Effects of alcohol

Since suffering a flare dating back last fall, had basically given up drinking altogether although reverted recently to having a few beers here and there on the weekends (no more than 2-3 max) with little to no side effects.

Last weekend, while at a wedding, unfortunately went over the edge - would say I had about 7-8 beers and pretty much felt fine the next day although this past Monday, Tuesday and now this morning have noticed a continual regression in my UC.  Started out with a few loose stools with a bright yellowish tint (I take Colazal so not sure if this has something to do with the yellowness) and now as of this morning its more in the diahrea category.

Disappointed with myself for cutting loose last weekend as I'm now fearing the worst that I'm setting myself back into a full flare. 

Part of my confusion is not understanding the effects of alcohol on the digestive system and more specifically UC.  Is it normal that negative side effects would be delayed a day or two as opposed to them rearing their ugly head the very next morning?   Just seems odd because Sunday morning really had no issues with my UC (just a bad headache from the "hangover").

Looks like I should probably give up alcohol altogether... not worth the price!

I almost never drink but sometimes I allow myself a half of a glass of red wine at dinner, or a few sips of my husband's Sam Adams. That's often all I need so I don't feel totally restricted.

Full-on deprivation of anything for me leads to a crash and burn scenario. I personally don't think a very small amount of alcohol matters one way or another. Seven to eight beers is another story...

Here is my take, which I'm sure is different from what others might say: I don't think there is always a definite cause and effect to be traced with diet, including alcohol, with UC flares. I have flared sometimes seemingly out of nowhere. So, your symptoms might be related to drinking too much, or they might have happened anyway (at least that is my opinion).

If nothing else the lesson learned here might be, even when you feel like drinking moderately, you may decide that keeping it low-key is the way to go. This is one of the hardest parts of life with UC. During a great remission I have sometimes felt like, oh my goodness, I'm normal again, I'm free, I can be like everyone else! But then, no, not really. So my new approach has been to just do everything at a smaller scale: very little sugar, just one cup of coffee a day, very little alcohol, not a lot of fatty foods, etc.

I think it's what you're willing to deal with - I'm 27 and love to drink a bottle of wine on a Saturday night or 5 or 6 beers - over several hours - and I am in remission with UC - I'm usually ok, sometimes I'll have D the entire next day [usually from the wine] and I'm fine in a day or two or I'll feel blocked for a few days but it usually settles out - OBVIOUSLY everyone is differently but that many beers doesn't seem like a huge issue if you're usually on your game...

Back when I was first diagnosed, alcohol gave me trouble.  When I finally got fully into "remission", it didn't affect me at all - nothing really did.  I'm probably in that state where I'm not fully in remission but not fully flaring (just thinking outloud here).

Your comment on the bile is interesting, because I read something somewhere that mentioned bile would be yellow in color.  There has been a bright yellow coloring to when I wipe - was thinking it might be related to the colazal since that is very bright yellow in color but maybe it is bile?

Either way, things seemed to simmer down a little bit today - hoping it continues to mellow and I'll just need to watch the booze going forward.

Beer doesn't Bother me... But hard liquor does... I had the same thing with an open bar this summer at a wedding. I felt fine the day after but 2 days later I began seeing looser stools along with some d. I was uncomfortable the next day as well, however I was fine then. I was already in a flare and believe me it wasn't the smartest choice but yep I'm a 2 to 3 day later person