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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to drink just a bit of alcohol - sometimes - without always feeling grim the next day??

31 replies

potatofactory · 26/03/2009 06:16

Last night I had a Baileys, which was the first booze I had drunk in a week. It was a small Baileys! This morning, I have a nasty headache. I don't really want to embrace teetotalism, but I'm going to have to, I think, at this rate.

I will have to explain myself like people who don't drink do: 'I DO want to drink, I just can't.'

Seriously - is it possible to be allergic to booze? My level of intolerance (which has got worse and worse) doesn't seem normal.

OP posts:
Dingbatgirl · 26/03/2009 07:04

You're not the only one .... had a can of lager (a large can, only one!)on Mothers' Day evening ..... and I felt grotty all the next day, really out of sorts. I used to drink a bottle of wine and get up at 6am, not feeling much in the way of after effects.

No idea if someone can be allergic, but definitely my tolerance level is alot lower these days, can't bear the thought of early mornings with a hangover!

A bit sad when it's only one can of lager!!

Dingbatgirl · 26/03/2009 07:20

Forgot to say, it may be a good idea to drink a pint of water beforehand or something like that. Seems a shame to have to stop having a drink from time to time.

piratecat · 26/03/2009 07:28

me too. i have no idea why I can't tolerate it anymore. Have had 3 very nasty hangovers over the last 2 yrs, when i have not even had that much to drink. So ill, shakes, d+V, for about 12hours I did a mungous thread on here after my 40th birthday celebration!!

I seem to be ok ish on 12% wine, i always check the labels. Is it age, ie hormones?? How old are you?

shootfromthehip · 26/03/2009 07:35

Drink water and take a couple of paracetamol before you go to bed- it is sad though when you have to take these precautions for 1 glass of wine when you used to drink 3 bottles. I now have to do this as I feel like I've been poisoned after 3 glasses of wine now. What happened to my alcohol consumption? Does save money but I now dread a 'big' night out as I'll be ill for the next 2 days and knackered for the week! I'm a light-weight!

YANBU

Original poster
potatofactory · 26/03/2009 07:44

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I used to take aspirin and water before bed and it worked a treat (after my whole bottle). Now I still do, but I don't think it does much, and it feels bad taking more drugs to counteract my one glass of wine!!

Annoying. I want the choice to have a drink after a day with my 2 - yr - old!

OP posts:
Saltire · 26/03/2009 08:01

I used to be like that after even 1 glass of wine, until I discovered there was a pattern to it. I was getting the headaches if I drank wine the week either side of my period. So I stopped drinking it on those weeks. Now I get the depo injection so don't have any perioeds at all, and find I can drink a glass of wine when i feel like it

ABetaDad · 26/03/2009 08:01

potatofactory - same here.

About ten years ago I stopped drinking in the evening completely. Same with my wife who also feels yucky in the morning if she has a small drink in the evening. Now we have no spirits, no beer at all and only wine with a meal at lunch time.

Never was a big drinker anyway but I mentioned it to te doctor who laughed and said don't worry - you are just getting older. For other reasons I have had liver check and other blood and urine tests so I know my liver, pancreas and kidneys are OK.

I assume you feel well otherwise?

Bailey's has whiskey in it and that may be the problem. A tiny bit gives me a foul headache at any time of day.

Original poster
potatofactory · 26/03/2009 08:07

Just getting older then! I did think about the whisky element when I was drinking the Baileys as usually I would avoid any coloured booze! White wine will do it too, though.

I feel fine otherwise, though I am prone to migraines, which may contribute here...

OP posts:
SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore · 26/03/2009 08:09

it's from dehydration. Drink water before bed, mineral water is best, if you have had a drink.

And drink more water on waking.

standanddeliver · 26/03/2009 08:11

Last year I discovered I have Gilberts syndrome, which apparently between 5 and 15% of the population have - it's a benign congenital disorder. It means my liver doesn't process toxins in the same way as other people's and I have high levels of bilirubin in my blood.

I'm now wondering if this is why I have such a low tolerance of alcohol - I really can't cope with even a glass of wine these days, although in my teens and twenties I could have 10 or 15 units a night and (depending on what it was - wine and beer have always made me ill) feel ok the next day. These days I fall asleep dribbling after a glass of wine, and feel hideous the next day if I have two.

Original poster
potatofactory · 26/03/2009 08:34

That's interesting, standanddeliver I don't fall asleep or anything - don't even feel tipsy after the amount I drink really, but just do still dreadful the next day.

I do drink water, but I can't believe that a small amount of wine can need more than a pint of water (say) to counteract it? It doesn't seem to help, anyway!

My husband always has a nice cold bottle of beer whilst cooking and I'm just so jealous !

OP posts:
Vinegar · 26/03/2009 10:14

I'm the same potatofactoy. I don't drink in the evening/night anymore. Ocassionally I may have a small drink in the afternoon and then make sure I drink lots of cups of warm water and tea which seems to do the trick.

Original poster
potatofactory · 26/03/2009 11:52

sigh I guess that's the way forward then vinegar! >

OP posts:
ABetaDad · 26/03/2009 15:30

standanddeliver - 10 - 15 units a night!

Perhaps you wore yourself out. Although Gilberts syndrome does sound unpleasant.

What are the symptoms (if not TMI)?

southeastastra · 26/03/2009 15:32

my dp is weird, if i drink lots he wakes up with a hangover hahah

i have a friend that falls over after half a glass of wine.

piratecat · 26/03/2009 16:11

yeah but 10-15 units, can mean only 2-3 large glasses of wine!!

poshwellies · 26/03/2009 16:12

10-15 units is a bottle of wine.

Surfermum · 26/03/2009 16:27

Just posting quickly so I can find this later - I had exactly the same problem. Even alcohol in food affected me. But I can happily drink these days.

screamingabdab · 26/03/2009 16:46

potatofactory

I am just the same, such a lightweight now.

I find I don't get so amy ill effects with beer instead of wine.

Just one glass of wine now makes me feel v dehydrated, and I get a hangover on only a couple of glasses.

I think I've always been a bit allergic (Iused to feel quite breathless when I was drunk at Uni, and would often be sick that evening and the next morning). i just "pushed on through it".

Since kids - forget it!

screamingabdab · 26/03/2009 16:47

that was so MANY ill effects with beer

Surfermum · 26/03/2009 18:45

I used to be like this a few years back. It gradually got worse and worse until I found that one glass of wine would leave me feeling hungover the next day. I'd feel sick and have gastritis. My GP suggested I stopped drinking to see if it made a difference and it did, so was clearly the alcohol. I remember going to a friend's for dinner and she made chocolate mousse with cointreau in it. Even that affected me the next day.

I had about 8 years "dry" and then one day on holiday a friend suggested I had a little glass of port. To my surprise the next day I had no hangover, so I tried bacardi - still no hangover and from then on I found that it no longer affected me the same way.

We never got to the bottom of what the problem was, but I do have a theory of my own - which I am happy to share if you'd like (although I may sound odd ) - depends how open you are to things like reiki .

Original poster
potatofactory · 26/03/2009 18:52

I'd like to hear the theory. I have large patches of being dry now - but not eight years!!! What do you think it was, surfermum?

I don't want drink a lot (well I do, but you know) but just a little without feeling anxious about the next day would do!

OP posts:
MrsMellowdrummer · 26/03/2009 18:58

My Dad was allergic to alcohol for years and years and years - it gave him blinding 3 day migraines, along with chocolate and cheese. Then he had a stroke, and got put on medication to widen his veins/arteries (or something?), and he's been able to drink alcohol, and eat choc and cheese to his heart's content with no consequences ever since.

He was so when he realised!

Original poster
potatofactory · 26/03/2009 19:18

I'm not surprised your dad was !

If anyone can explain to me why starting this thread has made me crack open a bottle of sparkling white, they're a better woman (or man) than I am!!

Obviously I'll have no right to moan in the morning.

I'll only have one glass. My dh will gannet the rest!

OP posts:
screamingabdab · 26/03/2009 19:39

I would like to hear surfermum's theory, and about
standanddeliver's Gilberts syndrome

potatofactory - think I'll join you