tealily

Does anyone here have experience with this as a side effect of excessive drinking and/or in withdrawal?

I know it could be unrelated (and just some orthopedic issue) but I do know dehydration can harm your joints, and when I was drinking wine I barely drank water. My knees had been giving me more and more trouble; I was getting out of bed like an old person, limping around even.

I was hoping with sobriety it would get better. I'm only 3 weeks in so maybe I'm impatient. But so far not much improvement.

Just wondered if anyone else had a similar issue or any insight.

ScottFromWI

It's really almost impossible to say whether it would be related to your drinking or not, but 3 weeks is still very early on for your body to recover. If you haven't had a physical or a checkup since you quit that's not a bad idea, you could certainly mention this to your doctor.

There are a whole host of problems drinking can cause us, and many of them will improve over time after we quit - but also remember that many of us had bad habits associated with our drinking too: Poor diet, lack of exercise, not enough sleep, etc. While the act of cessation of drinking certainly helps, we need to address all areas of our health to make sure we're doing the right things.

Anna

I don't know if your joint pain might be related to drinking. Joint pain in general is not uncommon for a variety of reasons. See how things go and you can always talk to your dr at some point.

tealily

I just remembered that I'm not supposed to ask for any sort of medical advice here. So I'm sorry if my post was out of bounds!

Thank you, Scott and Anna, for your replies. Both make a lot of sense. I probably am being impatient, and I know it's also true that my drinking encouraged other bad habits (not eating or sleeping well, not drinking enough water or exercising the way I should, plus gaining weight) which no doubt are a big part of the picture.

Overall I feel so much better, even just after 3 weeks. I have a big checkup scheduled at the end of the summer and will be going without worrying now about what my blood tests will show. In the past I've been lucky to have no issues, except a vitamin deficiency, which may very well have been drinking related.

Thanks for your anwers.

thomas11

Hi tealily, for what its worth, I do believe that alcohol and joint inflammation are a real thing. I quit at 47 yrs old, but I noticed after a day or two of drinking my joints were in serious pain.

BD84

My gout disappeared when I quit. I have thought I could moderate a couple nights and failed. Not enough to bring the pain back though.

Joint pain took about a month clean to go away. Milk Thistle helps.

change72

I was experiencing pain in my hands, and noticed that after I quit drinking, the swollen joints and pain have vanished. I probably noticed in the first month, and now I've been sober for eight months, and haven't had a single flare up.
I hop you find the same results!

Wholesome

Yes! Drinking totally damaged my joints! Some of it was plain old wear and tear but I have no doubt that drinking was a big culprit too. Now that I've been sober for awhile my joint pain and inflammation is significantly better. It's crazy!

emme99

This is true for me. Even without drinking, I have joint pain. However, once I stop for 10-14 days, the pain gets better. And if I start drinking again, within a couple of days, it's worse again. One more incentive to not drink

tealily

Isn't it interesting how many systems of our bodies are damaged by alcohol? Thanks for the encouragement. You are so right: one more incentive to stop!

PhoenixJ

Doc