At the end of last summer my son was married and there was occasion to celebrate. Right around the same time, I was suffering terrible neurological pain below where I incurred my SCI. Then again, my husband and I traveled to an all-inclusive in Mexico over the holidays, and again, I suffered terrible neurological pain below where I incurred my SCI. Last weekend I was out with friends indulging and found the next few days to follow, the same terrible neurological pain below where I incurred my SCI.

Has anyone else noticed this correlation?

I have not noticed any increase. I'm not a big alcohol drinker but I do drink a few wine coolers around 4th of July or when we go out to the desert with friends. Have you thought about maybe an interaction with the alcohol and maybe a medication you're on? Several of the common meds we often get put on have warnings against drinking while taking it.

And another thing is that each of the times you listed were possibly just a lot of stress (on the body).

wheeliebear has a point on the meds, and on the body stress. I have the tingling/prickling/burning sensations sometimes already, but a night out with my friends usually ends with several days of worse pain than normal. It got so bad once that I just took an ambien, a norco10, and a maxalt all together to stop it. (yes, by "stop it" I mean "pass out cold")

Hi City Girl
I get the burning and tingling a lot, somedays worse than others. I havent really drunk that much since my injury, but i find sometimes if i do too much it can be worse, but not every time. Generally theres no rhyme or reason to it. I spoke to my doc about it a couple of weeks ago, and he is talking about trying gabapentin. Just now i just take ibuprofen and it sometimes takes the edge off. I was hoping maybe alcohol would ease it. Back to the drawing board then!
Mike

My Neuro pain is daily and pretty consistent.. The way I understood it alcohol is one of the oldest "nerve pain meds". For me the pain will pretty much go away while I'm drunk... but the next day will be back with a vengeance.. the pain will be worse, at least for that day.


Oh and small amounts like a beer or two don't seem to effect it much, only getting hammered

I've noticed this too. About the time I get halfway through a bottle of Crown Royal(I know, I'm a lightweight...), the pain goes away.

It's interesting that most replies are from those with similar injury levels.

Notwithstanding, after some research, I think I've figured it out.

Alcohol depletes electrolytes. And electrolytes are key in neurological conduction. Hence, the consumption of alcohol will disturb the normal balance of neurological conduction, which in SCI'd people, is already impaired.

Thus, it's probably best to abstain. Otherwise, replenish and eat lots of fruits and veggies, chock-full of electrolytes, the day after.

Hmmm fruits & veggies for Electrolytes?... Bloody mary's, strawberry daquri's, see where I'm goin here? Maybe some testing is in order.


City girl also getting hammered greatly increasing the acidity in your blood, causing your krebs to have to go into overdrive to burn it out. And it dehydrates either would also seem capable of disrupting a fragile neurological balance. What do you think?

I do completely understand that this isn't a laughing matter ;), but my only correlation between alcohol and pain, is the falling out of chair stage hehee.. It doesnt happen often, I dont get that drunk very often! My neuro crap tends to be itching and burning. I have thankfully learnt to manage them them without drugs, though sometimes I've seen ppl give me strange looks for scratching my legs.. and swearing at them. I used to think that if my eyes ( my brain) saw me scartching, the itching might go away.. but funnily enough, I cant feel myself scratch adn worst of all, I've never been able to find the itch ;)

I have never really noticed an increase in neuro pain and alcohol consumption. Like ems it tends to be drunken injuries that cause me more problems (UDI's as we call them - Unidentified Drinking Injuries!) My pain certainly seems less when I am drunk as for the morning after, maybe my body is too busy concentrating on the banging headache to take much notice of anything else!

I, too, have episodes of worsening pain,,,, but never relating to drinking,,, more often I notice that it's after some change in my daily routine.

It's not, normally, the day of that change, but the next or occasionally two days later. Forgetting to take my gaba will often start the sequence, and take a couple of days to get back to normal, also.

I have to say that it seems taking a glass of single malt actually eases the pain a bit,,, but then,,, I only drink about once a week, on average, and then moderately.
ed

When I drink alcohol my pain goes away cause it f*@k with your brain but the next day I f*@k I get so much pain the next day that I regret taking that alcohol

Definitely a correlation for me. Been trying to get back on that horse ever since my injury (it's been a year and a half...I'm a slow learner). Drinks definitle make my pain and symptoms go away, but I get pretty clumsy and have fallen a couple of times after minimal drinking. A beer or two doesn't do it, but a lot more than that and I feel like I got hit by a bus the next day. Spasms are extremely worse, pain, fatigue, etc...all worse. I believe it was Homer J. Simpson who once said that "Alcohol...the cause of AND solution to all of life's problems". I think LuckyinKentucky may be on to something...

Im t/234 comp. after the first yr. I started feeling pain and burning the doc throwed me on 1800 mg neurotin and I was out of my mind for a awhile but the pain kept coming back he kept uping it so I started drinking a lot while I was drunk the pain stayed away but when i sobered up there it was alomg with the dep. Im now in my 5 yr. of injury and the docs dont know