Moderate Use of Alcohol

I have read all the posts about "moderate" intake of alcohol in this section. I have gone back and forth as to how to craft this entry. First, "moderate" means different things to everyone and is rather meaningless to a group chat. And, 2. Moderate is no longer considered a word one should use with alcohol consumption. The recent studies (last 6 years) suggests that all alcohol is toxic to the body (literally every cell in the body) and that no amount of alcohol is beneficial to the body physiologically, but rather the opposite, it is detrimental. When I came down with PMR in March 2025, I was quite afraid this was the end of me. Many of you can relate to that. I was almost paralyzed with pain and stiffness. That brings me to the 3rd point. The disease scared me to death and woke me up. I needed to examine an already well examined life. I needed to keep learning and would do anything to change the trajectory that my body was on. Still not sure what was the "cause" of PMR (nobody really does know),stopping all added sugar and alcohol was a no brainer. Science is clear on their negative effects. My added sugar intake was low (below 20 grams a day which is about 1/2 of what the medical world suggests) already. Alcohol, for me, was about 2-3 drinks of beer per month. I even brewed at one time. I love my German beer. It was not tough to stop, however, because I never had a habit of (neither psychological no physical) of drink. It does not make me feel good at 3AM when I wake. It causes a diuretic effect which is mostly annoying to get up to pee at night more than normal. Disturbed sleep sucks too. Head ache etc. Alcohol and sugar were "low hanging fruit" types of changes that I could incorporate into my life. PMR is a serious disease and needed to have my full attention. Fourth. We all have choices to make when we get sick. Life does not stop when PMR comes. We certainly feel like it has stopped but to empower oneself with choices even in dark times is what we can and have to do. Good luck with your choices and journey. Each journey is unique.

@petermccarville What an excellent and factual write.

Since my diagnosis with PMR, (being a retired science teacher) I did a controlled experiment on myself.
Before PMR, I routinely drank 1-2 cocktails per evening. Usually bourbon, rum or moonshine and cola or fruit juice.
I totally stopped drinking alcohol after being diagnosed with PMR.
I’d read several accounts that moderate alcohol consumption with PMR was acceptable and not consequential, so a while back, I experimented on myself.
One day, I felt like having a drink and told myself that I would do an experiment on my body and see if I could feel immediate negative affects after a couple of drinks. ( I justified it, lol.)
So I drank two bourbon and colas (approximately 3 “shots”) over a two hour time period before bedtime. The next morning, I woke up with no hangover or resemblance of a hangover.
NEWS ALERT: I did feel more than usual aches and pains related to my PMR SYMPTOMS. My peripheral PMR pains (palms, soles of my feet, itchy-sore scalp, shoulder ache, hip ache and brain fog) all returned. I had even worse brain fog later in the afternoon. Basically, I had a rough/miserable day. Everything I did required multiple attempts and extra effort. Whew.
The following day (two days after the alcohol) I was back to normal. My normal is: no hip pain, no knee pain, no shoulder pain, minor scalp itch, occasional but rarely palm and sole of feet pain).
I was relieved that the alcohol induced pains went away. Glad my body is still healing itself.
Physiologically we are all more alike than different. My suggestion about alcohol consumption is simple. Don’t. Respectfully, if you do, whatever the results, it’s on you.

This is a great discussion. Thank you all. I have recently been "tentatively" diagnosed with PMR (male, 68 years old, very active, 4 days per week in the gym), and everything became painful. Pain in shoulders and upper arms, pain in hamstrings and quadriceps. It hurt to get up from a chair. My doc (who is great) was reluctant to make the PMR diagnosis, but now I'm on a very low dose of prednisone (10 MG/day). It's night and day. I have almost no pain.
I'm going to try to the "no booze" experiment starting today. My only "poison" is red wine, but it's alcohol, and I probably have 2 glasses per night (one while cooking, one while eating). I'm cutting it out entirely to see the effect. I'm guessing it will be significant, but we'll see.
Other than that - I eat very well. But are there foods that you really think set the inflammation off? I suspect that the sulfites in red wine are not good in any way. Don't eat much processed stuff ... but I do like pizza. Sigh.

This is a great discussion. Thank you all. I have recently been "tentatively" diagnosed with PMR (male, 68 years old, very active, 4 days per week in the gym), and everything became painful. Pain in shoulders and upper arms, pain in hamstrings and quadriceps. It hurt to get up from a chair. My doc (who is great) was reluctant to make the PMR diagnosis, but now I'm on a very low dose of prednisone (10 MG/day). It's night and day. I have almost no pain.
I'm going to try to the "no booze" experiment starting today. My only "poison" is red wine, but it's alcohol, and I probably have 2 glasses per night (one while cooking, one while eating). I'm cutting it out entirely to see the effect. I'm guessing it will be significant, but we'll see.
Other than that - I eat very well. But are there foods that you really think set the inflammation off? I suspect that the sulfites in red wine are not good in any way. Don't eat much processed stuff ... but I do like pizza. Sigh.

@stonewheel
Wow, I needed to hear that! I am newly diagnosed PMR and have enjoyed my wine with dinner but after reading all the comments on alcohol I am definitely going to give it up. I had already cleaned up my diet a few years ago but the wine with dinner and some small sugar treats were still there with an afternoon coffee. Now I will need to make more of an effort to finish cleaning up my diet.
Thanks 😊

@betsyhase I'll just add my 2 cents worth to this interesting conversation. My husband and I were in the wine with dinner habit, probably, for me, a glass and a half 4 or 5 night a week. Since my diagnosis with PMR/GCA, I have almost cut out the wine. (He has also, for acid stomach pain.) Now, I only indulge when the meal is very special and seems to demand a glass of wine, maybe one glass every 2 weeks. The last time I had wine with a meal, it didn't seem to taste quite right, so it wasn't really special. I have never noticed any side effects to my glass of wine, but then, I'm not really a very observant person. But I don't think it makes any difference.