I am soo with you on this one ED - Many a night I have craved a glass of wine, but have held off... and we never have wine or any kind of alcohol.... One day my aunt brought over a bottle, and I put in 1/5 a glass and then aded carbonated water... it was delish!

OH! There's non alcoholic wine/fruity champagne type stuff that we love... it's just at the supermarket here.

I have been drinking carbonated fruit water too !

sometimes I add pomegranate juice to it as well; I pretend its an alcoholic beverage...not the same ,but no toxic stuff and it helps take the edge off! (well the craving edge,lol) I too want to drink , but know it will not be good, even in tiny amounts. (i tried and failed at 4 oz of beer)

Okay, so I chickened out. I purchased a 6 pack of O'doul's (spelling?)...and after staring at it for 10 minutes, I started doing research. According to this website, http://4therapy.com/conditions/subst...y-bad-mix-3012 , there is no safe amount of alcohol to drink if you have a brain injury.

Can it really be that bad? I think O'doul's has 0.4% alcohol. Why am I so scared to drink one? Geez. I'm such a chicken.

Nick

I had a some really bad reactions to alcohol early in my recovery so I know it affects me, but non-alcoholic beer has caused me no problems that I can identify brain-wise.

In England the best ones I can find are the German white beers, which seem to have some really good and realistic non-alcoholic versions.

It helped ween me off the stuff since I too was an 'avid drinker' before my injury. I've stopped drinking it now because I've decided that since I can't drink alcohol but I should be exercising a lot then I might as well try and get myself six-pack abs for the first time in my life! So that is now one of my missions. So far it's progressing very slowly.....

I like that way of thinking! I might have to make that a goal of mine as well...(once I can resume more strenuous exercise of course)! That way when people ask why I am not drinking, I don't have to tell them its because of the PCS but because I am working on a different six-pack than they are!

Thanks, Klaus!

Klaus,

I don't think non-alcoholic German beer is readily found here in the states. But it doesn't surprise me to hear that it tastes quite good at all. Alcoholic beer is practically an art form in Germany, and much better than any beer I've found here in the states, so I imagine the same is true for non-alcoholic beer too. Ahhhh... memories....!

When I was in germany they had a low alcohol grapefruit or prickly pear beer... they were soo yummy!

sighs, I guess I can dream about them for a little while longer!

There is a german non-alcoholic beer in US . It's Beck's, just make sure it's non-alcoholic since bottles and label for alcoholic and non-alcoholic look the same. And it tastes like a real beer with alcohol. Can't tell the difference

Also for those of us with beer cravings - you can check out european/russian/ukranian food stores if you have any in your area. Ask for the "kvas" drink. It tastes and look almost like a beer, but has absolutely no alcohol in it. Worth a try.

I've found Beck's NA and St. Pauli Girl NA in lots of grocery stores here in Phoenix, which I do prefer to the domestic NA brews. I'll have one occasionally, but then my acute TBI symptoms have been resolved for a while. Last week was my one year anniversary of getting my driver's license back, and June 1 will be my one year anniversary of returning to work!

It's good you did further reasearch on drinking NA's. My husband a one or two NA's every now and then. It definitely worries me but it makes him feel like he's 'one of the guys' I think. Perhaps check with your neurologist?