Alcohol and flank pain

[Victric]

Hi!

I have a problem, which I wonder if I share with anyone else? When drinking large amounts of fluids - most often beer - I get a dull flank pain when urinating. It only happens during the urinating phase, and only in the beginning of the evening. Don't feel anything in between. A friend of mine says this could be due to an ureteral obstruction, and that I should have it checked out.

A couple of years ago I went to my GP with this issue. The blood tests and urinary tests were all normal, so he discarded it, and couldn't give me an explanation. Now, having heard that this could be due to obstruction and not a normal phenomenon I'm a little concerned. Should I be seeing a urologist?

[craigdunn]

I had this problem for years, though it didn't come on when urinating, whenever it came on I had had a few beers.  It was referred to as a UPJ (Uretic Pelvic Junction) obstruction and I needed keyhole surgery (Laparascopic Pyloplasty) to correct it.  It (in my case anyway) is a natural narrowing of the ureter, often present since birth but because you drink more dihoretics (beer...etc) as an adult you don't tend to notice it when you're a child.

Unfortuantley I didn't check mine out in time and ended up in the emergency room with a temp of 40C due to the fact that the kidney had become infected.

[TimBadger]

Hi Craig,

I have just been diagnosed with a UPJ and have had the exact the same symptoms you describe for about the last year or so, with beer being the worst offender closely followed by white wine and vodka!

I think I will most likely be receiving pyloplasty surgery to put this right, but whether it will be by keyhole surgery I do not yet know, waiting for an urgent appointment with a urologist.

Could I ask you roughly how long you were out of action after the op?  I am supposed to be competing in an Ironman triathlon in August this year and the timing on this couldn't be much worse for me, but it obviously needs putting right.

Cheers,

Tim