Wine with chemo? 🍷

SincerelyShells

I will be starting my chemo about August 1st as I have to completely recover from my lumpectomy. My question is that it says limit your alccohol and then says no alcohol is even better. Let me preface that I do not have a problem with alcohol (it’s very easy in fact. Lol) but I do enjoy and look forward to a glass of wine at night. I’m wondering how many of you still have a glass of wine, or were/are you more cautious and keep it in the bottle until you were done. And if you DID enjoy a glass of wine, did you notice a difference in the way you felt?

Ingerp

I’ve probably been drinking a little more since starting tx. It’s a nice end to my day.

SincerelyShells

Trust me - I have had a ton of questions before this one. I have been reading til my eyeballs bleed, and have learned a TON. A lot from this group and these conversations. But I’m just wondering how serious it is to completely avoid it

AnxietyGirl85

I'm not much of a drinker, but I do enjoy the occasional pint of cider - by "occasional," I would say that, in general, if I have two drinks in a month, that's a lot for me (I'm a very boring person, and a total lightweight!) - so I made a point to ask my oncologist if I was allowed any alcohol at all when I started my AC treatments. Not because I wanted to get sloshed, but because I might enjoy a beverage on occasion, as a treat.

I asked if I could have A drink sometimes, just one, and he said, "Alcohol won't interact with any of the drugs, so go ahead, have two!"

So I did have the occasional pint of cider between treatments, when I was feeling well (not immediately after treatment, because I felt generally awful then, more like 10 days after), and it was totally fine, I didn't have any troubles.

I asked again when I switched to Taxol - I forgot to ask the new oncologist I was seeing, so I asked a chemo nurse, and she said that they don't encourage it, because the drugs are toxic and making your liver and kidneys work harder than usual to filter them out, but a drink or two ("on the weekend with friends" or whatever) would probably be fine.

So I did the same, and had the occasional cold pint of cider on a hot sunny evening (never immediately after treatment, always at least a few days afterwards), and it was still totally fine, no problems at all.

Not sure how it would go if I'd drank more at any one time, or if I'd had drinks multiple times each round, but the few drinks I did have over the course of 8 rounds of chemo had no ill effects on me.

I think, a lot of the time, recommendations differ from doctor to doctor, I don't think there are any hard and fast rules here (not in my experience, anyway - I've literally had every doctor/nurse/technician tell me something completely new/different at every single appointment, I don't know who or what to believe anymore).

Steph74

I am a huge wine lover, but I had zero desire to drink wine in the week or so after my infusion (and everything tasted so awful due to my tastebuds being shot, it probably wouldn’t have tasted very good anyway). But during the 2 weeks each cycle where my tastebuds were back and I was feeling good I had a glass or 2 of wine with dinner most nights and it was great to have that sense of normalcy again. I did stop 2 nights before each infusion and drowned myself in water. My MO was fine with it. I breezed through chemo with no issues. Everything in moderation!

Flynn

Mostly, I didn’t have a taste for alcohol. I did have a fair amount of nausea so I think my change in taste was connected. My mo was ok with drinking except when my liver numbers weren’t great. Only happened twice but the nurse did mention to watch my intake. At the time, I wasn’t drinking at all, so that was easy. Good luck!

Egads007

I wanted wine DURING chemo.:))

SincerelyShells

😆 I could imagine