A matter of regret?

I have a sneaking feeling that I might have an allergy to beer. I think it might do weird things to my legs.

I floated this idea yesterday; Caz said 'would it be the sort of allergy that makes your legs buckle under after 28 pints?' No, I said, my joints felt really stiff and achy after just one pint on Monday lunchtime. Not too good after two pints on Friday (although that was clouded by the half bottle of wine and three Irish coffees), and not good at all after three pints on Thursday.

Last night I had copious quantities of wine - about three glasses before half six, and three or four after half nine. I felt decidedly squiffy, but my limbs are not achey.

If it is a beer allergy, it would be nice to have foundd a root cause. But if that means foregoing beer for the rest of my life, not nice.

Hmm, I seem to have imbibed like a fish over the past week...

Comments

[coffdrop]

Hmm, I had a friend who had those symptoms, it turned out to be gout. But if it was red wine that you were drinking then it probably isn't.

[Mr.D.]

If you're looking for a root cause, Gert, maybe you should try drinking root beer?

* gets coat *

[Gert]

Excellent point, coff. Last night it was white wine. Friday it was red wine.

I might try eliminating beer and red wine for a month or so. I'm not a big drinker of fortified wine or dark spirits, except whisky. I wonder if whisky is a contributor to gout. And what about Guinness?

Mr D, I may well be the only person I know who used to like Root Beer.

[coffdrop]

Believe it or not gout is hereditary and it is caused by a build up of uric acid crystals in the joints. Certain foodstuffs and drinks contain substances that exasperate the problem. Beer and red wine and alcohol in general are well known substances that can bring on an attack.

You can find out more here

PS. I do hope it's not gout. :)

[Vaughan]

I think I have an allergy to beer too. (Deep breath - this is the bit where people laugh ridiculously because, well, it does sound stupid). The problem is that it makes me very, very drunk.

(Pause, whilst you register that comment).

But I mean sick-making drunk. After one pint. For me, the equivalent effects of one pint of beer could probably only be equalled by gulping down about eight gin & tonics in quick succession. It's not pleasant, really it's not.

[Gert]

Vaughan, out of curiosity, have you experimented widely with beer? I know that some cheap lagers contain a lot of chemicals, and some contains fish oils and so on.

I get very ill very quickly on lager, especially English lager, and can only manage about half a bottle of Spanish or Egyptian, yet I can drink Real Ale all day - limited only by stomach and bladder capacity - and until recent joint developments (which may be in my head) I would only get embarrassingly drunk. A couple of years back I did a nine hour session on real ale (it was a leaving do, it was just before Xmas) and although I wobbled home, I wasn't ill, and I had no hangover in the morning. That might have been eight or ten pints.

I even managed to phone the Leaving Boy's Wife to warn her that he was very ill and she needed to get their two toddlers out of bed to meet him at a random station somewhere in Essex. Ah, the Senior Civil Service, don't you just love 'em...!