Alcohol

I don't drink much so doesn't take much for me to feel it. I have had one drink here and there and my pouch has been fine.

I did not get a J pouch until age 29, and I found that my J Pouch did not lessen or increase the impact of any alcohol I can drink.  It was exactly the same as before surgery.  I can drink any alcoholic beverage except red wine, the tannins in which give me a problem.  I am not a big drinker, and do not usually drink except Friday nights and sometimes weekends.   I went out with some friends Sunday and enjoyed some "high test" beer at a local microbrewery.  It was a triple IPA fruited with passionfruit puree, 11% alcohol, which I had with pizza, both of which were delicious. I have found that I like fruited high test (over 9%) beers and saisons, and most microbreweries of repute have choices in these styles.

Valen, I have never traveled to Argentina, so I do not speak from any experience on what may be available there.

By the way, I have seen other posts on your question on the rate of alcohol absorption being somehow accelerated or decelerated by J Pouch surgery.  From the standpoint of the facts of basic biology, I cannot think of any reason how J Pouch surgery could possibly accelerate the rate at which alcohol is absorbed into your body.  Nothing happens surgically which should cause this to happen.  Whether the shortening of the ileum by creation of the J Pouch decelerates the rate of absorption of alcohol is not supported by any studies of which I am aware, although malabsorption of certain nutrients and vitamins after J Pouch surgery is well documented.  As I said above though, my own subjective drinking experience as a young adult did not change when I got my J Pouch at 29, and I am 58 now and drink a lot less than I did as a younger man.

Hi Valen I'm 9 months out and still experimenting with alcohol.Ive found vodka with electrolyte drink with no sugar is ok in moderation.Im finding it better to drink a high volume beer like 7-8% up to one litre is ok but beer can lead to but burn.jim beam with diet softdrink is ok .and have plenty of fluids ready for later.alcohol can also lead to overeating .

hi V,

Thought ... Have a 'safe' dinner you've had before and accompany with 2 or 3 glasses of wine.  Or beer.  Then have the same dinner w/o alcohol.  It's not bullet proof but try to change only one variable and see what the hell happens.  Might take you a couple of trials to see if there are any issues.

I've had my pouch for 35 years.  Lived overseas and ate street food.  And, I drink several times a week.  Always believe that we need to challenge our pouches.  The more they are exposed to, the more they learn to cope.

Absolutely 0 science behind this!  No facts whatsoever.  But my cholesterol ... my pouch's performance ... my current trajectory of keeping this sucker for my life ... are all positive.  Sure, folks will advocate other paths but blaze your own.

Michael

If you want to get specific, I tend to have a glass of single malt or vodka and then have a few glasses of wine ... either red or white (depending on what's for dinner).  I do drink beer but much less frequently.

@Michael posted:

hi V,

Thought ... Have a 'safe' dinner you've had before and accompany with 2 or 3 glasses of wine.  Or beer.  Then have the same dinner w/o alcohol.  It's not bullet proof but try to change only one variable and see what the hell happens.  Might take you a couple of trials to see if there are any issues.

I like Michael's suggestion a lot. I have had my pouch almost as long as him and trial and error type experiments work as well with alcohol as well as anything else. I would be surprised if you or anyone else would have trouble with any alcoholic beverage other than red wine. Red wine is, in my case and others, a difficult to digest alcohol because of the tannins. I have yet to imbibe any much more powerful spirits which have similar effects. Therefore, it's not the ethyl alcohol that is causing the digestive issues; it's the particular organic compound, sugars or additives in the alcohol. Keep this in mind, as well as the fact that most alcoholic beverages are a composite of multiple ingredients of which ethyl alcohol is just one. Tannins are in fact naturally occurring organic compounds that occur in the fruit itself and is independent of the alcohol. So never make the assumption that the alcohol itself is or may be causing the problem. Usually it isn't.

I live in California and love CA wineries. I drink about 2-3 glasses of red wine a day.  I will warn you, if you drink anything red, it will come out the same color.  Don't be alarmed by thinking its blood.

@Lesandiego posted:

I live in California and love CA wineries. I drink about 2-3 glasses of red wine a day.  I will warn you, if you drink anything red, it will come out the same color.  Don't be alarmed by thinking its blood.

Over the weekend I shared a very good California Chardonnay (needless to say a white wine) with relatives called Joel Gott.  I had not actually heard of this winery before.  This one was "no oak" and in fact did taste like it was de-oaked. 

My problem with red wine isn't that it makes me think I have blood/bleeding.  The tannins in it give me diarrhea, and the diarrhea does not look any different than regular diarrhea from other things.  However, I should note that I can drink Port Wine with no problem.  I find that Port Wine varies widely in quality and therefore I prefer the higher end stuff from Portugal.

I personally  dont like that youtube guy who says hes cured uc by eating kefir.he always puts a disclaimer that hes not a doctor and you follow him at your own risk.hes also studied business alot and does one on one training and is selling a book and supplements  and is sponsored  and  uses God and people's weaknesses to make money,alot of his comments are praising the lord .he also looks anaemic  and sick to me.If the lord punishes people by giving them UC I doubt it.I believe stress and not loving yourself enough can cause digestive problems.There is another youtuber saying the cure of UC is to love yourself more and forgive others.I once used to laugh when I heard that constipation was caused by the fear of letting go but now I thing your mind does impact your body and you have to take care of both.

By the way, here is an article from the New York Times, which is considerably more credible than any random Youtuber disclaiming everything he says, which reports that wine aids the digestive process.  This is one of about a thousand articles saying the same thing on the Internet, and they are not laughable sources who are either self professed self-help gurus that know nothing, Holy Rollers, or other charlatans praying on the weak-minded or elderly and/or seeking money.  Instead, the NY Times is just good old fashioned reporting information for what it's worth and at face value:

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/health/09real.html

@Chook2 posted:

I personally  dont like that youtube guy who says hes cured uc by eating kefir.he always puts a disclaimer that hes not a doctor and you follow him at your own risk.hes also studied business alot and does one on one training and is selling a book and supplements  and is sponsored  and  uses God and people's weaknesses to make money,alot of his comments are praising the lord .he also looks anaemic  and sick to me.If the lord punishes people by giving them UC I doubt it.I believe stress and not loving yourself enough can cause digestive problems.There is another youtuber saying the cure of UC is to love yourself more and forgive others.I once used to laugh when I heard that constipation was caused by the fear of letting go but now I thing your mind does impact your body and you have to take care of both.

Sorry you do not like him. I think he is a really great guy and is a wonderful Godly man in my opinion. I respect your opinion though.

Given the name of this thread, I'd like to buy everyone a drink...

Sorry to say I have had to edit this thread by deleting posts that either went off topic, became personal flaming, or posted inaccurate or misleading links. I hate having to do this, as it makes me feel like the school principal doling out detention.

We are here to help one another by sharing what we have learned by living with our own j-pouch. But, we need to understand that our own experience is unique, including what is important in our lives.

So, a reminder:

1. Let’s try to post about our own experience or knowledge. If you want to link to a source, please try to keep it a respected and verifiable resource. Anyone can find random stuff on the internet, so we do not need to aggregate it here.

2. If anyone wants to promote “godly” or religious beliefs (or anti religious beliefs for that matter) do that on another site. There are plenty of sites on the internet for that.

3. Please refrain from commenting on each other’s choices for life, diet, activity, treatment, etc. except for how it affects the subject matter being discussed. We cannot have helpful discussions if we cannot be open about how we live our lives.

Jan

@Jan Dollar posted:

So, a reminder:

1. Let’s try to post about our own experience or knowledge. If you want to link to a source, please try to keep it a respected and verifiable resource. Anyone can find random stuff on the internet, so we do not need to aggregate it here.

2. If anyone wants to promote “godly” or religious beliefs (or anti religious beliefs for that matter) do that on another site. There are plenty of sites on the internet for that.

3. Please refrain from commenting on each other’s choices for life, diet, activity, treatment, etc. except for how it affects the subject matter being discussed. We cannot have helpful discussions if we cannot be open about how we live our lives.

Jan

Thanks Jan. At the risk of sounding facetious, I say amen to all of that.😀

I've given up on trialling beer ,it causes bad sleep and lots more toilet trips and gas.vodka and electrolyte drink seems to work best .

Back when I had my surgery, my surgeon said a lot of people complained of increased frequency associated with drinking beer. I never had a problem with it, but I seldom drink more than one beer. I have no issues with wine or mixed drinks.

Jan

Although I do not drink much beer either, I have never had any problems with it.  As I mentioned above, I Iike the fruited high test beers, and saisons, which have a higher carbonation and higher alcohol % (usually above 9%), and are often, but not always, fruited. White wines, high test beers, and rum, gin and vodka cocktails comprise the vast majority of my social drinking, which is occasional and usually on Friday nights and weekends.

I recently had a cocktail which had aperol and rum as the operative alcoholic ingredients, and it was very good (I would go as far as to vote it my cocktail of the last 2-3 years that I have tasted). Aperol is an Italian liqeur which gives any cocktail it is added to a very slight, but pleasant, bitter taste, akin to tonic water.  Aperol spritzes, which are made with Prosecco and Aperol, are wildly popular in Europe and Italy, but less so here in the USA.

The cocktail I ordered, called the "Jungle Cat", had as ingredients, based on a copy and paste from the menu of the restaurant where I ordered it, the following:

Plantation Silver Rum | Aperol | Coconut | Pineapple | Lime | Angostura Bitters

Been drinking beer from glass bottles instead of cans and noticed a huge difference(makes sense).no real downsides,sleep well and lots of energy the next day.Becks beer.🍺

Chook2, I agree that beer from bottles rather than cans makes a difference but sometimes (especially with craft beers) you need to settle on cans. Above is the Fayson's Maple Imperial Stout I recently purchased on a trip to see relatives in Plattsburgh, NY. It's made in Vermont and is an imperial stout infused with maple syrup. 10.1% ABV although they also make an imperial stout with 12%, which I couldn't find.

By the way to our NY residents on here: you got some weird liquor laws in NY!!!!! I went to a liquor store to buy my aunt some Chardonnay because she likes it and once I found what I was looking for, I asked the clerk to direct me to the craft beer selection. He looked at me like I had 3 eyes in my head and said, "uh, sir, we don't sell beer with wine in NY." I was like, you gotta be kidding me. So it turns out in Plattsburgh beer is only sold at convenience stores in a separate, designated cooler room, which is cold like a meat locker. They have 2 places to buy craft beers in Plattsburgh which both have excellent selections, the Beer Cave and the Beer Cabin. The Faysons I bought at the Beer Cabin.

In Connecticut there is no such law- we sell beer, wine, and spirits all in one store. One stop shopping!!!! The NY law makes absolutely no sense to me at all. 2 stop shopping.

I'm currently 3 months out, and I'm having a bit of a tough time drinking alcohol. Actually the drinking part goes as smoothly as it did before (although I seem to need about 1.5 to 2 times more to get properly smashed), but if I'm having more than a couple of drinks, the next day I'm having a terrible hangover. Hydrating before I go to sleep does help quite a bit, though.

I've tried all kinds of drinks. Back when I had the first ileostomy, I could drink pretty much everything (if I was at home and didn't care about the bag leaking, which it frequently did). When having a night out with friends, I sticked with champagne or white wine diluted equal parts with sparkling water (so it retained the color and most of the taste, but didn't provoke leakage). When they rewired me into a loop ileostomy, that's when things started to get difficult, but I could tolerate light cider and an occasional glass or two of champagne.

However, since the takedown I find it difficult digesting most alcoholic beverages. Vodka and white wine makes me vomit, red wine makes the output almost liquid, most beer sets my butt on fire, cider gives me lots of gas. It's being increasingly hard to find good whiskey here after the war started, so no idea about that, but I'm not a big fan. Currently I found a couple of imported beers which don't cause as much butt burn as the others, so I'm sticking with them.

As a person who could drink all he wanted with UC (not during the inflammations, mind you), and moreso, living in Russia and Georgia (huge drinkers here), I find it a bit annoying. It had improved over the weeks though, and I expect it to improve a lot in the following years. It's just the beginning of my journey, and I think it should provide y'all with an estimate what you should expect first months after takedown.

3 months is not that far out. After a couple of years you should be able to drink most alcohol no problem. Red wine is the only thing that remained a problem for me, due to the tannins.

I use Aperol even with really good Champagne (which sometimes it too dry for me) and it is delicious.

I'm 18 years out and alcohol irritates my guts, especially beer.  The least irritating are rice wine and vodka.  Gin burns holes through me.  I could drink anything when I had a colon (except when UC flared up).  My pouch is super picky. My small intestine never wanted to be a colon.