Does your knee "lock up", like it is intense pain and it kills to move it, but you have to move it to get the pain to go away? I get this as well, although i've never really associated it with drinking (although, like you i'm in my 20s and drink moderately). I get both knees locking up in the night from time to time. It seems to come in waves though, and for some time i'd get it almost every night, waking up yelling. I haven't injured mine and don't have swelling either. They do hurt if I jump off of something or use them hard (skiing) for a while. That's a duller uncomfortable pain though, not the stabbing like when they lock in the night.

Sounds like gout.

Go check the gout section on these forums.

My knee dosnt lock up but the pain is so intense ( maybe an 8 on a scale of 1 - 10) that I don't want to move it. I am pretty active physically and I used to be in the army where my knees and back took alot of punishment but never hurt like this. The pain comes only after times of inactivity like sleeping but after moving around a little it goes away after a few minute. After taking makotos advice I looked into gout ( wich I had never considered) and that seems to cover what is happening to me as far as the pain but the causes and symptoms don't add up. Maybe I should still get tested. Thanks for taking the time to respond guys.

sounds like the beginning stages of vascular necrosis. my boyfriend drinks heavily and this disease eats away at the joints. it satrts off in one location, usually the knee, and this becomes exceptionally painful, sometimes debilitiating. you need to get it checked out now because if this is what you ahve you may be requiring hip repalcement surgery within a few years. sorry to frighten you but this is something that happens when people drink heavily �over many years and do not eat enough. the cartilege is eaten away. good luck hope this is not what you have. my boyfriend went freom martial artist to limping to hardly being able to walk in a span of two years. he is 36 and there is nothing we can do to stop it now except control the pain with strong painkillers and wait for the joints to stop working so he can have hip replacement surgery. for him it is too late but if caught in its earliest stages it can be controlled in most people. go see a doctor today please.