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Alcohol = Diarrhea?

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Posted 9/15/2014 2:44 AM (GMT 0)
Hey guys, I was wondering how alcohol effects your colitis?
I seem to be in remission these days - no pain, no blood. But I still get diarrhea from time to time. It seems to happen without fail after a night of drinking. I wouldn't call it a flare, because it doesn't send me right back into a week of colitis pain, it's just the day after. Is this colitis related, or could this be IBS?
Posted 9/15/2014 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
Beer is fine with me. Gin is okay. Wine is fine in moderation, but too much leaves me with a "sour stomach" feel. Vodka gives me the runs the next day, but it's not too bad.

That's pretty much all I drink. Beer is actually suppose to be good for the stomach (something about the bubbles, I think?), so I can't imagine it causing a flare.
Posted 9/15/2014 11:26 AM (GMT 0)
Some have their uc affected by alcohol and they therefore choose to avoid it.

For me, Alcohol is fine in moderation. A beer a day has no averse effect on my uc. I've been to craft beer festivals where you can have unlimited samples for the price of admission, I got a little buzzed, and well my gut was understandably a bit upset the next morning. Totally worth it though ... mmm craft beer... the festivals are usually in the fall.
Posted 9/15/2014 12:21 PM (GMT 0)
A glass of wine is OK but beer is a NO-NO. It might be because I am sensitive to the gluten in beer.
Posted 9/15/2014 12:47 PM (GMT 0)
You are probably histamine intolerant. Many UC'rs are low on the digestive enzyme DAO (even when in remission), which helps metabolize excess dietary histamines. Most alcohols are high in histamines. If you intake more histamines than you have DAO, you will essentially have a histamine overdose, which can give you allergic reactions, one of them being diarrhea, and then you will get better after this overdose has gone away. Since taking the digestive enzyme DAO before ingesting things high in histamines, this no longer happens to me. I don't drink much alcohol but it does help me with high histamine foods.
Posted 9/15/2014 1:57 PM (GMT 0)
Everything causes me D when I am flaring. I could seriously blame it on anything i put in my mouth.
Posted 9/15/2014 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
Oh yeah, even when I had a solid remission, alcohol always made my BM's loose. That was the only thing that did it too, every food I ate I was fine with.
Posted 9/15/2014 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
simple solution....night of drinking could be something of the past.

if you drink and get diarrhea, it's probably because of that. So....worry before you drink, or accept it as part of drinking.

q
Posted 9/15/2014 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
Alcohol is commonly hard on the colon anyway so with having IBD it's not likely a good idea to drink, especially too much, but in the end everyone does respond differently with it...trial and error...like everything in life.
Posted 9/16/2014 3:31 PM (GMT 0)

garylouisville said...
You are probably histamine intolerant. Many UC'rs are low on the digestive enzyme DAO (even when in remission), which helps metabolize excess dietary histamines. Most alcohols are high in histamines. If you intake more histamines than you have DAO, you will essentially have a histamine overdose, which can give you allergic reactions, one of them being diarrhea, and then you will get better after this overdose has gone away. Since taking the digestive enzyme DAO before ingesting things high in histamines, this no longer happens to me. I don't drink much alcohol but it does help me with high histamine foods.

Intersting Gary. Never heard of that. Are you taking DAO in a supplement? Where do you get it? Maybe I'll give it a shot.

But as most people mentioned in this thread, best solution is probably to cut back on the booze. Will be tough, I love my beer.
Posted 9/16/2014 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
I get my DAO online from Swanson.
Posted 9/16/2014 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
When I was in college, long before my UC days, I'd often have what I'd refer to as the tequila $hit$ after a night of pretty heavy drinking. I called them that because when I drank heavily, it generally involved tequila.
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