Severe hangovers with CD

[clarklinds]

Hi all!

I drink probably about once a week and occasionally get terrible, terrible hangovers and I get them super easily, meaning I don't have to drink much to get them the next day. During these hangovers, I have a pounding headache and this queasy feeling in which I typically vomit every 10 minutes for the entire day. I can't get out of bed, can't do anything besides sleep when I'm not throwing up and I'm just absolutely miserable. I can usually prevent them from being too bad by drinking plenty of water the night of drinking. I also have stopped drinking beer because those were the worst hangovers due to my gluten intolerance. I fair better with wine.

Today has been one of these massive hangover days. I only had three hard ciders and drank what I thought was plenty of water but its still there. However, I also got a new symptom with it: pain in my tummy, the exact place and type that I get when I'm going into a flare. Do you think that the severity of my hangovers is related to Crohn's? Has anyone ever had experience with this? Would love to hear about your stories!

I'm not really looking for responses telling me that I shouldn't be drinking. I'm more interested in hearing about other people with similar experiences. Thanks!

Thanks so much! Happy Holidays!

 

[rollinstone]

Yeah, id say you're probably not in solid enough remission to be hitting the booze if that's happening... Maybe try get in a more stable state first, have you done a cal protectin test recently to measure intestinal inflamation?

 

[Jennifer]

Are you on any medications? Certain ones increased my hangover symptoms even if I only had one drink. Certain medications can also affect your liver so its possible that you may not be filtering the alcohol properly (have you had any blood work that tests your liver function?). If you're a diabetic then drinking alcohol the night before can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) the next morning which can cause vomiting (have you had your blood sugar tested to see if you're diabetic?). If you have acid reflux (especially Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)) then alcohol tends to increase symptoms (vomiting is a possible symptom) because it relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Dehydration can irritate the stomach lining which can then cause vomiting as well. Besides not being in remission, the last possible cause that I can think of is that hangovers tend to get worse as we age.

"The critical enzymes for breaking down booze are somewhat diminished in efficiency as we age," says Jim Schaefer, an alcohol metabolism expert and an anthropology professor at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. The enzymes your body depends on to break down booze are alcohol dehydrogenase, or ALDH, and aldehyde dehydrogenase, or ADH. Excuse the alphabet soup, but ALDH breaks down ethanol (booze) into acetaldehyde, and then ADH breaks down the acetaldehyde into a non-toxic substance called acetic acid. "It has been suggested that acetaldehyde is one of the key toxic chemicals that influences the severity of a hangover," Schaefer says. "So any deterioration in ADH levels would contribute to worse hangovers."
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/why-do-hangovers-seem-so-much-worse-we-get-older-1C9386920

 

[clarklinds]

Super interesting thank you! I've actually always had hangovers this bad, even when I was 18.

Not currently taking any medication. The dehydration thing makes sense since when I drink tons of water while drinking it tends to prevent the hangover.

I think what's interesting is the tummy pain, which is usually CD pain, with the rest of the symptoms. Hmmm.