Drinking

[Heater]

Does anyone else notice that they have a much lower alcohol tolerance than before? After being gluten free for just over 7 months, I can hardly drink anything (even sips go to my head) without feeling drunk.

I hardly ever want to go out with my friends, because at least before when I couldn't eat, I could drink. Now I can't really do either.

Anyone else feel like this?

Heather

[CarlaB]

Yea, very low tolerance.

My dad owns a nightclub. He has a drink he's made up that's just orange and cranberry juice. I forget what he calls it, but they serve it in a regular drink glass and people assume he's drinking. Much of it is just that you are holding a glass and sipping ... for this reason I've gotten club soda before with lime ... I don't like it, so I sip it as slowly as everyone else does so I feel like one of the gang.

The other option is to order something weak, like a wine spritzer.

[Guest ~jules~]

I've only had wine since I was diagnosed, it seems to have the usual effect, but thanks for the heads up if I ever do go out and have a rum n coke....

[oceangirl]

I've only had wine since I was diagnosed, it seems to have the usual effect, but thanks for the heads up if I ever do go out and have a rum n coke....

I am a wine drinker- pretty much always with dinner. I have to say, it is the ONLY thing that alleviates the pain sometimes. But that is not why I like wine. I love the ceremony, I love the lovely ambience it imparts to dinner, and I use NO other drugs- including cold medications or drugs for this or drugs for that. My kids chastise me about not even taking an aspirin when I'm not feeling well. I have long been dubious of our pill-fixated culture- including the many pills freely dispensed to kids in the name of every known disability in the DSM-IV! I am a reluctant if not obstinately procrastinating antibiotic taker. (Need to be on death's door or afraid of getting there soon before partaking- and I just did! Much to my chagrin now) To answer your question though, I do think less wine "goes to my head" now that I'm gluten-free. But for the time being, I raise a glass to my European heritage- in moderation.

lisa

[Turtle]

YES!

[eleep]

I drank three very small-sized glasses of wine at a party last night -- over the course of five hours and after a good meal -- and I swear I can't remember the whole evening very clearly. Tonight, at a reception, I took two sips of pinot grigio before I put the glass down (and it's too bad, because it was a very good pinot grigio!). Now I've moved on to water at home and I'm about to go out to hear a friend's band play at a local bar where I'm going to stick with water. I don't care what anyone else thinks, but then, I've been feeling ornery lately!

eleep

[glutenstinks]

Same here. Probably a GOOD thing.

[Guest cassidy]

I noticed the opposite. I can drink much more than before.

I really only drink when I go to work conventions and I have one good drinking buddy there. Usually she drinks alot more than me and I'm the one who goes home early and feels horrible the next day. I kept up with her and she was the one asking me to go home.

The last trip I noticed that I can't drink wine. If I have one glass I have a bad headache the next day and feel like I drank the whole bottle. However, if I drink liquor, I can drink lots of it, not get that drunk, and wake up feeling great.

We have another one of these trips coming up next month. I'm pregnant now and I haven't told anyone at work yet. I'm wondering if my suspicious behavior - not drinking and going to bed around 9 are going to give me away.

[ravenwoodglass]

For me it depends on the alcohol. Wine or a grain free alcohol is fine. I can sip away all night (read 3 glasses here) and be fine. Any grain based alcohol or anything mixed from a 'speed bar' will knock me for a loop and give me glutening syptoms.

[CarlaB]

I noticed the opposite. I can drink much more than before.

I really only drink when I go to work conventions and I have one good drinking buddy there. Usually she drinks alot more than me and I'm the one who goes home early and feels horrible the next day. I kept up with her and she was the one asking me to go home.

The last trip I noticed that I can't drink wine. If I have one glass I have a bad headache the next day and feel like I drank the whole bottle. However, if I drink liquor, I can drink lots of it, not get that drunk, and wake up feeling great.

We have another one of these trips coming up next month. I'm pregnant now and I haven't told anyone at work yet. I'm wondering if my suspicious behavior - not drinking and going to bed around 9 are going to give me away.

Get whatever mixer you normally use by itself in a drink glass. Have a little conversation with the bartender. No one will notice. My dad owns a bar and seldom drinks anymore. He made up a drink with just juices, and everyone thinks it has alcohol in it. People just don't pay much attention. But, if it comes in a big Coke glass, it's a dead give-away. I've done this before, and people wonder why I'm the only one without a hangover.

[tarnalberry]

I don't know if it's the gluten-free, or the migraine medication I'm on, or what, but last night, even after dinner, my half glass of reisling was enough to get me feeling it, and after adding in a midori and rumplemintz (yummy!), and a half shot of goldschlager, I was definitely at my limit. Of course, that's not far from my normal limit, but definitely still lower.