How soon after having a Mallory-Weiss tear can I drink alcohol?

Dear Reader,

Drinking responsibly can be fun, but not when you feel like you’re going to puke your guts out. Among other reasons, a Mallory-Weiss tear can occur when you drink and subsequently vomit and cough excessively. It’s usually recommended that you limit alcohol intake to avoid future tears. However, there isn’t a universally applicable answer about how much to curb drinking habits. To learn more about your specific case, reflecting on how you first got the tear and talking directly to a health care provider may be a good next step. If you're interested in learning more, let what follows quench your thirst.

For those unfamiliar with this medical condition, a Mallory-Weiss tear is a gash in the lining of the esophagus, which can sometimes cause bleeding. These tears are caused by intense, prolonged vomiting—often following excessive alcohol ingestion—, coughing, and epileptic convulsions. If you have a Mallory-Weiss tear you might also experience bloody vomit or stool.  

To diagnose the condition, a health care professional may use either a blood count test or an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). An EGD is a procedure where a small camera is inserted down the esophagus to examine the esophageal lining, the stomach lining, and part of the small intestine. The good news is that the body is often able to repair a Mallory-Weiss tear on its own after a few days. A health care provider can prescribe you an acid reducer to help make eating a little more comfortable in the meantime. If your recovery isn’t going that smoothly, endoscopic therapies are available.

It makes sense that after finally healing from a Mallory-Weiss tear, you’re looking into how to avoid it happening again. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Factors like your history and the reason for the initial tear influence how best to avoid a recurrence. You might reflect on the reason you experienced a tear in the first place. Was it due to excessive vomiting following drinking? Did you eat something that could have upset your stomach? Did you recently just get over a stomach virus that would cause you to vomit? If the tear was indeed caused by alcohol consumption, drinking again right now may not be the best decision. This is because it can be hard to know exactly how much you can drink on a given day without vomiting—there are other factors involved in vomiting like hydration level, how much you’ve eaten, and whether your body has recovered from previous alcohol use.

Health care professionals often advise patients recovering from a tear to either refrain from drinking alcohol altogether or avoid drinking in excess. However, since the recommendations on resuming alcohol consumption may vary from person to person, it's best to talk with a health care provider for more tailored instructions. If, after speaking with a provider, you decide to continue drinking post-tear, you might consider making a plan for how much you will drink over what period, what food you’ll eat, and other factors specific to your situation that might keep you safe and vomit-free.

If you’re vomiting a lot, you might be wary of other damage to the esophagus and stomach. If this is the case, consider speaking with a health care provider about the other damage that alcohol use can lead to in the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Hopefully speaking with an expert will help you learn more about your body and the best way to take care of it.

Best of luck,