Problem with Alcohol

In one week I will be 5 years post op.  My weight loss has been quite successful and I dropped about 150 lbs.  I have fluxuated up and down 20 lbs over the last year.  However, my problem has become alcohol.  I realized about 2 years ago that I could drink again.  Since that time I have began drinking more and more.   Due to my surgery I become extremely intoxicated very quickly.  I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and how did you overcome this?

Not speaking for everyone, but at the same time i think we all have experienced that. The being able to drink again & easily getting intoxicated - even after just a few. I know my problem is that i like to drink & does so quite easily. SO yes, after i found out that i COULD drink - i began to do so more & more. thats a slippery slope though & beware not to get yourself caught up.
My lessons learned - drinking (& letting go of my new better food choices & NOT exercising like i was/should have been) caused me to regain 90lbs.

I recently turned 21, and I am a "good girl" so I never had more than 1/2 a glass of wine before. I realized my buzzed level was about one beer in 30 min. and tipsy was a large beer or 2 beers. I get addicted to things easily, you know, like food, so I only drink at social events others are drinking at.  My doc said it takes about 1/2 the amount for a lot of people once they try it again (with obvious variables like how much you lost.) I know that my meds make my body even more sensative. The problem is that if you have a RNY the digestive system just can't handle alchol like it used to. I honestly have realized, that for me, the caloric content of alchol isn't worth the pay off.

I didn't say if your weight seems to be going permanently up or if actually does fluctuate both up and down.  In the end, there isn't anything wrong with alcohol and things like Red Wine are supposedly good for you.

Alcohol has calories just like cookies.  If you can't lay off either one AND your weight goes up, you have a problem.  If you're weight is stable then I don't see a problem with either.

Because of the way alcohol affects bypass patients you need to be careful.  Again, if you understand the effects and act accordingly I don't see a problem.

Just remember: "Pour boire du mauvais vin"

Yes, (6 1/2yrs out) I can drink but I do get drunk VERY easily.  I came to the realization I should stop with too much when I blacked out.

I am a little over 6 years out and I have been able to drink for some time now. I went through the period where I would get intoxicated very quickly but then it would also wear off soon there after as well. I love wine. I drink white zin ALL the time now it seems. I have had a bunch of financial issues I have had to deal with that have affected me psychologically and I have found I drink more to just not have to think about it. I noticed that I am not getting intoxicated as quickly anymore as well. So I actually got back on OH to see if this sort of thing had happened to anyone else. I was doing really well with my weight for a long while and had not gained and held steady to a weight I was really happy being, until I started drinking. Now all these empty calories I have traded for real meals and real food are catching up to me I think. I talked to my WLS and of course he indicated I should ditch the wine but had said if it wasnt something I could do cold turkey that the hard stuff is actually less calories and in drinking that and mixing it with sensible mixers then I could control the calorie content a little better.
I am trying hard to get over this feeling of 'needing a drink to cope' because I believe if I just stopped I could lose the weight again and keep it off. But its just my theory and I have yet to put it to the test :-(

 I found myself creeping up on the amount of alcohol I was drinking. I had always been a social drinker and never had a problem before- I started using alcohol to deal with anxiety and depression- (duh) and because I wasn't taking my B-12 I was really starting to slip off the deep end. Insomnia, paranoia, irritability, etc etc. My tolerance was getting greater and greater and I could polish off a bottle of wine in a couple hours or less

I talked to my regular doc and blood tests indicated really low B-12 and iron levels and a family history of anxiety and depression so she put me xanax

I went back on my protein and vitamins- started exercising again, and after several months I no longer have to drink my self to sleep or crave a drink at lunch

I still have an occasional Bloody Mary for breakfast but mostly am back to being a social drinker 

Sounds like your emotional state from you financial problems was the trigger. The alcohol is not a solution if you are not addressing your financial issues- there is a lot of help out on the web to deal with everything from child support, credit repair, fighting creditors, student loan assistance etc etc. Remove the trigger of guilt and you should be able to taper off your drinking

  Hi I'm new to this website.  Just wanted to let you know that I had wls in 2006 and developed major drinking problem after ( with alcohol). I thought my life was over til I found an amazing therapist who specials in barbaric patients and addiction and I joined a support group specifically for people who have had wls and now have an alcohol problem.  So I just wanted to tell you not to give up.  The group and therapist I see is at Adcare Outpatient Services T 95 Lincoln st inworcester.  You can call and join too if you want! I think the number is 508-453-3012

AnywAys good luck!!!!

I had surgery almost 6 years ago and am really struggling with alcohol, I was NOT an alcoholic before surgery, in fact I hated them, I grew up with an alcoholic mother, now I'm her and it is awful! I've gained about 60lbs back of the 110 I lost. I did a month in rehab in February and was able to be sober for about 4 mos. and then relapsed with a drink on a airplane. I feel horrible today as I blacked out last night, broke some wine glasses which my husband had to clean up. Plus the shame and my kids seeing me like that.......been trying to get sober in AA for about two years. I'm having a hysterectomy next Monday and need to be off of Ibuprofen this week so hope not to drink as that helps my hangover. Please pray for me! This is no way to live!! :(

This is such a hard battle to fight that I didn't realize was going to be so difficult.  My original post was 5/7/12 and now here we are at 11/8/12 and I am still having the same struggle.  I am starting to wonder if the surgery was worth this trade off.  I have been back on the wagon for 7 days now which seems an eternity but the changing point (hopefully for the last time) was when I threw up in my kitchen last week and didn't realize it.  Not only is that dangerous but my husband ended up having to clean it up.  This is no way for either of us to live and I think now he understands that we can NOT have any alcohol in the house.