Drinking alcohol...what a mistake

[Stuffette]

Alcohol is the worst thing for me and I went ahead and drank the other night. Well, I should just stick to water because I got SO sick on Friday night. I was out at a restaurant with my husband and spent over an hour in a bathroom stall. I broke out in a sweat and couldn't decide what end I wanted to let things out from. I have been sick since. I had a close call and thought I was heading to the hospital for dehydration. I haven't eaten much in 4 days but I am stable and can keep down liquids like ensure and broth and light foods like rice and bananas.

My doctor has upped my Asacol and has me drinking lots of Pepto. Thank God I got through this. I have to be serious and not play games with alcohol and bad foods. I take it for granted when I am in remission.

 

[Rosemarie]

sorry to here you went through that! I definatly feel your pain.... I went to a halloween party few weeks ago and got drunk (despite my better judgement). I PAID for it for 2 days afterward. Its hard to give up the "fun" when you shouldnt have to. Hope your feeling better ASAP.

 

[D Bergy]

If I remember correctly, alcohol strips away the intestinal mucosa. Not a good thing if you have Crohn's.

Some beans and a few other foods have similar properties.

Dan Bergman

 

[Sojourn]

I guess it's different for everyone. If I drink more than a few beers, it doesn't agree with me too well but nothing drastic. But if I drink red wine or scotch it doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Mazen]

My doctor told me never to drink alcohol; also he said alcohol can have some negative effects with the meds we take.

 

[Kev]

Hey Stuffette. I commisserate. Although not a heavy drinker, (because I tolerated it so well, no hangovers or headaches, I never learned a lesson from my occasional overindulgances, and when I did drink to excess, I'd get foolish, really foolish. Once demo'd a neighbours kitchen while drunk, all in fun, not in anger.) I liked a nice bottle of wine with a good meal, or the occasional glass or two of lager made at a local brewery. All in all maybe once or twice a week, at the most. Despite being a small part of my pre DX life, I find that I do miss it.

Having said that, it really pays to avoid alcohol if one can manage to do it at all. It does destroy the protective mucosa of the entire GI tract, exposing more of it to the 'bad' bugs. you may not feel immediate effects as you did recently, but it will promote your disease. some folks really don't want to hear/accept that. it also does dehydrate, not good for compromised GI tract either, and it also can interact in a bad way with any number of meds. considering all of the above, I feel it's a risk not worth taking. Into my 3rd year now of dealing with 'active' IBD, (yeah, I know, a relative newbie) but I've managed to just say no pretty much since, with only one slip... And I've got 60+ bottles of wine just aging in the cellar... Keeping them for the day there's a cure, and I can really celebrate.

 

[Wiles]

I don't drink much, but last Christmas I overindulged. I drank so much that I became pretty ill that evening, and the next few weeks were awful. I even wonder if it contributed to how bad my disease got this year. I've had a few drinks since then, but after reading about what it does in this post I think I may just never have one again. I'll miss those tall glasses of guinness extra stout that I had every now and then.

 

[KCMike]

Hey Wiles, I'm fortunate to be able to enjoy Guinness right now. I don't have it very often though. Only on special occasions and no more than 2. About 9 months before I was diagnosed having Crohn's; I stopped drinking alcohol, sodas, caffeine and anything else that was carbonated. My thinking was that all of these things were contributing to my recurring pains. The pains didn't go away but I know that they contributed to having a resection sooner than later.