Alcohol and the Gastric Bypass Patient

It was reported in the Bariatric Times that : "A 32-year-old man, four months out from gastric bypass surgery, was issued a citation for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol shortly after leaving his brother�s wedding reception. According to the patient, he had only consumed one glass of champagne, although his blood alcohol content was above the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle (i.e., 0.08%). A female patient, 50 years of age and one year post-gastric bypass, hit and killed a pedestrian with her automobile after having less than two glasses of wine. When police arrived, she was staggering and slurring her words and was taken into custody. Two hours later, she was still unable to maintain her balance or to speak clearly, causing officials to suspect that she had drunk a bottle or two of wine instead of two glasses.
Were these patients telling the truth about the amount of alcohol they had consumed, or did bariatric surgery affect the way their bodies absorb or metabolize alcohol? In order to answer these questions, we queried our gastric bypass population to identify changes in their response to alcohol since surgery. Nearly all patients surveyed (90%) claimed that they were more sensitive to alcohol postoperatively versus preoperatively. Most patients reported that they could feel the effects of alcohol after taking only a few sips of their drink. More than 25 percent of patients said that they had, on occasion, lost muscular coordination after having only one to two drinks, and several of these patients claimed that they were unable to regain control of their balance and coordination for up to two hours. Nearly five percent of the patients who completed the survey said that they have received a DUI and that the incidence had occurred in the early postoperative months and after having only one alcoholic beverage".
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