Take a look at the following two situations, and see what you make of them.
In the first, a 33-year old man complains of severe left shoulder pain after drinking alcohol. He's lost weight and has night sweats.
Elsewhere, a 30 year old man has rhinorrhoea, breathlessness and wheezing every time he drinks alcohol.
The first man had Hodgkin's lymphoma. The second had Aspirin Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD).
Musculoskeletal pain can be triggered by alcohol in many cancers. In one series, 40% of these were due to Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Similarly, although the usual trigger for upper & lower respiratory symptoms in AERD is aspirin or Cox 1 inhibiting NSAIDs, alcohol is a common trigger as well. The mechanism is not known.
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