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Kidney Pain?

09/20/2010

Question:

After a night of drinking, i woke up with pain in my left side just under my ribs. i haven`t drank for a couple months before this and I don`t drink more than once or twice every two weeks. however when I do drink, I tend to over do it and usually will have well over 4 beers. I was wondering if kidney pain is common in this situation and if so, is it easily resolved?

Answer:

Thank you for your question. Over drinking presents a large amount of fluid (volume) to your kidneys and also involves the blocking of a hormone that usually lets your kidneys concentrate urine. In this way over drinking can put a lot of strain on your kidneys, ureters and bladder. That is probably why you have what we call “flank pain” after a bout of over drinking. This is just one more reason that if a person is going to drink, they should stay well within the published “sensible drinking guidelines” from NIAAA.

Related Resources:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

For more information:

Go to the Addiction and Substance Abuse health topic.