Advice please? Since my MS diagnosis I have improved my diet and I exercise more than I ever did. I don’t drink alcohol that much but since my MS symptoms have been showing, I only need one small beer to feel tipsy. If I have a couple of beers my symptoms are temporarily worsened. I am happy never to drink again but what is drinking alcohol like, for others with MS? Thank you Patience x
You`ve answered your own question.
For me, it plays havoc when surfing.
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I won’t lie, I do like a glass/bottle of rose. I’ve noticed that I feel the effects of alcohol much faster than I used to, and especially so when I’m tired.
I should add I’m not yet diagnosed but it’s looking likely.
x
I drink. I always have. Not to excess and because of needing to transfer safely, I drink less now than I used to. But a couple of glasses of wine and I’m fine. I gave up spirits a while back because I don’t want to drink too much. And I try to have a couple of nights a week when I don’t drink.
Mind you, when I was first diagnosed, still properly mobile and working, I drank like a thirsty fish. Not that I’m necessarily recommending getting sloshed on a regular basis, but it only affected me as much as the general population.
Sue
I used to enjoy having a decent tipple on occasions. Then a few years ago I started getting really awful hangovers - even after just one glass of wine…so for a very long time I avoided alcohol (not completely though - but I always suffered the day after).
I think last year (after diagnosis) I thought “Sod it” and had a couple of drinks - didn’t feel tipsy - didn’t have a hangover. I regularly have a drink now (regularly being once or twice a week at most) but I never get a hangover any more.
Happy days 
My former MS Nurse convinced me to try Baclofen against very painful spasms in my legs.
Three nights back I had one medium sized glass of wine, and the spasms lasted all night without abating.
This has never happened before.
Geoff
I’m sorry for butting in. I’m in the very early process of investigating to see if I may have ms. I find drinking a couple of largers most days gives me a lift in my mood and fatigue. Does anyone else?
My relationship has gone down hill since being diagnosed with MS 3 year ago, my partner has insisted and keeps reminding me that my MS nurse told me to make a choice between drinking alcohol and my family. This due to being the side effects of drinking alcohol with MS and the side effects of taking pregabalin combined. I am completely fed up at the moment as I feel I am unable to make my own choices as an adult with two children. I am close to leaving my partner as his reminder of my condition and the things I should and should not do is driving me crazy. Does anyone out there relate to the problems I am having. Another reminder I have is that on my many occasions (I can only recall 2) I have had to be woken up to see to my children and this is now used against me, this being that if I was on my own I could not look after my own children during the night. I just can’t bare this anymore, I am considering leaving however frightened that my partner wins the right to have to take my children at night. Can anyone out there relate to my problems and support me with my argument that I am more than capable to look after my children!!!
I suppose it hinges on how much you drink. Are you a binge drinker who regularly gets hammered so that you can’t wake up when necessary? Or merely a person who happens to like a drink in the evenings?
Personally, I drink. Habitually I am quite capable of drinking a reasonable sized gin & tonic and then share a bottle of wine with my husband, probably 5 or 6 nights a week. But I never drink to excess or get drunk. I can not drink quite happily, and if one of us is ill (doesn’t matter whether it’s me or him) then I’m quite capable of not drinking for however long it takes to get better. If someone were to tell me that I have a problem with alcohol, I’d be miffed to say the least (I’d be more likely to use rather stronger language than that!)
But then, no one has suggested that I do have a problem with alcohol. I don’t get drunk, I don’t suffer hangovers, I don’t fall and I can wake up very easily when needed.
I think perhaps you should pause for a moment. Be really honest with yourself, are you actually drinking to excess? Do you drink to get drunk? Do you have frequent falls? Drink till you pass out? Have you, however frequently, been too drunk to wake up for your children’s needs or safety? And do both you and your partner drink a lot, or just you?
If the answer is that you, alone, do drink to excess, then maybe you could accept that perhaps your partner has a point. And if there is a real danger that you could lose custody of your children because of your drinking then you should just take some time to think about alcohol and the threat it may have to you and your family.
However, if the answer is no, that you really, genuinely do not have a problem, and your partner is exaggerating, then you have to wonder why this is happening. Is he just scared witless about MS and think that alcohol and MS just don’t mix? Or that alcohol and Pregabalin do not mix?
If this is the case, then perhaps you and your partner need to talk to each other and address why this has become a big issue.
Best wishes
Sue
Hi Anonymous. I’m replying anonymously, hope that’s ok. I sympathise with your predicament, but I really think you should reconsider the risks you are taking. This is not said with judgment, but because to me it sounds like you’re drinking alcohol because things are hard for you right now, but the overall effect of the alcohol seems to be making stuff even harder, so the question is: is it worth some short-term relief if it makes things worse for you in the middle to longer term?
Personally, I don’t think alcohol goes with my MS, but we’re all different. But alcohol almost certainly does NOT go with Pregabilin. This is a drug which increases the levels of the neurotransmitter GABA in your brain. Alcohol increases GABA levels too, so the combined effects means you are a lot “drunker” or more affected by the alcohol than you otherwise would be.
If you are combining Pregabilin and alcohol it could be more difficult for you to wake up from sleep, so this side effect isn’t all that surprising. If people are able to use that against you, then it might be wisest for you to just not give them that metaphorical stick to beat you with.
It’s just not worth it. The choice that your MS nurse has presented you with sounds very stark. I don’t know you or your MS nurse, but I do wonder, if the nurse is saying that, isn’t it worth considering that it’s not an easy thing to say to someone? So the fact the MS nurse says this makes me think they’re really quite worried about you.
Please take care of yourself. You sound like it’s very important to you to take care of your kids, so don’t put yourself in a position where it could be harder to do that because of the side-effects of alcohol in combination with your prescription.
When I was younger I had a bad experience when I mixed alcohol with a sleeping pill (Diazepam). That is quite a similar mix to Pregabilin with alcohol and it’s a really bad mix for people who are sensitive to those drugs.
Wishing you all the best.
Alcohol always contributes to the deterioration of the patient’s condition, regardless of its kind of disease. Because alcohol is extremely dangerous if you drink too much, and alcohol addiction starts very quickly. I have problems with blood and thrombosis, and a couple of years ago, someone told me that red wine dilutes the blood. It quickly led me to a deterioration of my condition and alcohol addiction. It helps me a lot at theluckiestclub.com, And I’ve been off the hook for 3 months now. But now I understand that alcohol is very dangerous, and do not forget about its harm.