ALCOHOL AND IBS

Hiya everyone,

just wondering what eveyones thoughts are on alcohol and IBS.  I had 1 glass of red wine last night and feel dreadful today and have horrible nausea and my stomach feels v strange.  Does alcohol make IBS worse???????

Tori

Hey,
I also find Alcohol does a number on my stomach! I can handle a Vodka Cranberry, but a bottle of beer just kills... within an hour of drinking it. So I totally agree with Roadtrip that it depends on the drink and on the individual.

Alcohol, sadly, is a surefire trigger for my IBS... I'm usually fairly certain that, if I have more than one drink, I will be sick the next day, if not horribly, than at least fairly uncomfortably. I have not found anything that works to completely get rid of the problem, but I have found that if I avoid greasy or fried foods when drinking alcohol, and drink a few glasses of water before going to bed that night, I am better the next day. It might help you to try.

If I drink at a restaraunt and its usually only because everyone else is. I usually will only have wine which is about all I can tolerate at best but I drink a full glass of water to each glass of wine (I usually have two at most anyway) but the water works well in diluting the alcohol so it doesn't burn my stomach.

Once and only once did I consume several tall glasses of dark micro beer (keg beer to boot) at a Halloween party, several years ago.

It cleaned me out better than Fleet's Phospho Soda does (thankfully it didn't have this affect on me until the early morning hours)!

So I avoid dark beer like the plague - yikes, it's much too rich for my touchy gut.

But I am able to enjoy 1 or 2 bottles of light beer (not dark, thank you very much!) if I have a Stonyfield cup of yogurt a few hours before socializing. The yogurt seems to coat my GI tract and the beer doesn't bother me much (the dreaded D).

I've never had issues with alcohol, it varies for each person.

:)

alcohol is really hard to handle with IBS. I find that sometimes I can handle some drinks, but sometimes within the first couple of sips you notice that its not going to go down well. If you feel well enough it is possible to drink alcohol with IBS in my opinion, but it always leaves me with a sore gut the next couple days. Not really worth it.

I don't think alcohol will give you worse constipation if you've already got it, but it's not likely to relive you either. But you are more likely to have stomach cramps and gas, so you could hurt worse, even if your poop does not change.

Beer seems to be the worst, because the carbonation makes for worse gas and cramping. Wine seems to be too acidic for people with diarrhea and acid reflux to handle. A few people, however, notice that hard liquor (and only hard liquor) will actually settle their guts when they're over-active. I think that in those cases, the alcohol acts like an anti-spasmodic. For people whose IBS is caused by spasms, that could help them.

Hi,
I believe I have IBS. I've had an endoscopy and colonoscopy and it hasn't really shown anything! When I drink (usually cider) I have really bad stomach cramps, gas and diarrhea (some times straight after a drink or for a few days after). I have given up drinking for the moment but really hope this won't have to be forever as I find it hard (and pretty boring) having to go out with my friends who are drinking and not drink. Do you think if I was drinking spirits it wouldn't happen so much? Obviously I would rather not have this problem full stop but if it could be reduced to the day after when I'm at home rather then when I'm out that would make everything a bit easier. Any advice or help would be hugely appreciated. Also I get very nauseous and motion sick when I take immodium so if anyone knows any other medicines that are available in the UK for anti diarrhea that'd be great.
Thanks.

Victoria
Hi, I don't know about wine but beer makes it worse cuz it causes gas....best just to stay away from alcohol....

Leslie

FYI


"Since I have suffered for thirty eight of IBS I wonder what role foods play in IBS. So I asked Dr Douglas Drossman at the UNC Center for Functional GI and Motility disorders and here was his response. This is not a substitute for seeking medical advise from your doctor on any specific conditions you may have, but for educational purposes only.

Dr. Drossman is a Co-director of the Center and Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at UNC-CH. He established a program of research in functional gastrointestinal disorders at UNC more than 15 years ago and has published more than 250 books, articles, and abstracts relating to epidemiology, psychosocial and quality of life assessment, design of treatment trials, and outcomes research in gastrointestinal disorders.


Dr Drossman's comments on foods for IBS Health.

Shawn,
To say that people with IBS may get symptoms from food intolerances is an acceptable possibility, since the gut will over react to stressors of all types including food (high fat or large volumes of food in particular). Furthermore, there can be specific intolerances. So if you have a lactose intolerance for example, it can exacerbate, or even mimic IBS. Other examples of food substances causing diarrhea would be high consumers of caffeine or alcohol which can stimulate intestinal secretion or with the latter, pull water into the bowel (osmotic diarrhea). The same would be true for overdoing certain poorly absorbed sugars that can cause an osmotic type of diarrhea Sorbitol, found in sugarless gum and sugar substituted foods can also produce such an osmotic diarrhea. Even more naturally, people who consume a large amount of fruits, juices or other processed foods enriched with fructose, can get diarrhea because it is not as easily absorbed by the bowel and goes to the colon where it pulls in water. So if you have IBS, all of these food items would make it worse.

However, it is important to separate factors that worsen IBS (e.g., foods as above, stress, hormonal changes, etc.) from the cause or pathophysiology of IBS. Just like stress doesn't cause IBS, (though it can make it worse), foods must be understood as aggravating rather than etiological in nature.

The cause of IBS is yet to be determined. However, modern research understands IBS as a disorder of increased reactivity of the bowel, visceral hypersensitivity and dysfunction of the brain-gut axis. There are subgroups being defined as well, including post-infectious IBS which can lead to IBS symptoms. Other work using brain imaging shows that the pain regulation center of the brain (cingulate cortex) can be impaired, as well as good evidence for there being abnormalities in motility which can at least in part explain the diarrhea and constipation. So finding a specific "cause" of IBS has grown out of general interest in place of understanding physiological subgroups that may become amenable to more specific treatments. Hope that helps.
Doug "

http://ibshealth.com/ibsfoods2.htm

Hi Hoshinoko, i too have similar but not as extreme symptoms.

Sometimes with different alcohol here and there i am fine but most of the time so much as one sip of any alcahol makes me instantly feel the need to run for the bathroom.

Never gottan as extreme as your 2 times but have come close.

Not sure what but mostly wine really bothers me, sometimes bottled beer like labatts, vodka, smirnoff ice, mikes hard etc all have caused instant issues.

Really hampers my life as i used to love going out and drinking but cannot seem to do that any longer.

Sure hope those that wrote about symptoms being worse after wine and grain spirits - think about it - it's the WHEAT. I'm serious, also when you've gone out drinking what did you have with your drinks? Bet it was wheat containing things like snack mixes and pretzels. Eliminate the wheat/gluten and you'll be amazed.