Wine drinking?

Jackie's thread brought out the issue of drinking alcohol, which I hadn't considered yet with regard to my future jpouch (not that I'm changing my mind and won't get one now). Since my collectomy last April I am generally restless and while I never drank much in the past, started drinking wine at night to wind down and be able to fall asleep. Falling asleep without a bit of help has been a problem, unless I am completely totally exhausted.

I could imagine that in the first few months of having a jpouch, anything more than one sip would cause diarrhea. Does that continue forever?

Alternatively, does anyone have any advice about sleeping better? I do think I should be in psychotherapy about all of these issues including my body, but it takes a very long time to find one here who still has capacity for another patient, and then to find the right shrink is another matter to boot. At the beginning of my last flare-up before surgery, I was seeing someone who was really not the right one, and at that time I decided I was probably better off on my own.

I don't think I've become an alcoholic, but I don't know how I'll relax in the evening without a glass of wine.

Exercise during the day will definitely help you sleep better. For me, I have to avoid working out within two hours or so of bedtime or it cranks me up for a bit, but if I get a good run in during the day I sleep great at night. When I really can't sleep (sometimes just can't shut the brain off!) then I take one Benadryl and that puts me out. It makes me kind of sluggish the next morning though, so I only do it when I really need to.

B'Dereh -- that's a treadmill you're looking for.

Benadryl is an antihistamine, but it's good for falling asleep too. I was horrified when I went in for remicade once on the first day of classes in the morning and found that since they upped my dose I had to take benadryl first to prevent allergic reactions. I couldn't believe I had to take a sleeping pill a few hours before teaching on the first day of class! It was kind of funny to go in and tell the students I was on drugs, great way to get going...

BTW, Jackie was talking about drinking to get drunk at parties, which is a different thing, so my comments to her were in that context, not about alcohol in general..... as I said there, I've always had a low tolerance myself so am not very helpful about how to drink in moderation....

In the hospital they gave me ambien to sleep which doesn't make you sluggish like benadryl, but I don't like it much either....

Meditation before bed can help sleep too or soothing music, and I like a hot bath, that makes me sleepy .... looking forward to being able to take baths again.....

There's an exercise you do where you go through various parts of the body, e.g. left foot, right calf, stomach, jaw etc and tense each one up for a few seconds then let it go..... that can be a good one before bed.

Turning the computer off earlier is a good thing to do too..... when I'm working, I aim for by 7 pm....web surfing when tired just gets too much junk floating around in my brain. Avoiding anything that can get you worked up for a few hours before bed is good.... sometimes writing, reading, or doing puzzles help me quiet and focus and wind down.

Maybe when you have the stress of surgery behind you you'll sleep better....

Therapy is good too.... but hard to get going on as you say.

Saturday night I had my first alcoholic beverage since surgery 2. It was just a hot chocolate with a little Baileys, but boy was it good! My husband pokes fun at me because I keep my Baileys in the cupboard with the pots and pans (just where I found a spot for it). He calls it "mommy's little helper" LOL.

I don't have my j-pouch yet, but the main issue I've noticed with alcohol and my ostomy is dehydration. I once lost seven pounds overnight! That was from *way* too much wine though. The only other bad effect was a little clumsiness while emptying! I don't think moderate drinking will be harmful once you have your pouch. You will just have to try a glass when you are ready and see how it goes.

I'm glad to hear the whole scope of experiences. I'll be glad if I can have a glass of wine or a drink without disaster, and I guess I should wait a few months after jpouch surgery before slowly going back to normal habits. Thanks to all.