I am curious as to what all of you were told about ingesting alcohol. Neither my surgeon nor radiologist mentioned it at all to me and it was only reading on the internet that there was some strong suggestions that I should not have any alcohol in view of oral cancer history. I mentioned it to the Doctors & they both felt that the occassional drink was okay, both stating that none of us "live in a bubble" to firmly establish why I got the cancer. I however, do attribute it to the fact that I was a pack a day smoker for years.

I was also a social drinker, and in the last few years I have limited myself to about one drink a month, but I will admit it is something that I miss - especially when you go out to the bar with friends, special occassions, etc. I am not now, nor was I ever anywhere close to being an alcoholic so my concern about drinking relates to whether alcohol is a catalyst for oral cancer for me. What have others been told about drinking and what do you do?

Donna

Dear Donna,

In a perfect world, a drink now and then won't hurt anyone. (only speaking from my experience following my mother's triple bypass). Her doctor's didn't discourage a glass of red wine every few days. Now, I'm no expert..........please take this with a grain of salt.

Love,
Mandi

Donna,

Two years post treatment I was told 1-2 glasses of bear or wine per week.

Rob

My doctor told me no alcohol EVER. He then conceded to one glass of wine a year if at a special occasion. He said alcohol is a carcinogen, and even though it was not the cause of my tumor, they didn't know enough about HPV related tumors yet to say okay to alcohol. It's use is thought to bring about a greater chance of recurrence.

I have heard it both ways. Moderation and none what so ever. The way I look at it is my medical team and I worked very hard at saving my life why in the world take a chance on using something there just isn't enough evidence to know for sure one way or another.

I've heard it both ways too. My ENT here said a glass of beer or wine every now and then would be OK but the doc who has been helping me with the esophageal strictures, who also treats cancer of the esophagus and lungs at Dana Farber, said it was really better to not drink at all. Right now, every 4-6 months I have about half a glass of beer--flat, dark beer is the only kind of alcohol that doesn't either sting my hypersensitive mouth or taste funny. I figure consuming that little can't be too risky.

Nelie

For the past 25 years or so, Buzz would drink ONE Corona almost every day. After being diagnosed, he abruptly stopped.
During his first f/u with the surgeon at Baptist, Buzz asked if he would ever be able to enjoy an occasional beer. The physician's response was "ONLY on your birthday, New Year's Eve and July 4th"! His reasoning was the same as Girlcat's doctor...just in case there IS a chance of risking re occurrance....

I asked my ENT about drinking and he said I could absolutely (said with much emotion) drink "so long as I didn't get soused every night." I know that isn't what most doctors are recommending. Perhaps it's because I had an early stage cancer with no other health issues. I think my oncologist also said drinking in moderation was okay for me. I thought about stopping, but for me social weekend wine drinking is part of returning to normal life.

This subject comes up all the time, a social drink I suppose is okay, I like the special occasion rule myself. We have all worked hard to be healthy I prefer not to take chances! However, I think worrying about everything we do might be worse than the occasional glass of beer.
I drink 2 cups of coffee per day and I love it and nooobody better tell me to give that up..

Hi --

We asked Barry's MO at Hopkins about drinking since his GP had (in the past) recommended a Mediterranean-type diet to him, with its small glasses of red wine every few days. She said, "well, I like THAT prescription..." In other words, this sort of moderate drinking was OK for him. (His was an HPV+ cancer.)

As for HPV+ cancers -- the paper by D'Souza et al in May of this year found no correlation between smoking and drinking and development of HPV+ oral cancer -- & we now know this is a biologically different cancer from that related to excessive alcohol intake and/or smoking.

One the other hand, alcohol is probably not great for those who had a non-HPV cancer -- at least, more than the very occasional indulgence. Thus the difference in doctor's recommendations.

Gail