With Irritable Bowel, how much alcohol, how often per week, can you drink alcoholic beverages with aggravitating the situation?
I am a college student, and my social life has suffered immensely ever since I severely cut down on drinking.
I can not take this anymore, and am going to begin living again, which means I will be drinking, heck I am 21, I should.

What I want to know is how I can drink, and not make the IBS worse.
I want to know how many drinks a night, how drunk, I can get without making IBS worse, and how often a week I can get this way,

I also want to know how often a week I can have a few drinks just to relax with friends. Say I come home from work and want to have a few drinks at the bar, not to get drunk, but just to relax. Is this ok, how many can I have, and how often a week can I do this?

An example, if I get drunk 1-2 times a week, and 3-4 times a week drink to relax, is this alright, and what alcoholic drinks should I be having?
White wine? Rum, what rum or hard drinks?
What about martinis, what are safe mixed bevergaes?
Thanks.

Alcohol isn't really recommened AT ALL for people with IBS... really it's all a personal thing... what may make things worse for me isn't going to make things worse for you, but in a general sense... alcohol and ibs combined=bad.

I am 21 also, and haven't drank at all since I've turned 21... not one sip.. However, I don't think I would anyways that much, because its too expensive, and I don't need a drink to relax.

On that note... I will say that red wine has been shown in studies to be beneficial for digestion... But thats like 1 glass a night, not 3-4 drinks or to get drunk off of it.

Obviously, the thicker beers like Guiness are going to be a no go... I'd stick with light beer if you drink, like Michelob Ultra.

Seriously, no one is going to answer your question giving you a drinking schedule with what kind of drinks and how often you can drink with IBS.

There is NOTHING written in stone that says what you can and can not do.

Like I said it's just going to be everyone's personal opinion.

Mine is... Don't drink too much, you'll only make things worse. If you wanna have the occasional drink, go for it, but alcohol messes up a normal persons digestive system, not to mention someone with IBS. And you're saying basically you want to drink 4-6 days a week. You're going to do the digestive system NO GOOD, and your intestines are gonna hate you for it. And I am pretty sure anyone on here WILL tell you that it's going to be no good for your intestines in the long run.

Hey, I'm in college, and I have been on a strict diet for a month, I have barely drunk in 2 months, and the SOS continues. I feel bloated, mild constipation, why should I sacrifice my college life, the best years to have fun, when even then it isn't working? All I do is dedicate myself to improving, and I get nothing in return.
I don't eat bread.
Still bloated.
Minimal alcohol.
Still bloated.
No dairy.
Still bloated.
Take jarrodopehllius.
Still bloated.

Every suggestion I have taken has FAILED to rid me of these symptoms, including no alcohol, so why shouldn't I, personally, I think this all a bunch of pre 17th century witchcraft. All the sacrifices for bobbkish.

well like i said, its all a personal choice. its just my personal choice to avoid it completely, because i personally don't "need" it to relax or chill out, and it definitely causes my symptoms to go crazy.

but no ones going to give you a drinking schedule with what types of alcohol to drink and when...

if you choose to drink, go for it... if you feel like you are missing out on college life because of alcohol, well then you should do it.

i'm just saying in the long run, if thats what you choose to do, you're going to do a lotta harm to your already sensitive intestines.

not trying to be harsh, i'm just saying it how it is.

i mean, i hope if you choose to drink 4-6 times a week, you don't suffer in the long run, i know what a pain this whole IBS thing is.. believe me, i too feel left out or like im missing out on a lot of things with my friends.

just letting you know from someone 5+ years in diagnosed, with 5+ years of trial and error methodology, and lots more research on this disorder than most general practioners.

but we all say though, what triggers something for me, might not for you.

Hi, My name is Ray and I'm from England. I don't think that your going to like this but believe me I am only trying to help you. I have suffered with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and everything that goe's with it for four years now and the one thing I have learned is that eventually, as unfair as it seems, I began to reccognise the food and drinks that aggovated my guts and aggrovated the pain, unfortunatly alchohol was one of them, along with my pleasure of cooking and eating exotic meals. If your IBS goe's the same way as mine, and I hope it doesn't, well lets me put it this way, DON'T BE A FOOL AND QUIT WHILE YOUR AHEAD. RAY

Advice for Irritable Bowel sufferers and Alchahol. DON'T DO IT

If you enjoy drinking in moderation..DO IT!..I'm 44 years old and the one thing I've learned is that doctors LOVE to tell you NOT to do all of the things you enjoy doing.. The other thing I've learned is that they are full of crap most of the time. I've had IBS symptoms since I was 19 years old. Whenever I cut out an enjoyable habit like Coffee or Alcohol, I only feel worse.. You and your body know what's best for you.. If you feel like drinks are making it worse than cut down. If you think cutting down on drinks is worse than the IBS symptoms themselves, then DON'T DO IT..

You're too young to be worrying about your health.. Do what feels good to you. You know better what causes your IBS symptoms then your doctor. Every person is wired a little differently.. Alchohol helps many of us relax. I say moderation because getting drunk NEVER made anyone feel better except for a very short time. I don't believe you SHOULD ever deliberately try to get drunk. A couple or three drinks is fine, but what does getting stone-faced drunk do for you? You'll feel awful the next day whether you're an IBS sufferer or not and it's not good for your liver and other body organs. Like anything else, enjoy alcohol and different types of food and moderation. The worst thing anyone can ever do for themselves is to listen to a doctor on diet and nutrition rather than listening to your own body and using your own common sense.

Drink and Enjoy. But like anything else, be reasonable. Don't overdo it. Be happy.

I used to be the typical weekend binge drinker in my early to mid twenties. Then, due to “settling down” (getting serious about my career, moving into a new house with my hubby, etc.) we both slowed down the drinking considerably. Like only having one drink when we go out to dinner, maybe three or four at New Years. But here’s what happened to me this weekend:

Yesterday we went out for a friend’s birthday. We ate dinner at a restaurant where I had two rum & cokes. Then we went back to her house and about three hours later I made myself another rum & coke. Well, I drank about a quarter of it and got terrible heartburn. I ate a Tums (never leave home without it!) and it went away. Then I drank a bit more and the heartburn came back with a vengeance. I had another Tums but it didn’t kick in like the first one did. So I walked around a bit, but that didn’t help much either. By this time I was almost doubled over in pain. Then I had some water and finally it subsided. We went home and went to bed, but two hours later I woke up and felt like my entire digestive track was on fire. I tossed and turned for two hours and finally sat upright, which helped a bit. Then the real gut rot hit, and I had to make a run for the can. I was in there for about fifteen minutes with diarrhea and pain. I still don’t feel great right now.

Not saying that you shouldn’t drink at all, but this is just an example of what we might face if we choose to indulge. Will this experience deter me from drinking? No, of course not. As long as I’m with friends, they’ll just have to put up with my gastrointestinal distress!

See, perfect examples.. What bothers me, might not bother you.

Unfortunately, I haven't tolerated alcohol too well at all. I did risk drinking a few times at college last year. I would take like 4-6 imodium before I knew I was going to be drinking.

I still say don't drink too much, if at all. It can cause a lot of intestinal distress, but you have to be your own judge on how much, if any, you can drink.

I am a moderate drinker. I don't drink to get drunk, but I'm pretty regular about it. 2 or 3 drinks before dinner. I've stopped before for a week or even two sometimes. I feel worse. I feel deprived. My stress is worse and the symptoms of IBS I think actually get worse.

Sometimes I actually think a couple or three drinks is what finally clears up my IBS when I'm going through a bad time.

While I'm sure drinking might harm some IBSers, Sometimes I think we blame the wrong cause. Maybe we're having drinks or beer and a pizza? It's the tomato sauce in the pizza that causes the heartburn or distress and we blame it on the wine or beer.

I do know that of all the things I drink, beer is probably the one that aggravates me most. Of foods, it's tomato sauce. You just have to do what feels best for you, not what the doctor says is best for you. They really don't know.