posted
Okay, last night was only like the 4th time I've tried any alcoholic beverage. Prior to this, I had had champagne at the Phi Alpha Theta induction, and sake and wine shortly after my 21st birthday. All of them I drank very little of (with the champagne, 2 glasses, with the sake, 1 small glass 2 separate times, and with the wine, 1 small glass). I have thought all of these alcoholic beverages tasted nasty. They were all very bitter to me; it was almost like I could taste the alcohol and nothing else. (Side note: I actually told the Mormon missionaries about this, and of course they attributed the bitter taste and my dislike of it to me having the spirit inside me trying to direct me away from alcohol.)
Now onto the main point of this thread. Last night there was drinking, what with it being St. Patrick's Day and all. I split a six-pack of Mike's Hard Berry. The stuff tasted more like Kool-Aid and only had a slight aftertaste that reminded me it was alcohol. So I drank 3 of these, probably over the course of about an hour and a half to two hours. These things are low in alcohol per volume (I think like only 5% off the top of my head), so it wasn't like tons of alcohol. Even after drinking 3, I didn't really feel anything. I wasn't tipsy, my vision was fine, my speech was fine, everything was more or less normal.
An hour or so after finishing the last one, I felt sort of sleepy, but I could easily attribute that to the hour as much to the alcohol (it was past 2AM and I typically go to bed between 11 and 12). So I turned off my bedroom light and laid down in my bed. I thought for sure the sleepy feeling would carry me into sleep. Nope, not a chance. I couldn't fall asleep at all. It wasn't even my typical "I'm worrying a lot so I can't fall asleep." It was like my body just wouldn't go to sleep. I kept closing my eyes and tried to slow down my breathing. No luck. I was wide awake although I still felt sort of sleepy.
This was problem one of the night/morning. Problem two came shortly thereafter. My body began to cycle between being too hot and too cold. I would start sweating because I had too many sheets/blankets covering me. I would remove one and then I would start shivering because I was so cold. At one point, I was sweating and shivering at the same time. It was very odd and not at all pleasant.
Problem three began around 4:30 or so. My stomach started to hurt some, the same kind of pain that I get when I'm worried about something a whole lot. At one point, I was curled up in a ball, a hand on my stomach. I was shivering and in pain. No good.
At around 5, I got up and did a math problem. I had Weird Al's "Frank's 2000" TV" stuck in my head, and I started wondering how big such a TV would really be. I did out some math, estimating a 3 to 5 height to width ratio. Turns out such a TV would be about 142 feet wide and about 85 feet tall (this is all estimation as I was doing calculations in my head). Crazy stuff.
By 6, I was back in bed again, but still not sleeping. The shivering/sweating continued, as did the abdominal pain. At one point I prayed to God saying "if this is your way of telling me not to drink alcohol, then I get it. Just make it stop and let me get some rest." God must not have been involved though, as the pain and sleepless ness continued.
Around 6:30, my computer chimed saying I had received an e-mail (which confused me since I wasn't expecting any e-mails, particularly this early in the morning). I got up and checked it, just spam.
I went back to bed. The shivering while sweating was really bad during this period. I almost felt like I had a fever or something. I wanted to check my temperature, but then I remembered my thermometer thing's battery is dead. So I just lay there, cursing because I can't sleep and I'm feeling awful.
I toss and turn. At one point, I keep moving my foot as the motion seems to generate gas bubbles in my stomach, which actually sort of soothe the pain slightly. I look at my alarm clock and it's almost 9. I set it to go off at 11:10, since I knew I needed to get up by that time in order to go pick up a friend to go out to eat for lunch.
I continue trying to sleep, but I can't. I feel very, very tired. I try not to move as much as the pain seems to hae gone away now. The shivering/sweating continues though. At any given point, I'm half in and half out of my blankets.
Finally at 11, my computer starts making noise. My friend is IMing me. He asks if I'm hungover and says I'm late to pick him up. I remind him that it's 11:30 and not 11 that we agreed on, so therefore I'm not late. I tell him I'm not hungover (as I've never heard anyone describe a hangover like this), but I am very tired. I still agree to pick him up though and go out to lunch.
I only ate maybe two thirds of what I normally eat at this place. My stomach has started hurting again. I'm not sweating anymore; I'm just cold (this is a side effect of the weather though as it's rainy and cold outside). My head hurts slightly, but this could also be attributed to the weather (I usually get headaches when it storms).
I still feel lousy though, and I've been awake for well over 24 hours now. I told a friend about this and he said he had never heard of anyone having a reaction to alcohol like that. I told him that I didn't think I wanted to drink anymore if this was going to be the result of it. He told me not to mistake correlation for causation. I'm not sure though what else could have caused this than the drinking. Everything else in my day was more or less the same as always. I usually can sleep, I usually don't sweat or shiver while sleeping, and I never have stomach pains at night. I blame the alcohol and my body reacting weird to it. Anyone else though can offer their own explanation for my bad night/morning. I'd be more than willing to listen to it.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
You say the drink was fruity/sugary. If you've never had a bad reaction to alcohol in wine, etc. before, is it possible that you are reacting to another ingredient in the drink? Or even just reacting to alcohol with lots of sugar (which I hear makes some people sick?)
In any case, I'd at least stay away from that particular drink in the future, were I you.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Alcohol can cause insomnia. The rest sounds more like a viral gastroenteritis, perhaps. Or something else you ate, or a problem with other ingredients in the beverage. (Or like kq said.)
Next time you drink, choose a single serving of something different and stop. THEN see what happens.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
It was fairly sugary. I might look on the ingredients list. Maybe there was something else in it that was making me feel lousy. I haven't had any real negative reaction to champagne/wine/sake, but then I never drank much of any of those three, so it's hard to really say for sure.
I think I will take your advice at the very minimum. No more of that for me.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Forgot to ask, pfresh. Are you Asian, by any chance? If not, what nationalities were your ancestors, for the most part?
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Not Asian at all. My ancestry is mostly Irish and German. According to my older brother (who by and by is a heavy drinker), I should be a heavy weight when I drink. *shrugs*
pH, you're right about that. The Mike's was only like 5% alcohol by volume. The sake I had was like 12%. It was much stronger and much more bitter. The second time I had sake, I had to dilute it in orange juice to stand it really.
I think you guys may be right. It may have been some secondary thing in the Mike's Hard Berry that hit me and not so much the alcohol itself. I'll go and have a look at the box it came in and see what stuff is in it.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Have you felt queasy before when you had a lot of sugar at once? Any family history of diabetes?
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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Never really felt queasy when I've had a lot of sugar. I think my grandmother on my mother's side had diabetes (I think, I don't know for certain as she died when I was still relatively young), but other than that no family history of diabetes.
EDIT: Neither the box nor the bottles list the ingredients. I did a Google search, but I couldn't find out anything about it other than they use 5 different kinds of berries in making it.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
My stomach is bubbling and making odd noises again. If it wasn't for the laundry I need to do and the loud people outdoors, I might try to get some sleep. I have some sleeping medications prescribed by my psychiatrist that I could take. Too bad that I need to do laundry though. Oh well. I'll live.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I would recommend that you start a bland diet and stay hydrated. Regardless of whether it is indigestion secondary to something in what you drank or maybe a viral process, this is (I think) the best way to minimize side effects.
BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, toast Lots of fluids (broth, water, gatorade -- but minimize sugary fruit juices)
posted
But I hate bananas and I'm not terribly fond of apple sauce.
I do try to drink lots of fluids. I try to balance my Pepsi One consumption with water consumption, at least as much as I can.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Ah. Well, you must do as you can do, and the consequences will come. *grin
Sugary soft drinks or juices are (I think) unlikely to be helpful. Mild foods are (I think) much less likely to worsen things.
However, you are rightly in charge of making your own choices, as it should be. And I will support you and wish for the best outcome for whatever you choose.
posted
At the moment, I haven't had much of anything today to eat or drink. I think when I do eat something, it's probably going to be something like crackers. Hopefully that won't upset my stomach. I'm also going to try and drink only water for the rest of today. Maybe that'll clean out my system some.
Thanks for the advice though, CT. I appreciate it. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I'm not a drinker pfresh, but I've had those symptoms before a couple of times in my life, it was usually 24 hour flu (i.e. minor food poisoning). The most recent was when I tried out a new Mexican restaurant...I had the insomnia, hot and cold cycles, and the stomach pain. Maybe you just had some bad chip dip Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I'm trying to think of what I ate on Friday. I think it was leftover pizza. Maybe it had been in the fridge too long and went bad (it's been in there since at least Wednesday)?
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: I would recommend that you start a bland diet and stay hydrated. BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, toast Lots of fluids (broth, water, gatorade -- but minimize sugary fruit juices)
And definitely no Mike's Hard Berry. Which sounds sickening in any event.
From your description of your symptoms, you do sound as if you were feverish. Which is not typically a reaction to alcohol. It can be an allergic thing, sometimes, or some tummy bug.
Take care and feel better!
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Yeah, I've narrowed the cause down to either having an allergic reaction to something in the Mike's Hard Berry or having a stomach virus (possibly minor food poisoning). Still, it'll be a long time before I ever try Mike's Hard Berry again. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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If it helps any, Mike's Hard Berry gives me insomnia too. I don't understand it, because I don't get insomnia with any other type of alcohol.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Good to know I'm not the only one. I'm hoping my seroquel pills help me get some sleep tonight.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by pfresh85: It was fairly sugary. I might look on the ingredients list. Maybe there was something else in it that was making me feel lousy. I haven't had any real negative reaction to champagne/wine/sake, but then I never drank much of any of those three, so it's hard to really say for sure.
I think I will take your advice at the very minimum. No more of that for me.
Yes, all of those are sipping drinks, have one and your fine, do not attempt to get drunk or drink much of these kinds of drinks, they have WAY too much sugar in them, they make you sick.
Drinks that are too sugary
1. Wine/champagne 2. Winecoolers 3. "hard" lemonade or Smirnoff ice 4. alot of really sweet mixed drinks like "sex on the beach" (sorry ladies)
Generally I think what makes people sick in the sugared-soda alchohol is amount of sugar, and the fact that the booze is actually MALT liquer, not hard liquer, so it too is more sugary.
If you want something sweet, mix it yourself so you can guage proportions properly. Unfortunately Smirnoff and Mikes are known generally as "get chicks drunk with them realizing it" devices. For me they're just get a stomach ache devices.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I've had similarish reactions occasionally after drinking. However I believe that those occasions were caused by my eating at bbqs. I've only had that reaction occasionally. I now generally try to watch what I'm eating when I drink. If it's ever likely to give me a stomachache it seems twice as likely if I've been drinking.
Also different drinks will give different reactions. For example, there are certain beers that I just call headache beers. It has nothing to do with the alcohol content and a lot more to do with the grains that were used.
So hopefully you're feeling better. And hopefully you don't have some bug like the one that was going around here.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Has anyone considered the fact that the Mike's crap is basically beer? The other stuff he has tried, Wine, Champagne, Sake, are all quite different from beer. I'd probably point my finger in that direction. I'm sure all of the yeast and other crap in there is messing with his system.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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