyper now, and I have an ulcer I don't want to aggravate. I switch to a cup of decaf in the afternoon. If I get a sweets craving in the evening I will have another cup of decaf. I can no longer tolerate any type of carbonated beverage, as my stomach hurts so much if I have even a swig of a diet Coke.

My doc preferred that we cut out caffeine pre-op. If we couldn't, she wanted us to limit it to 1-2 cups a day, less being better.

Because she only keeps us on clear liquids the first day after the surgery, and clears us for full liquids as soon as we demonstrate we are keeping things down, she doesn't restrict caffeine after surgery. However, she cautions that caffeine can be hard on a healing stomach and advises that the best thing to do is wait on caffeine until we're cleared for a full regular diet, which is at about the 6 week point.

I got completely off of caffeine before surgery, and didn't have any until several months post-op. I have avoided getting it every day because I kinda like not being addicted to it anymore, but I find myself having it more and more often, so I suspect I'll be back on my latte-a-day habit before too much longer. I found Chike protein coffee on Amazon and it's pretty good, so if I have to start getting some every day, I'm going to try and keep it to my protein coffee. :)