Alcohol Helps...?... confusion

long story short I was diagnosed with Colitis back in Aug with symptoms/bowel changes since June. I do not have the harsh symptoms of any of you here though and my current DR was basically shoving me out of the office. I finally have a new appointment in 2 weeks with a DR out of town which I hope is more informative.

Anyway I read you should stay away from Alcohol. I had been, but 3 weeks ago I decided screw it and got a Perfect Margarita from Applebees anyway. The next morning I noticed I didnt have as much gas as usual and I actually made it til 6pm without having an urge to use the restroom which was really abnormal considering 9am-12pm has been a daily thing for 4 months now. I blew this off as just an odd day, but over the next day or two I noticed no mucus in my bm's. Everything returned to the normal 9-12 til I drank a lot of Alcohol this past weekend. Sat I didnt have any gas when I woke up and I actually skipped a day using the restroom. FIRST day since June that I didn't have to hit the restroom. My left side hasn't felt as irritated, the gas is far better, and my daily bm is even better and less urgent.


I'm not saying drinking is a cure, but it honestly greatly helps me. I'm on no med's or anything and haven't been. To be honest I dont believe I have UC, but another type of Colitis.

Anyone experience this with Alcohol?

I think alcohol reduces bowel movements because it dehydrates. Just my opinion. I actually think I am allergic to most beers. Heineken seems a little better on me, and I just tried some Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout without much of a feeling of an allergic reaction. I have been allergy tested once and they said they found nothing. I had been taking benadryl every night for years, and stopped for 7 days for the test, maybe there was residual amount in my body.

hah sometimes that happens with me after a night of heavy drinking. I get no BM the next day but the day after its usually a hard BM with some blood. Ive found if I take metamucil the next day, there is no blood.

Anyway its weird and I cant explain it either, probably has something to do with blocking up your system.

yes I had a scope about 3 days I was diagnosed with having food poisoning. Pathology stated colitis throughout my colon no patches of healthy tissue. Went back 2 weeks later got told it was Colitis, Dr couldnt answer questions, didnt go over the pathology report, tried to hurry me out of the room, said I had UC only after I kept asking what exactly colitis meant for me or the cause. Then he threw samples of Lilida <-spelling) at me and said it will make me better, but I didn't need med's unless less I want to take them. So I left even more confused than I was.

I finally found a GI would would accept me and now I have an appointment.
I wasnt saying Alcohol is the fix, but isn't it very odd that it's made me better than I've been in months?
As for the flare term I'm unsure about. It's obvious to me I'm not normal and have some GI issues, but I dont have any symptoms like most of you have. Maybe my flare is very very minor? Maybe I don't understand flares in general.
What I do know is I got sick after drinking bad Bottled Water and so far Alcohol has made me feel the best I've felt in 5 months.

idk I'm just trying to get some input.

Post Edited (JDJ) : 10/26/2009 12:12:04 PM (GMT-6)

Flare just means that you're having symptoms...you can have mild flares just as easily as you can have a severe flare. You just hear more complaining about severe flares!

That's great tht you're seeing a different GI. Make sure to take ALL of your records (colonoscopy findings, etc) with you. Or, even better, have them sent ahead of time so that the new GI can review them. Don't let the old GI give you any BS about you not having the right to get copies, if they try.

Alcohol is the biggest enemy of my UC. Even the little alcohol in tinctures.

I don't think you'd find a doctor out there who'd say that one alcoholic beverage a week is bad for you!

Do you like red wine? I fully believe that a (small) glass of red wine a night can actually be good for a person.

To qualify, I meant for the general population....for those folks who DON'T have medical issues that prevent them from drinking! :)

JDJ said...
I rarely drink and when I do it's a mixed drink I can't stand beer. If I get damage from one or two a month then so be it I guess. Even 1 Smirnoff a week appeared to help so it's all around confusing. All I know is I'm better and alcohol is the only think I've changed in my diet.

I'm leaning more towards my colon was inflamed for the scope from the food poisoning and I actually may have just developed IBS since my symptoms are more along the lines of IBS than UC.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Oh, I didn't realize you were drinking only one or two a month.  I guess I misinterpreted "I drank a lot of Alcohol this past weekend" from your first post.  I wouldn't call one or two a month "a lot of alcohol", so I agree, I don't think a lot of damage is being done with only one or two a month.

"I'll never do what I did last night and that was eat a chocolate bar with probiotics in it after drinking. Kaboom!"

That just has bad written all over it.

I see you say "Lialda" (not good) what happened? This is what he gave me as the "if you want to take meds" option, but I chose no meds for the moment.

I guess I cant complain as long as I feel better, eh?

Lookingforacure:

How well does VS-L work? Also how many grams of fish oil do you take a day?

Ellen