WARNING: The following comments are a combination of actual facts and MY OPINION, based on MY EXPERIENCES. As always, your own mileage may vary.
In the realm of alcohol use post-WLS, how much (or if) another WLS patient drinks and how they fare while and after drinking is not necessarily a prescription for any other WLS patient to follow.
I know WLS patients who have drunk, do drink, have never drunk, have quit drinking altogether, have developed moderate to horrible drinking problems since WLS, etc. Obviously, they have had varying opinions (that sometimes change over time) and experiences in response to alcohol.
To my mind, this isn't a morality question -- it's simply a "What is best for me?" question.
Here are some facts:
1. After WLS, the ways that our bodies (mostly our sleeves and our livers) process alcohol is a bit different from what happened pre-WLS. Post-sleeve the alcohol processing load is a bit heavier on our livers, since our stomachs are so much smaller and pretty much can't do squat with the alcohol. Bottom line, you will feel buzzed faster and for longer. There are many stories of WLS patients discovering in the first year post-op that, if they drink as they did pre-op, they simply can't function well. Some can't function at all. Moral of that story: Do not go out alone to a bar for a night of drinking post-WLS to "see how well you well tolerate alcohol."
2. Overdrinking is hard on our bodies. And daily overdrinking is REALLY hard on our bodies. That means if I'm going to drink, "moderate drinking" is what I have to do. And for me -- a woman who's 72 years old who weighs 132-135 on any given day and is in good condition for my age -- that's a single 5-ounce pour of wine or a single shot (1-1.5 ounces) of liquor per day. That means no more than 7 drinks per week. And if I skip a few days during the week and party heartier on the weekends, that's means no more than 2 drinks on any of those weekend days -- again, for a grand total of 7 weeks a day. If you're a man, the "moderate drinking" standard is two drinks a day. Tinman's a guy and weighs 260+ pounds -- twice as much as I weigh. He gets to drink more than I do. I won't ever try to drink him under the table.
3. Most drink mixers you will be served in a bar, e.g., tonic, fizzies, sodas, are not sugar-free. In fact, that's about all there is in them -- sugar. So unless you have a VERY trusting relationship with your bartender, I would never order a mixed drink in a bar, simply because of the empty calories, which can mount up very fast. Heck, it seems these days that Sonic and McDonalds can't even deliver sugar-free drinks when you specify "sugar-free" or "diet."
4. OK, deep breath -- SOME (not all, but SOME) WLS people really, really, really do develop a transfer addiction after WLS. I know one woman who didn't drink pre-sleeve who over the next two years developed a 4-5 liter per week vodka habit. It trashed her physical and mental health. And she regained over 100 pounds. Now, folks, that's an anecdote, not "science." That's the experience of one person whom I actually know. I've also read online about many other WLS patients (whom I don't know personally) who go far down that path. Some come back (my friend did come back -- whew!), but many don't.
5. What are the overall odds of developing an alcohol transfer addiction? Here's a link to a "study of studies" report by the National Institute of Health that describes the research findings of many studies on this topic. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608681/ The studies' results vary but, generally speaking, although the vast majority of WLS patients do not develop problematic alcohol use behaviors post-WLS, MORE WLS patients have problems with alcohol than people who have NOT had WLS. Please understand that these are NOT "controlled" experiments. They're studies about the behavior WLS patients CHOOSE to do.
Anyway, that's probably too much information. As DH said, "You ask her what time it is, and she tries to tell you how to build a watch."
As always, Google is your friend. As always, your mileage may vary. And until they put you in jail, you get to make all your own decisions.
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