vasculitis and alcohol

Hi
Same in ways, I asked my specialist how come when I drink rash comes out more, he said he couldnt really answer that. Vasculitis is frustrating. :-(

Same happens to me.When im drinking alcoholic drinks or i dont sleep one day i get rash which persist for like 4-5 days.Will have to live with it :-) it was frustrating in the beggining but i got used to it now...

Hello there,

Unfortunately even if you have told your doctor about your desire for glass of vine now and then I believe that he wouldn’t say to you that you stop drinking because there are no evidence that alcohol is worsening symptoms of vasculitis.

But if you notice that vine has bad influence on your condition than you should consider stopping. You will need to learn to deal with the vasculitis and I am aware that this is hard for you but escaping the existing problem never was and is a good solution.

But I hope that glass of wine is not going to affect your condition. Keep us posted about the results and good luck.

 

Yes i believe alcohol can have affect on vasculitis

Yes I agree alcohol can aggravate vasculitis and cause rashes. I believe this could also due to medications interacting with the alcohol being a possibility also.

Yes, definitely consuming any amount of alcohol can aggravate disease activity of Vasculitis. Vasculitis is caused by the "auto" immune system attacking the blood vessels of various sizes and types (depending on the exact type of Vasculitis you have) which then causes the walls of the vessels to become inflammed and highly irritated-- the immune attacks may even cause further damage by destroying the tissue of the vessel walls causing areas of ulcers and lesions.  

The problem with alcohol is the fact that alcohol naturally warms the blood, and also causes "vasodilation" which basically means that the inner walls of the vessels expand and dilate, causing an increase in blood flow through the inner vessels.

The same thing occurs from heat when the body temperature increases, the blood vessels dilate, thus, increasing blood flow. An increase in blood temperature within the blood vessels and an increase in blood flow is not harmful for healthy individuals, it just means that they may feel hot and their skin will turn red-- that's why alcohol can cause many individuals to turn red-- but for individuals who have active autoimmune attacks directed at their blood vessels, this can cause big problems.

You wouldn't want to have an increase in blood flow or temperature in diseased, damaged, and inflammed vessels--- that's just asking for extreme pain and aggravation of your Vasculitis symptoms-- it could even cause more damage in the end by increasing disease activity.

I suffer from Behcet''s Disease-- it's a rare form of systemic Vasculitis which causes severe inflammation and extremely painful ulcers and lesions to all of the blood vessels throughout my entire body and can affect any organ and organ system-- I also have hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis caused by SLE Lupus.

I have never been able to even tolerate a small amount of alcohol-- before my diagnoses I actually thought that I was allergic to alcohol because the very first time I tried it when I was 18, it caused a very quick attack that landed me in the emergency.

Within less than a minute, my face and neck blew right up, my skin was so inflammed and deep red and purple and the skin started spontaneously cracking open and bleeding, all of my joints swelled up and were so painful, my legs were swollen with deep red and purple dots all over and broken vessels,  my hands were the same as my face, all cracked open and bleeding, my heart was pounding so much that the doctor told me I could've had a heart attack if I hadn't gotten help right away And I also had difficulty breathing from the swelling. I never touched alcohol again, and after being diagnosed, my rheumatologist and immunologist told me to stay away from any amount of alcohol because I could have a heart attack from it. 

I don't want to freak anyone out though because this reaction is very rare, and I was told that its probably due to the Behcet's that causes the vessels in my heart to become inflammed and under attack due to the alcohol-- so this isn't something that will occur with everyone. 

But out the bottom line is to remember keeping in mind that blood vessels do not like heat-- heat causes them to become highly irritated and painful-- and alcohol can increase blood temperature. 

I learned this this by the fact that I have always had issues with heat-- whether it's from sun outside or artificial lighting inside, my body has always gone into bad attacks with severe inflammation, heart palpitations, dizziness, skin rashes and ulcers, and extreme pain throughout my body--- but then when I cooled off the attack would settle. So whenever an area of my body was under attack and swollen, I always apply an ice pack and eat Popsicles to cool off my insides and it definitely helps to decrease the pain, even if it's just temporary.

Hope some of this can help someone who is also suffering :) keep strong and keep the faith -Rae :

bet you think alcohol causes all sickness

What an idiotic reply! All she said was that she believed alcohol can have an effect on vasculitis. I'm sure it can! ALCOHOLISM causes many sicknesses, from the brain to the feet.

Can you exercise?

Hi, I have ANCA positive vasculitis 6 years, and drinking alcohol is for me a problem, drinking more alcohol is not good, because then i have a more pain in my body, red wine and nutella this is not good for my skin, joints, ulcerarion, but one glass white wine drink 3x pro week and i havent any problems, and smoking is for me total fatal brrrr. I dont know its individual, Im 24 years old

It took a while to figure out that any alcohol I take REALLY aggravates my cutaneuos vasculitis of both feet and legs. Docs here in Canada (Vancouver Island ) have no idea what they are dealing with. Too busy shouting NEXT I suspect, rather than researching the problem.

This sounds just like me. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you so much for your detailed account of how any amount of alcohol can trigger a flare up of vasculitis. I and my doctor are not quite sure which kind I have, as it effects both skin and joints and I have even landed in the ER with acute abdominal pain. It takes weeks to months to see a specialist around here. I want to share though that using the hot tub that came with my new home has also helped the disease process along. So again thank you for making this connection between alcohol and heat. I will share this info with dermatologist to help the healing process along too, I hope.