I am a 20 year old female and I have this issue too. I never thought I would see any other people with this same problem. It started around a year and half ago randomly and seems to have gotten worse ever since. I can drink literally one sip of alcohol the stronger % the faster it happens and I will start to feel a strange burning and tinglng sensation in my urethral area. It feels like I need to pee,and it is so unconfortable. Not only this but for a year now I get this same feeling frequently when I wake up in the morning, or it can randomly happen at any point in the day. I find most of the time it is if I haven't drank enoug water the day before or during the day (If it occurs at night) but this never used to happen to me and I never used to drink water! I would say in the past year this feeling has happened to me in total around 10-15 times. It sometimes occurs right before my period or just after th first day. It is s strange and I have no clue why it sprang up so suddenly. It sucks because I can't go out with my friends, as the sensation is awful and they think I am insane when I tell them the reasons I cannot drink. It is definitely something to do with the bladder/urethra maybe even kidney related seeing as though water is able to flush it out most of the time. I find drinking copious amounts of water (3-4 pints)makes it go away within an hour or two.
I can definitely report back that Diet Pepsi appears to be a factor. I stopped drinking all caffeinated drinks for 5 days and the symptoms for the most part disappeared. Then I spent a day drinking Diet Pepsi, 30 - 40 oz in the morning. The issues came right back almost immediately.
So what does that mean? Diet Pepsi is highly acidic and sits around 2.47 - 3.36 on the ph scale. Also, Diet Pepsi has the following artificial sweeteners: Acesulfame Potassium & Aspartame. Further, Diet Pepsi has 35 mg of caffeine per 12 oz. That means I was consuming around 105 - 140 mg of caffeine a day.
It's worth noting that I probably don't drink as much water each day as I should.
Like any equation, we must solve for X and it's necessary to simplify the equation. So here are my next steps:
1) Let's see if I can remove artificial sweeteners from the equation by switching to regular Coca Cola, which has a ph balance of 2.3 (more acidic than Diet Pepsi) and 34 mg of caffeine per 12 oz (similar to Diet Pepsi.) If the problems disappear, that suggests they were caused by the artificial sweeteners. If they stay the same, that suggests we can ignore artificial sweeteners.
2) Next is to try and lower my caffeine intake. It's tough to lower my diet of caffeine while maintaining similar levels of acidic drinks. Thus, the acidity of my drinks will diminish as well. If the problems disappear, that suggests that caffeine and/or acidic foods/drinks are the cause.
3) Finally, if the issues remain, much to my chagrin, I'll drink copious amounts of water each day. If the problems disappear at this point, it's likely that I was dehydrated and my body was responding poorly to the dehydration.
For the first test, I started drinking Coca Cola on December 10th. The issues are still there somewhat, but nowhere near as bad as they used to be. I'll post more information as I learn more.
Please keep in mind that my main issue is the burning in my urethra within minutes of consuming any amount of alcohol.
Thanks all.
I stand in amazement as to why no one can find a reason behind the same symptoms that male/female, young and older have after one drink of anything alcoholic - - and all within 1-2 minutes of consuming alcohol. I recently had an appt. with my urologist. He has no answers as I have had an ultrasound on my bladder and a cystoscopy. All were normal. I am 65 years old, female...and have drank wine for the past 35 years. All of this started within the past 1 1/2 years. It is mind boggling, to say the least. I have always enjoyed a nice glass of wine, but there are times I would accept garlic wreaths around my neck, a crucifix, anything! if anyone would approach me with a glass of wine due to the pain, and the pressure to urinate within 2 minutes of a sip of wine. My doctor gave out ...'happens with age, (thanks doc!) .. to pseudo (sp?) pains. Uhhhh, ok doc. I'd like to tell you it's 'pseudo' and all in your mind if it happened to you. Then let's see what you think! He basicallly said, nothing shows anything... so either 'do not drink at all' or have the 2nd, 3rd, drink until it goes away'. You'll be fine. I'll be watching this site.... to see if anyone....anyone, gets a proper diagnosis from a doctor... and it works!
All,
Nothing seemed to work. There was no rhyme or reason for the issues and the antibiotics prescribed by the urologist did not seem to help. Then I stopped taking the antibiotic, levofloxacin, and all issues went away. It's the strangest thing. I have no outstanding issues even though it was horrible for more than 2 months. I'm at a loss to explain how or why this happened, but I'm glad it's gone.
The rest of this is just speculation, but I do know that my colon is at an increased chance for cancer as polyps have already been found. (Keep in mind, I'm relatively young for these symptoms.) It's possible that my anatomy down there isn't perfect, but no large masses have been found through CT scans. I'll stay on it and let you know if anything develops further.
Good luck everyone. =/
Just wanted to chime in, I also have same exact symptoms (27 year old male) been happening off and on for a solid 10 years.
Also, if for some reason I don't get the burning after a few minutes....its a gurantee I'll get the burn if I ejaculate. Makes drunk sex really miserable for about half an hour after.
Crazy the year is 2014....sooo many people have this problem and no one knows what it is.
I'm 21 male and this happens to me too. Even with nyquil.
I'm a 68 year old woman and about 6 months ago I first experienced a burning sensation 'down there' after drinking wine. I thought it had something to do with age but apparently it can happen to both men and women of any age. I even notice it after just a small sip of communion wine; by the time I get back to my pew, the burning has begun. Really weird and no one has an answer.
REPLY TO EVERYONE... IIIT IS A YEAST INFECTION!!!
I am a 34 year old male. SAME EXACT PROBLEM! first drink only. burning bad for 20 min. slowly fleets away and then all good. its so bizarre. ive had it since it can remember. maybe this will help- im not a big drinker, im healthy, no health issues at all. not on any medications at all. i always think that it happens when i drink strong alcohol and usually when my stomach is a little empty. its things like this that make me doubt the medical community bc obviously from the posts people besides me have EXACTLY what i have, but all doctors laugh at me when i talk about it
thought id add to previous post-----my burning sensation is more stomach centered not groin area. also i do drink a lot of soda.
ok can someone confirm this happens not related to drinking any form of carbonated soda. like does this burning happen to someone who drinks no soda at all?
I have also had this burning sensation right after my first drink of an alcoholic beverage. I can never remember not having it. The only other time I have had this same burning was during a HIDA Sacn to check my galbladder. Test was find no galbladder issues. YEAH! During the HIDA scan they gave me something "CCK" to cause more bile to be released from my pancrease. Not sure if there is a connection on not but I found it odd. The feeling was the same.
Here's my two cents. I've had this problem for years after drinking alcohol. It can occur while I'm drinking, or the following day after heavy drinking. I've also got a problem with my sinuses after I drink. When I drink I start sneezing, get a runny nose, and eventually can get a sinus infection. I attribute this to an alcohol sensitivity, which results in my body releasing histamine. Histamine makes the soft tissues in my sinus swell. Reading these posts makes me think there must be similar soft tissues swelling down below. So I'm thinkingt this is just another symptom of a reaction to alchol that results in histomine making soft tissue swell. It's just a theory, but maybe it will help someone. The only solution I can think of is to stop drinking and see if the problem goes away.