Shoulder cramps after drinks some types of alcohol

omg, i have pain across my cola bones after i drink vodka. it usually goes away after a while but it really hurts? i want to find a dianosis :-)

ok so i have been sitting here listening to my co-workers talk about back and neck pain after drinking beer. Are they dying of Hodgkins?

I have been having this problem for years. I have narrowed it down to sugary drinks. My theory was proven when I woke up hungover/ still slightly drunk haha and had a class of coke and it set it off. Stange that there is seemingly no medical reason for this. very annoying as sometimes I'd like to be able to drink some girly drinks haha.

I'm so glad there are other people out there with this! I thought I was going crazy also...I noticed for me it happens also on an empty stomach. Wine coolers or fruity drinks is when I feel it.

Any one have an answer, I would love to know it.

yea i have the same problem. it hasn't happened in quite a while but it seemed to be from large amounts of sugar with the liquor. wine coolers have done it, then again i've drank them without a problem too, and we once made some Vodkool-Aid (a pitcher of vodka with enough Kool-Aid mix and sugar to make it drinkable, no dilution) for my birthday. that was the worst pain ever. i spent the remainder of the night on my ex girlfriend's floor, face drenched with sweat and tears, then in her back yard, begging god or someone to make it stop.
threw up and was better.
another time i had large amounts of soda all day, then i took ONE DRINK of beer, and the pain started. it was ridiculous. after a while i got pissed off and punched the ground helluv hard, and it let up! it seemed that adrenaline helped kill it, when it started coming back i'd just punch something again.
other times i've kept it at bay by rolling around on a skateboard. you have to do something physical and focus your mind elsewhere to make it stop. maybe it's just that getting your heart rate up works the alcohol through faster, idk.
but i want to know what the hell causes it. i associated it with sugar and alcohol, and wondered if i might be diabetic or something of the sort.
if anyone can find some scientific information that would be awesome.

i also suffer with pain from my right shoulder and down to my arm always the day after drinking alcohol but mine lasts sometimes up to a week with constant pain running always through only my right arm, what could it be ?? its very frightening

well i guess we can all tell our experiences with these shoulder pains and hope for the best...heres mine

ive been a heavy drinker for about 8 years (im 26) drink every weekend i get the chance... past 5 years ive been off and on with the shoulder pain game..everyone looks at me like im nuts lol.... i get the same reactions if i have a sip of booze i can get intense shoulder pains, other times it doesent matter... found a cure its called pukeing sucks alot but they go away once you do.. i also learned not to eat starches before or while im drinking...they seem to guarentee me pain... it sux alot at times i dont even go out anymore cause i dont want the pains (hey babe can i buy you a drink just a sec while i crawl up in a ball in pain) shooters,beer, its happened to me drinking just or all of them...i went to a doctor and she said its some nerve connected to my liver tellin me not to drink....i drink heavy so slamming drinks could be the cause....also i suffer from heartburn (tums does not cure the pain)

i agree with the one poster i got really mad when i had them one time and punched the sh*t out of my wall they went away....

It's been happening to me for years as well. I have had many health checks in my life. I have had an MRI, cancer screening tests( do to PCOS) and I have had a CT scan. My blood work is fine. I have had the pain, it goes away after a few moments and I continue drinking without the pain coming back. I have the same symptoms as someone having a heart attack. It happened to me lastnight. My husband has had it happen when he drank Vodka. It happened to my mother when she drank Tequila. I had a Mojito lastnight and it happened to me then. It was so bad I had to leave the restaurant this time. i thought I was going to have to have my husband call 911. I was so scared. So today i have researched all these symptoms and they all point to cancer and heart attack. I don't believe that one bit. My heart is healthy and my blood work good. It has to be blood vessels. it feels like brain freeze through my neck and shoulders, but very severe. So much pressure and I usually break out in a sweat. There are too many of us going through this for it to be heart attack or cancer. I hope someone finds an answer.

I thought I was going mad for years! I have the same problem every time I take my first sip of alcohol (usually vodka or wine) I get a pain across my shoulder blades and onto my shoulder.The pain usually lasts for about 10 minutes or so and goes away! I thought I was just strange 8) .Also has anyone ever had a problem the morning after a few drinks where your absolutely bursting for a wee and you actually have to push the wee out.? If anyone has this please reply to me because it drives me nuts. I can spend about 15 minutes in the bathroom trying to go for a pee and often I feel like I still have more wee to come but cant be bothered staying on the loo all day!

Wow. Was just looking into my pain after alcohol and found this. Mine is only after Vodka and the right arm. Hurts from shoulder to fingertips and it is almost like a deep bone pain! It hurts really bad! I thought maybe an allergy since noone had ever mentioned anything else about it. You would think that I just wouldn't drink Vodka anymore huh?

I also have the same problem with my shoulders when I drink alcohol. I don't drink much but it happens at random times. I have come to the conclusion myself that it happens on days that i am less hydrated. I don't know if it is the cause but I just assumed this myself and now if I know I will be drinking I drink lots of water that day. I've only tried this a couple times and I haven't had the shoulder pains since. Needless to say I went camping last weekend and was really hot all day, was swimming a lot and didn't drink much. I had half of a drink that night and had to stop drinking because of the pains. Maybe my assumption is correct? ? ? ? ?

I have the same issue. I am NOT a heavy drinker----usually one drink at a time, a couple times a month. Never more than two drinks in one evening. I've been searching the web for information, but everything I read refers to heavy drinking.

Sugar does seem to be part of it. It started with hard lemonade. I've had it also with rum punch.

Bailey's doesn't seem to cause it---but I usually have that with milk or cocoa. Maybe the milk stops it?

On another web site an MD said it was a spasm of the spinchter of oddi.

I was just talking to my co-workers about this and decided to google. I get severe heavyness and pain in only my left shoulder/neck/arm only when drinking tequila. I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only one!

I used to have the same thing happen to me, red wine was the absolute worst for the shoulder pains, followed by anything really sweet. But with beer, I had never been able to drink beer without major issues. My stomach would feel like I had aliens inside tryig to escape, and that was just from a half a beer. In 2007 I began puking daily whether I was drinking or not. Started out just in the morning, of course I was not pregnant, but boy did I ever hear that alot.. Eventually it got so bad, my dr. prescribed me pills to numb the nerve that sent the signal to my brain to puke. Those pills were not fun, made me extremely tired 24/7, zombie like.. but the dr said, but you aren't puking anymore right. I decided to go off the pills, and of course, started puking again, went back to the dr. with a month's worth of a puking journal. I guess she had no choice but to refer me to a GI. I was getting sick 23 times a day, on my worst day ever, but on average 15 times everyday. Within a month I was at the GI's office and he was shocked when I told him how long I had been puking like this for. So he did an endoscopy into my stomach and found H.pylori. It's a common bacteria that many people carry, but it only effects some people with symptoms, which were puking, nausea etc.
After taking the meds to clear up the h.pylori, I felt better, no more puking, but I still got the shoulder pains from drinking.
This last year I have been sick again, puked for a couple months, been having terrible stomach pains, bloating, gas, runs etc. My dr ran many tests, urine, stool, blood, ultrasound etc and all came back fine. Next step was to refer me back to a GI. Different GI this time, he ordered a colonoscopy and endoscopy. Well the big day was 2 weeks ago, and during the colonoscopy they did find a polyp, which they removed for testing (I am 28yr old female, for the most part other than the above healthy, but my mother had colon cancer at 48, stage 4, had for 10+yrs, removed 4 polyps, 1 cancerous, and removed a large portion of her intestines). They also did scrapings of my stomach and bowel linings to be tested. In the pre-op questioning, the GI was going over my symptoms and asked if I had ever been tested for Celiac Disease. I have never even thought of Celiac nor has any dr I have ever seen for these problems.
I still haven't got my results back yet, but for the past two weeks I have gone completely Gluten Free. Which is what celiac's cannot have, wheat, rye or barely. (remember not being able to drink beer/red wine from above? guess what they are, gluten nightmare)
Many people can suffer gluten intolerance without even having any symptoms at all.
I did go on a bit of a drinking bender last weekend and I felt no ill effects at all, I didn't puke for the first time from drinking in I dunno how long.. and I actually managed to stay up partying until 8am. :-) In the last two weeks since going gluten free, I have also never felt better. My stomach pains have gone, I haven't puked since the morning of my scopes (so two whole weeks now) and I haven't haed any problems with feeling bloated or gassey (except one small accidentally eating of soy sauce which I had no idea had gluten in it, but man did I ever pay for it that night, stomach in turmoil all night long)

I found it interesting that someone else had said when they don't eat starches before they drink they are fine, this could be that they have some sort of gluten intolerance as well. I can only honestly tell you all this, it's so worth it to try just for two weeks (they say a month will give you best results) to cut out all gluten, that means nothing. And let me tell you, everything has gluten, but it is possible, and there are substitutes... gluten free bread, cereals, cookies, cake mixes etc.. I really can't tell you enough how well I have felt these last two weeks... I have never felt this good ever.. I will also maintain this new diet even if I don't test positive for Celiac, as you can also be gluten intollerant without having Celiac what so ever. I am just going on the fact that I feel good, have energy, haven't puked in weeks, and well my stomach is normal for once.. Hope this can help someone else. :-)