Bloating and Pressure on Right Side After Alcohol Consumption: Causes & Concerns

Question
Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to look at my question.  I am 30 and have been drinking since around 18.  I tend to drink beer and probably average 2 or 3 on an average day.  I do on occasion drink more than this on the weekends etc.  I have noticed that if I drink rather excessively (I drank two bottles of wine in a day over the past weekend) I tend to have a bloating pressure on my right side around my bottom rib.  It is not painful necessarily however I thought it might be an indicator of a problem.  While this just occured on Sunday (two days ago), I was really wondering how concerned I should be about this.  I did not have any alchohol yesterday and don't plan to drink for at least a week.  

I have researched the topic of liver problems, since to me that area of pressure is around where I would expect to find it, and have come up with a lot of symptoms that I do not share.  I do not have the standard symtoms (vomiting, fever, jahndis, loss of energy, moodiness, etc) associated with alcoholic hepatitis, cirrohis, or fatty liver other than this pressure, which apparently isn't necessarilly even a symptom in most cases.  

I did a good bit of exercise (rowing) that I normally do not do and I also eat a rather large feast with the wine on Sunday, so this may be completley off.  Due to the research I have concluded that I need to be more attentive to the number of drinks and the frequency with which I drink going forward.  While I know that you can not diagnose whithout costly tests, just wondering what your opinion is?

Thanks

Answer
dear bill:
that feeling could be due to an enlarged liver - not a rare occurrence after a dietary and alcoholic excess. with 2 - 3 beers (i assume corresponding to about 1 l) you are getting about 50 g of alcohol a day - not enough to cause cirrhosis or alcoholic hepatitis. if you were to stay either below 30 g/d or give your liver a pause during the week you should not have to worry about the health of your liver.
if the feeling persists, i suggest that you consult your gp - a liver panel does not cost a fortune.
best regards
swissdoc