Alcohol Consumption Post Bariatric Surgery

You’re considering bariatric surgery, and you’re wondering about drinking alcohol after surgery. If you do want to drink, how will your alcohol consumption need to change? What risks are there, and how can you drink alcohol safely after surgery?

In this blog post we’ll walk through everything you need to know about how alcohol will affect your body after surgery.

Understanding the Impact of Alcohol

First, it’s important to note that your body will metabolize alcohol differently after surgery. You’ll become inebriated much more quickly, as your blood alcohol levels peak higher and faster than they did before surgery. This is partly because body fat influences your tolerance for alcohol; as you lose weight, your tolerance will go down. A second reason is that after surgery you’ll be eating less food, so if you do drink alcohol it will be on a comparatively empty stomach.

When you drink alcohol, your stomach also normally enzymatically breaks it down before it is absorbed in your small intestine. After bariatric surgery, your stomach will be smaller, meaning that it won’t be able to break as much alcohol down; leading to more alcohol being absorbed by your system.

This means that if you do drink alcohol after surgery, there’s a high potential for increased intoxication. Many patients report feeling inebriated after even one drink. Alcohol is also a mild gastric irritant and for some patients using alcohol may cause gastric ulcers to develop. Following bariatric surgery, your stomach may already be more vulnerable to ulcer formation and avoiding this painful outcome is largely about avoiding gastric irritants like alcohol. Not only can ulcers be very painful or make it difficult to eat, they can also result in perforation of your stomach or bleeding; both of which can be life threatening.

Alcohol can also have a very negative impact on your liver health post-surgery. One study found that the risk of alcohol-related cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) was increased in weight loss surgery patients. The risk is higher for women than for men. One reason for this is that your blood alcohol levels will be higher after even a single drink than they were before surgery. A second reason is that before surgery, many patients’ livers have excess fat. This excess fat causes problems, but can sometimes serve to protect patients from alcohol-related cirrhosis. After surgery, your liver will be less fatty, which removes this buffer. 

For these reasons, we recommend that our patients not drink alcohol after bariatric surgery. If a person does elect to drink alcohol after surgery, it is very important to check in with a specialist on a regular basis to ensure that your liver is not being damaged.

Risks of Alcohol Consumption Post-Op

It is important to note that there are several additional risks of alcohol after surgery. Alcohol is high in calories, and is often mixed with soda or artificially flavored juices which make it even higher in calories. Additionally, these are empty calories, which means that you won’t feel full after drinking and may even feel hungrier. Even one drink can set you back on your weight loss goals, and consuming alcohol on a regular basis can even lead to weight regain.

Alcohol can also negatively interact with any medications that you take. WebMD notes that consuming alcohol alongside prescription medications or over-the-counter drugs can lead to problems such as nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness, abnormal behavior, and loss of coordination as well as many other potential drug interactions and side effects. 

Alcohol can also interfere with vitamin and nutrient absorption. After surgery, this becomes very important, because you need to be very diligent about making sure that you get enough vitamins and nutrients into your system.

Finally, it’s important to note that imbibing alcohol after surgery may put you in danger of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). One reason for this danger is that patients who have a history of addiction have a higher risk of developing new addictions to take the place of addiction to food. If you feel that you are addicted to food, or eat emotionally or to cope with stress, please be aware that after surgery you may feel an urge to substitute food for another substance such as drugs or alcohol. If this describes you, then you owe it to yourself to completely avoid alcohol so that you can live a truly transformed life.

Recommendations For Alcohol Intake After Bariatric Surgery

How long do you have to wait to drink alcohol after surgery? It is vital to wait until you have recovered from surgery, and also until you have finished with the initial period of rapid weight loss. Again, we recommend that our patients never return to drinking. But even for patients who plan to use it occasionally (1 or 2 times per year), we recommend no alcohol use for at least 1 year after surgery.

If you do decide to reintroduce alcohol after surgery, even after your weight loss slows down it is important to reintroduce alcohol very slowly with very small amounts. Remember, your body will get inebriated far faster than it used to. Many weight loss surgery patients across the country have reported that a single drink can raise their blood alcohol levels above the legal limit which can result in DUIs and accidents that otherwise may not have occurred.

It’s also important to avoid carbonated beverages and sugary drink mixers. Be aware of the calorie content of any drinks that you may imbibe, and work with your bariatric surgery team to develop a plan to make sure that the alcohol doesn’t translate into slowed weight loss or weight regain. Our bariatric dietitian can help you develop a long-term diet plan and adjust your nutritional intake to make sure that, if you do want to have an occasional drink, doing so won’t negatively affect your weight loss journey.

Listening to Your Body and Seeking Guidance

Once again, for these reasons we ask all of our patients to avoid alcohol for life following bariatric surgery. If you do decide to reintroduce alcohol after weight loss surgery, for your safety it’s important to stay present and attuned to how your body reacts. It’s very important to not overdo it. If you find yourself drinking to cope with negative emotions or stress on a regular basis, then please seek help by talking to your bariatric team or a licensed counselor with experience treating addiction.

If you would like more individualized guidance, feel free to schedule a consultation with the BMCC. Our bariatric team will be more than happy to talk through any questions or concerns that you might have.

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