Endo and alcohol

[jesslouisa1]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has been told not to drink if they have endo as it can make symptoms worse? I’ve been told my a colleague but I’m confused as to why my gynae or GP haven’t told me this?

[BendyClare]

My GP has said that I shouldn’t drink wine with preservatives as the preservatives interfere with hormone regulation. I can’t drink in the second half of my cycle as it makes me feel so sick. And I tend to schedule social events around this, which is a little bit depressing! But I do drink organic wine in the first half and I seem ok 🤷🏼‍♀️

The diet tips for Endo that I’ve found so far all say no to alcohol though!

x

[JulesUK]

Your liver is responsible for filtering hormones including estrogen, whilst it’s processing alcohol it cannot effectively manage its job processing hormones. As endo is an estrogen dominant condition it makes sense to let the liver do its job. I’m no doctor but that’s my basic understanding. I was never given any advice about nutrition from medical staff. P.s. knowing it’s probably best not to have it and not having it though are two different things!!

[endokicker1]

Alcohol converts to sugar, which is inflammatory and is bad for endo. With endo, your body is already dealing with a lot of inflammation so it's best not to burden it with anything that can cause more. Also, your liver has to filter out a lot of the excess oestrogen being produced and shouldnt have to deal with detoxifying your body from alcohol

Doctors are not highly trained in nutrition and hardly give any diet advice.

All the best xxx

[Char411]

I gave up alcohol 18 months ago as I found the day after I would be in a lot of pain and a flare up would start. I figured it’s because alcohol is an inflammatory so aggravates the endo so decided to cut it out completely. I don’t actually miss it. I felt better when I followed the fodmap diet too but found it too hard to stick to as it’s pretty restrictive. Alcohol for me was definitely my biggest trigger.

All the best xx

[LE90]

Hi,

What all these other ladies are saying is exactly what I was going to say. But it's your body at the end of the day, you know how you feel after you drink and you know if one or two don't hurt or if it's not worth it later on.

Technically, no doctors would encourage drinking anyway, as it's bad for us, I'm learning that pretty much everything seems to effect endo, so it's down to you how strict you want to be with your diet and lifestyle.

[Faybee87]

Oh man when I throw caution to the wind and go for a few drinks I feel terrible afterwards. It does depend on where I am in my cycle but at it's worst I'll get drunk really fast and black out (as in, I'll seem a bit drunk but I'll be coherent to those around me, but the following day I won't remember a thing, it's terrifying). The following day I'll have the worst diarrhea and sickness, to the point where friends have thought I'd had my drink spiked. It's just because my liver can't handle it. And before endo I was a bit of a party girl, people knew I could drink. I barely drink nowadays, though I do love a single malt or a gin, I'll generally limit it to one or two. It's just not worth how bad I feel the next day and it also is a huge anxiety trigger so I'll feel off for a week afterwards. My theory is the same endokicker1's above.

[Faybee87]

Btw, I've found it quite empowering to be almost teetotal, my husband doesn't really drink anymore as it interferes with medication he takes so it's been easier having him in my corner, but there's something nice about enjoying your friends' company, being able to drive home, and then enjoy yourself the following day! There are some good alcohol free drinks in bars now, I'm obsessed with seedlip as an alternative to gin. The more people have seen that I've been cutting it out, the more people have opened up and said 'you know, I've been thinking about cutting down, too'

[Renlark]

I agree with all the other ladies have said. I also found wine to be a bad trigger for pain but also now realise there is so much more can be done regarding diet and even environmental changes that can help. I recently read a fantastic book by Wendy K Laidlaw I would urge you to read this and follow her advice as much as possible it seems to be helping me a bit so far and I’m only a couple weeks in to cutting out all gluten products dairy and soya and any chemically based household products and personal products including moisturisers and make up. It is not easy but I think worth trying. See below hope it helps ☺️ You can find her book on Amazon.

Wendy's online Programs and books 'Heal Endometriosis Naturally Without Painkillers, Drugs or Surgery' are very helpful to women who are suffering with Endometriosis.

It is a wonderful beginning to redirect women's journey to regaining control of their health and empower themselves to reduce their pain and suffering.

[wanwood]

I've had this conversation with my endo team. This condition has biological drivers that are not really related to what you eat or drink,. From a medical / scientific point of view, they are not going to tell you to change your diet until there is evidence that it will actually help. Cutting back on alcohol is good medical advice in general. On the other hand, some people find that changing their diet in specific ways helps their symptoms, and different changes help different people. Personally, it seems to make very little difference to my symptoms whether I drink alcohol or not. Getting a lot of fibre in my diet is helpful, though.

[Doggiedogmom1973]

I'm not surprised, I've learnt more from books and online that from my GP's.