[allicat]

I am in the process of getting approved for WLS and each time I meet with the nutritionist, she asks me if I've consumed any alcohol. Why do they ask this? Are there complications with surgery if you've consumed alcohol months prior? Please advise and thanks!

[fr1endly2]

Well most surgeons prefer people to not drink post op for various reasons.

1. HAMPERS and slows down weightloss, unnecessary calories.

2. THE alchol goes straight to your liver with our new routing of
our intestines.

3. SOME people report they get pretty drunk fairly easy so its is asked when used post op to do so responsibly.

MY situation i will not try any alcohol products till im at goal so that it does not interfere with my honeymoon of looseing time. I would imagine your nutritionist is watching out for any person with pre op alcohol issues
being its very common.
HOPE this helps! I am sure others will add more.

[allicat]

I saw the thread about drinking after surgery but was also curious about prior to surgery. Did you limit the amount of alcohol that you drank before you had the surgery?

I really appreciate the advice - so glad that I found this forum to ask questions!

[DocSanae]

First off, welcome to the board, and thank you for joining us.

There are two things to consider about alcohol related to obesity.
1) That it is what is often called "empty calories", in other words, alcohol belongs in the carb group, but has no nutritional value, so is burned while other carbs are stored in the body and not burned as fuel --resulting in weight gain as fr1endly2 has written, and 2) if you are overweight/obese, you are likely to have fatty liver, and alcohol aggravates this further.

Now, one of the side effects of the gas most commonly used in total anesthesia is liver damage. If you already have liver damange, the chances that this also aggravates the liver damage is not low. Whether the nutritionist had this in mind when you were asked the Q, I have no idea, but at the least, either once you get approval or your date, it would be wiser to refrain from consuming alcohol pre-op.

I hope your journey goes well, ((((((HUGS)))))))

[fr1endly2]

Well pre op my surgeon required weight loss. SO i wasnt haveing any
because i was looseing pre op weight.
I imagine the pre op concern is they dont want any LIVER englargement
so that the liver is clear out of the way for the delicate lapriscopic
procedure.

[freebird]

my dietician asked the same thing about alcohool but it never struck me as a strange question, i guess because i'm not big on alcohool to begin with. I will drink it occasionally but maybe like 2 of 3 times a year. and never very much.
i know that for smoking my dr. won''t do the surgery if you haven't been quit for 6 weeks, and any recreational drugs for a year, what is the average limit of time before the surgery for alcohool consumption. I know , I know, ask my surgeon (hehe)
freebird

[fr1endly2]

perhaps there also searching for those that are alcohol dependent.
MOSt that have the problem wont admit it freely to the surgeons.
PERHAPS its a way of detecting such.