Why does vodka make my... (TMI)

Factual Questions
1

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E

What about vodka would radicially change the smell and appearance of my urine and feces?

While drinking and into the next day, my urine has an oily smell and, should I neglect to flush, an oily sheen will form in the bowl.

While I’m not saying my feces usually smell like roses, non-vodka feces have a smell that I don’t find particularly unpleasant. On vodka and the next day, my normally brown feces are yellowish and have a truly heinous acrid odor. They tend to be a little looser as well.

Other alcohols don’t have this effect. I tend to drink the rotgut store brands so I don’t know if a higher-end vodka would have the same effect.

2

I don’t know, but beer makes my poop smell like commercial grade epoxy.

3

Its that WD-40 brand, I bet. :wink:

4

Steatorrhea.

Eating less fatty foods before drinking your rotgut may help.

5

I don’t think that’s it. I’m not experiencing any leakage. The stool is just looser. Also doesn’t address the urine. The article makes no mention of alcohol consumption being a cause; it only mentions liver damage as a possible biological cause and if there were liver damage I would think the condition would be more continuous instead of being tied to drinking.

6

How about 99 cent margaritas? :stuck_out_tongue:

7

I don’t know either but I will report that it affects me the same way.

8

That’s so odd. Vodka is one of my liquors of choice, and I’ve never had anything like this happen to me. Or maybe I just don’t pay enough attention to my poops. The only thing that I can think of that I consume that changes my urine is asparagus, and we all know about that…

9

Much like the more common and famous -orrhea, it comes in various degrees. Surely those with terrible disease are going to experiance worse symptoms than someone who drinks a bottle of Karkov. The oil in your doo doo is just unabsorbed fat. Unless your having Karkov mixed with Pennzoil as your cocktails. :eek:

10

I find red wine or guinness worse on the stools.

11

You’re never gunna let me live that one down, are you? :stuck_out_tongue:

12

I don’t know that there is any oil in my feces, and am not particularly interested in exploring. The oily smell is coming from the urine.

13

Alcohol metabolizes into acetaldehyde and (I think) further into ketones. Both can have a sickly sweet-sour smell.

Vodka’s a pretty efficient vehicle for getting pure alcohol into your bloodstream, so it may be that you drink a bit more with vodka, too.

14

Do any other foods cause these symptoms? Like, maybe, potatoes?

15

Alcohol -> Acetylaldehyde -> Acetic Acid

The first process is carried out by alcohol dehydrogenase, and the second is by alcetylaldehyde dehydrogenase.

I’m pretty sure acetylaldehyde in the urine is a sign of a Bad Thing™.

16

Agreed – it was my understanding that acetaldehyde was one of the things in your blood that made you feel like crap with a hangover, but got metabolized out by your kidneys or whatever. Acetic acid=vinegar which would suggest a sourish smell.

This

suggests that large doses of alcohol lead to formation of ketones in the liver, if I read it right.

17

I don’t think it’s Alcoholic Ketoacidosis because the symptomology doesn’t match. I’m not dehydrated or vomiting.

18

I wasn’t necessarily suggesting you had the actual condition (hope not!), just noting that there’s a metabolic pathway that can lead to ketone formation, and that ketones (along with acetic acid) have a distinctive and sickly smell.