I notice that many of you include non-drinker I realize there is or maybe a connection between Alcohol and Oral Cancer. I have always been a casual drinker and that is now maybe 2-3 drinks a month before my DX. My question is does having Oral Cancer mean I should NEVER have another glass of wine or cold beer. I know it is my choice but I don't feel informed about this issue. Please don't blast me for asking:)

No one will blast you - it is an question I have asked myself. I was a social animal before diagnosis, and yes that meant going to the bar, going to dances, having friends over to play cards - all involved a drink or two or three. I LOOOOVE cold beer. Having said all that, I was certainly never an alcoholic - no where close. BUT, Both mother and her father were confirmed alcoholics. My mom died at the age of 44 from chirossis of the liver.

When I was told that alcohol could be a contributing factor to oral cancer (I had also smoked for years), I quit drinking pretty much completely for the first 4 years. The cancer came back anyway in 2 1/2 to 3 years.

Since my 2nd surgery I have kept my cold beers to a minimum. Usually I dont drink if I am in my home Province - with the exception of one beer every month or so. During our last trip to Mexico (all inclusive), I just didn't worry about it - I drank what I wanted.

I have discussed this subject many times with my doctors. They say that none of us live in a bubble and it is impossible to say EXACTLY what caused my cancer. They urge caution - they don't want me having 2/3 beers a day - but also say I should used moderation and enjoy my life. I get the impression from them that they think it was the smoking and not drinking that caused my cancer.

When you talk about causes, I often wonder about the genetic link I might have to this cancer. Cancer of the Tongue - years ago - was known as the Alcoholics Cancer - came from a combination of smoking and lots of drinking - normally attributed to 70 year old skid row men. I do feel that the old school picture of a tongue cancer patient did slow down me being properly diagnosed, but we have all learned since then.

Good luck with your decision.

Donna

My understanding is that a combination of smoking and heavy drinking is a known factor in OC. Of course, there are people that have done both for years and never get it and as we see here folks that have done neither and get it. But it is a known risk factor.

The other thing with drinking to take into consideration(and now I might get blasted) is what you are mixing it with. Many medications are not meant to be taken with alcohol (and that includes psychotropic medications, sleep meds and pain meds). It doesn't necessarily mean you can't drink ,it just means it's worth looking into.

I think it is a very reasonable question and worth a conversation with your MD if you have concerns about it.

My grandfather passed away at the age of 48 from oral cancer. He was a very heavy alcohol drinker and tobacco smoker. A dangerous combination.

I was a weekend glass of wine with dinner drinker and only smoked cigarettes for a short time about 30 years ago.

If and when I am able to drink any liquid besides milkshakes and water that doesn't burn my mouth, I will be opting for the non alcoholic ones. That is my decision and isn't based on any advice from a MD.

Like they say, as long as it is in moderation it should be okay.

Karen

Hi Seda Bug,

This is a subject to discuss with your medical team.

You can also find information about alcohol and oral cancer on various websites.

This information should help you decide what course you want to take regarding alcohol consumption.

Best wishes,

Chris

Hi, Seda Bug -

My drinking pattern is similar to yours - 2-4 drinks a month. I asked my ENT the same question. Knowing my alcohol consumption pattern, he said he didn't think it was a risk factor in my OC.

I'm not taking his comment as giving me license to drink. I think he was expressing the reality of this gray area: there is a causal relationship between alcohol & OC, but is there proof that having 2-4 drinks a month can cause OC? He couldn't tell me.

If I drank regularly, I might be concerned, but drinking is an occasional social activity for me. Am I taking an unnecessary risk? I don't think so. Still, this is my choice and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. You have to be comfortable with whatever choice you make.

Marlene

[quote=Seda Bug]I notice that many of you include non-drinker I realize there is or maybe a connection between Alcohol and Oral Cancer. I have always been a casual drinker and that is now maybe 2-3 drinks a month before my DX. My question is does having Oral Cancer mean I should NEVER have another glass of wine or cold beer. I know it is my choice but I don't feel informed about this issue. Please don't blast me for asking:)[/quote]

I have a glass of wine (with a water back since it burns a little) and a beer every now and again. I wasn't a huge drinker ever. Beer and wine on weekends and I had a phase with shots sometimes but not in over 10 years. I quit social smoking in 2001. In college I def drank on weekends and smoked socially. I lived in New Orleans. I don't know if the brief period I did smoke caused this. My Drs. dont' think so. I had a small denture on a back molar that I had while i was waiting to be able to afford implants. It did rub against my tongue and it was on the side of the cancer. Who knows.. I'll never really know.

I think the occassional adult beverage is probably OK. I haven't really tried hard alchohol as I think it might really burn. Certain toothpastes really burn me and some spices are just unbareable. I avoid all of these things... and to be ohonest I've kind of lost my taste for alchohol.

With having cancer and going through all the treatments I felt liek crap for about 2 years so being hungover has zip appeal to me.

Seda

You certainly sound like a "non-drinker" to me with less than one drink a week. Don't worry about being "blasted" for such an innocent query - it's only posters like myself who unabashedly encourage drinking despite Oral Cancer that elicit the puritanical admonishments - but then I just read them while putting some wine or beer down my G tube and laugh out loud As I posted in an earlier thread:
[quote]My personal reason for drinking is exquisitely simple, I have always had a Dionysian personality instead of Apollonian. Or as the french say:"Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler"[/quote]

On the medical front, each and every one of my doctors at the CCC felt that one beer or one glass of wine a day was an insignificant medical risk, Their only caveat was not to drink alcohol if it "burned".

Do I think Alcohol was the cause of my cancer? Heck no. HPV+ and my immune system just conspired to betray me. My father was a real drinker plus had smoked when younger yet when had zero oral cancer his entire life. I bugged the heck out of my doctors the first time around about guilt over my drinking habits until they pointed out that either they drank the same amount or their friends in medical school drank even more yet not one of them or their friends had oral cancer. Sadly, people like you prove that just not drinking does not guarantee protection from this terrible cancer.
Of course, I was raised Catholic back when the Irish priests always pointed out the special significance of Jesus' first miracle being turning water into wine. No grape juice at our Communions.
Charm

Hi Seda Bug,

For what it's worth my husband Ron is a 5 year cancer survivor and he has a couple of Margaritas on Friday and Saturday nights. It's a social thing for him and he enjoys it. As they all have said, I think moderation is the key.

Shelley

Thanks everyone. I really don't feel that my drinking was the cause but rather just fate. I understand about not drinking becasue of the taste. I haven't had enough to drink to have a hangover in so long I can't even remember it. I am just curious about things. I can count on you guys to have a balance of answers to the questions. The only reason I was afraid I would get blasted was because if the connection was like smoking then the answer is a no brainer.

Hi, Everybody,
I have been wondering the same thing myself. I never smoked in my life, they ran an HPV test on me when I had my surgery, and that was negative, and my drinking was a glass of wine when I would be watching TV in the evening or reading - I would also have a margarita when my husband and I went to a Mexican restaurant. Now that I am (slowly)recovering, I am almost afraid to even have one glass of wine. I even hesitated about the communion wine in church.

Hi, I just had my 26 month check-up and as at every visit they asked if I had drank any alcohol, their thoughts are that we should not give the BEAST any excuse to return. They have stated that they connot prove 100% that a drink now and then is harmful after Tx, but neither can they say that it wont hurt either, so they would rather I not dink any alcohol at all!! Hope this adds a little more info for you. Semper-Fi Bob

Bob. how did the check up go??

Everybody should keep in mind that it's not the consumption of the alcohol that's dangerous, it's the irritation that it causes to the head-neck cells that does the damage.

I once asked an oral surgeon if that meant that from a cancer perspective, shooting alcohol directly into my veins would be OK as compared to putting it in my mouth. He said that was a strange way to look at it, but yes, avoiding the mouth is the way to go. Little did either of us know that putting it in my PEG would be a choice in my future!

Don't overlook avoiding mouthwashes with alcohol -- You get all the bad effects with none of the good effects <g>.

I personally believe that alcohol was a key factor in my OC because I stopped smoking 25 years before I stopped drinking.

An interesting topic indeed. My RO has been adamant that I not drink alcohol. A glass of champagne on new year's maybe but that's it. She maintains that the cancer and/or RT have made me more susceptible to re-occurence, this despite the fact that mine was most likely an HPV-caused primary. She is in my opinion a fantastic doctor and I trust her implicitly.

However the MO I saw intially was of the opinion that I could drink in moderation if I felt like it. Since I ended up not needing chemo I only saw him a few times so didn't get more clarification. He's also a brilliant guy and a professor at UCLA.

I've been erring on the side of caution. But maybe it's time to rethink?

D2

I was never (well at least since my 30's or 40's lol) a big drinker but I did walk around with a mouthfull of Lysterine every morning for at least 1/2 hour before I spit it out and I thought that numbing feeling in my mouth was good. I can't dismiss it as a possible link to my OC.

Re the drinking, all of my docs at Moffitt think moderation is fine. I maybe have a beer or 2 a month now. Maybe I'll have a couple tonight with Jerry and his son. He doesn't know it yet but I plan on trying to drag his butt to our Waterfront District after dinner tonight.

I was not a big drinker as it caused patches of eczema and I generally reacted poorly to alcohol and I never smoked or chewed. I also came up HPV neg...so really I'm of the mind that life's too short anyway to spend my time worrying about whether anything I do will bring this crap back. I certainly avoided the 3 major risk factors before and still ended up with it.

I say drink up and enjoy life while you can my dear and don't take it too seriously because nobody gets out alive anyway! This topic actually reminds me of a Mark Twain quote: "The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." I lived like this and still drew the short straw C'est la vie.

Bottoms Up!

Eric

Seda,
In AA we would have called you a "normie". I know a fair amount of OC survivors that have an occasional drink. Probably not a major risk factor, at least if you wait until all of your tissues are healed.

I can't drink because I have HCV on top of it. One drink will throw my STOG levels over a cliff...

Needless to say I have not had a drink in 15 years and I don't miss it.

EricS

well, I raised a glass of wine to Toast your becoming an official "Above & Beyond" member (you have always gone above and beyond in my estimation) in front of my new fire pit last night.

Gary
Well HCV was a new acronym for me. No one can argue that given the effect of Hepatitis C virus on the liver, there is no such thing as a "moderate amount" of alcohol for HCV patients.
You are a real trouper to endure both cancer and HCV

Clark tried alcohol on a few occasions but found that it burned his mouth and the taste was altered. As a result, he has lost interest in anything alcoholic. A vanilla milkshake is his preferred "vice".

Since the subject is Alcohol, here is a Washington Post Health article that may not make the OCF news feed
Female drinkers weigh less
While the focus is on not gaining weight - which is hardly a concern to the majority of us - there was a cancer connection:
[quote] There's not a simple answer," says family physician Ranit Mishori, a faculty member at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. She lists the proven benefits of light to moderate drinking -- a reduced risk of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease -- and the potential downside, which includes significant research showing that alcohol increases your chances of developing breast and other cancers. ..."This study shouldn't give anyone permission to start drinking if it's not already part of their diet or routine, just like those studies showing an association with cancer shouldn't make everyone stop drinking, because there are so many other factors that are related to weight gain, heart disease and cancer," adds Mishori.[/quote]