What effect does getting drunk have on you?

[Kenny Banya]

Both at the time & day after

 

[Solstice]

The last time I drank anything was about 6 or 7 years ago, made me very nauseated. I threw up and felt like I couldn't catch any air. The days after were filled with PEM for me.

 

[alex3619]

The day after? Try weeks after. My initial reaction is a flu-like feeling, aches etc., which lasts up to nearly a week. Then I get very wired for about two or three weeks. So the reaction is about a month.

My tentative hypothesis is that the alcohol is releasing free arachidonic acid, which is driving pro-flammatory eicosanoids. Then I am deficient, which drives my reaction the other way. I might have tested this with Brazil nuts or something to try to replace the omega-6 fats when I hit the second phase (I prefer that to meat fat) to see if this helped, but its better to just avoid alcohol.

 

[Kenny Banya]

I guess a common suggestion for people with MECFS is to consume electrolytes daily (I do). Therefore, since alcohol is dehydrating, it would be even worse for us.

 

[Wonko]

I don't get drunk, not for longer than a few minutes anyway (in my teens and 20s I used to drink a lot, apparently inability to get drunk is a side effect of long term alcohol abuse. Oddly I never had dependency issues and could, and did, stop any time I wanted, with no negative effects). I get flu like symptoms, primarily muscle aches and pains, very shortly after drinking, whilst drinking, and a poisoned sensation,which can last for several days.

I have, in the past, tried to overwhelm these by drinking more, deliberately trying to drink enough to get drunk enough so they don't bother me. Doesn't work, I get bored long before I get drunk.

I rarely drink alcohol these days, a little around new year, and mainly spirits as these have much less of a negative effect on me than beers.

 

[Thinktank]

My reaction to alcohol has differed during my illness with ME.

In the beginning alcohol would make me feel normal for a few hours, as long as i did not overdo it.

A few years into ME i developed really bad alcohol intolerance so i didn't touch it. It made me feel like being poisoned.

One day last year i thought screw it and i drank an amount of black label that would otherwise floor me, but i didn't feel different than usual. I'm in a state where i feel depersonalized and "drunk / hungover" 24/7, alcohol now increases that feeling just a little bit.

 

[Dechi]

I haven’t tried it. I drink maybe 1/2 glass of wine and I feel as if I drank half a bottle so I stop at that.

 

[Rick Sanchez]

Getting drunk, or as I like to call it a week of the PEM flu

 

[Thinktank]

Getting drunk, or as I like to call it a week of the PEM flu

You must be Rick JK-67a

 

[Kenshin]

I can tolerate small amounts, but its rarely worth it, the first 10 min or so are ok, from then I basically have a hangover which will last hours or a day or 2. Also it burns my stomach.

 

[dannybex]

It's just not a good idea. Our livers have enough of a burden without adding any sort of alcohol to the mix.

 

[JES]

Drinking a minimum of around six portions of alcohol achieves a short but significant remission in certain symptoms for me. Unfortunately this remission only lasts for the duration of the next day or so.

 

[Murph]

I can drink fine but it gives me payback the next day, and it combines with exercise, so even a moderate amount of exercise in the same 24 hour window as booze gives me mega PEM.

 

[Runner5]

I typically have a glass of wine 6oz or less with my supper these days to help my stomach attempt digestion, I'm unsure if the small amount is relevant but it seems to help my stomach. I can't really 'drink' -- I'm too much a lightweight with alcohol and I'm worried about my liver.

Big thumbs up to daily coconut water I drink it for the electrolytes.

 

[Darran321]

Next day and day after I have no pain at all it’s very strange,,,,

 

[Seven7]

I don’t get that far, I drink alcohol and feel the worst like I am gonna die feeling I have discovered since then is like the same feeling from a very hot shower ( vasodilation) and tummy hurts, and that is all on a few sips ( of the hard stuff). Then I cannot even be standing and all go down from there.
This is not new to Cfs, I ahve never tolerated alchohol and I have POTs also

 

[perchance dreamer]

I do fine when I have about 2 ounces of wine with dinner every night. I have a very small wine-tasting glass I use. I can't have a full glass, though, even on a full stomach, or I'll have a hangover the next day.

Part of my intolerance to larger portions of wine comes from my health conditions, I'm sure. Another big part is from being out of practice with drinking. I started cutting down a long time ago when I quit smoking.

I do love my tiny glass of wine, though, and get a pleasant, relaxed feeling from it.

 

[friendlycat]

I don't often get drunk but I have a glass of red with meals most days and I find this makes me feel a bit more 'normal'. Maybe this is because of the adrenalin that's released by the body to counteract the depressive effect of the booze or something.
Doesn't make much difference to how I feel the next day apart from the odd occasion where one drink can lead to a really nasty hangover feeling, although this is rare.

Once in a while though, I think heck it all to flip and have more 'make it all better juice' than is strictly sensible knowing I'll properly suffer the next day. Oddly, the following day/s I can differentiate between the booze invoked disagreeableness and the usual ME symptoms although regarding the latter, I'd classify myself mild/moderate compared to most people on PR.

 

[gregh286]

Good at time.
Awful next day,
Great on the day after that again, then downhill.

 

[ChrisD]

When I had just CFS and Fibro and could still work/go to the pub after work on a Friday, a couple of pints gave me soooo much energy and made me feel completely normal for a few hours. Also strangely enough it would leave me without morning Fibromyalgia pain the next morning - this was a blessing - but I'm sure you can see how this was a dangerous relationship. I'm very disciplined about everything and I by no means drank too much over that year but gradually the relationship with alcohol which gave me temporary relief became more and more frequent to 1-2 times a week (which is a lot for someone who was very concerned and protective of gut health). In the end, a couple of big nights of binge drinking probably contributed about 20% to my big ME crash, along with a lot of Work stress - working too late etc.

So my advice to anyone with CFS and not yet ME would be to steer well clear of booze, even if it gives you this temporary release. As people above have said, it is probably only damaging the liver more and depleting the gut further of probiotics.

{Sidenote: it's funny that Wessely once wrote that Alcohol avoidance was a component of ME/CFS}