alcohol allergy-sudden

Hi,
I am a caucassian female, 28 years old, and have been drinking socially for the past 10 years without every having any reaction to alcohol.
I had asthma as a young child, but it has been in control for the past 15 years.
About 3 weeks ago I had a sudden reaction to a glass of wine. I had a very bad asthma attack, with feeling of numbness in my arms and legs.
I thought if was due to the Sufites in the wine, but I have had the same reaction with all liquors. Vodka and tequila did not give me an asthma attack, but I had a very stong reaction, minutes after drinking less than a sip (probably a drop). I feel very dizzy minutes after just licking a glass with alcohol, light headed, numness in my arms and legs.
This accute reaction happened in the course of a week. Can anyone tell me what it could be? I have tried to do research online but nothing seems to fit thoses specific reactions. I do not have any skin rash or itchyness. Thanks

I don’t know what it could be but I have been experiencing weird stuff with alcohol lately as well. I have been drinking socially for 11 years to be exact and this started happening in the last couple of months. I wouldn’t have problems the night I would drink, but my face would breakout in red patches the following morning, it would also become flaky and my scalp would be filled with dead skin cells.

The face redness would stay present all following day and would then subside.
I was reading that there is a condition called Asian flush but it happens only to people of Asian descent. They lack some kind of enzyme that breaks down alcohol and one toxic co-product called ethanal stays building up in the body causing face flush, vomiting and nausea. Their eyes look as if they had tons of alcohol after just a glass of wine, so I was wondering if we had some sort of problems with digestion alcohol.

Now, your troubles seem to be much worse than mine, so I reckon you should stop taking alcohol until you realize what the problem is and you should certainly see a doc. I don’t drink that much alcohol anymore, but if I do find out more about it, I will let you know!

Yasmina,
I am not asian either and recently about 12 months ago started with this flushing. It was just occational but now its bad. My nickname in college was literaly "indestructo" because I could drink everyone under the table. Now, that was 20 years ago. Just as late as two years ago I could drink 8-10 shot of tequilla. NOW Im afraid to drink a beer.

I get red as a beet, I feel like I cant breath, my heart races and Im completely done for the rest of the night. My friends are horrified and It's very uncomfortable and it scares me. If I dance or eat it makes it worse. My Doc has run a million tests and couldn't find anything. Tonight I found this Asian FLush info which sounds exactly like what I have but I cant figure out why suddenly I lack this enzyme. It has crippled the social life as I do enjoy a nice buzz. I am not an alcoholic. Just tonight while everyone was enjoying some margaritas i declined in fear. Truthfully it makes me feel like Im having a heart attack.

Hey,

I'm a 20 year old female and I've been drinking socially for a few years now. I'm pale, so usually when I get a buzz my cheeks go a little rosie. But for the past two nights I've experienced something completely new and a bit upsetting. This wasn't rosie. From the moment my lips touched a drink I went daaaark red, but in the strangest way. It started in my face, in defined patches from jaw to an inch from my eyes. My chest itched like mad and went red as well, in one large uniform blotch. Within an hour the redness drained from my face and chest and patches appeared on my lower back and right leg. It just kept shifting every hour or so, arms, back, legs, bottom etc. and it itched and was extremely hot to the touch.

When I wake up it's gone without a trace. I haven't been dizzy or nauseated, and I haven't had any other symptoms. The first night was bad, but last night was awful.

Again, this has never happened before and I can't think of another cause... but is it possible to develop allergies so quickly? I went out for drinks just this past tuesday and didn't have any issues. I did also just get over food poisoning and lost a lot of water. Could this be something to do with dehydration? Has anyone else had the redness shift this way? Just bizarre...

I have it worse trust me. Sometimes the redness will abate a little if I drink for several hours, but for the first few there is no stopping it. I have drank for 20 years and everyone calls me RED after the first beer takes effect. I am caucasian but I can tell you that it is not only Asian flush. More asians are affected by alcohol, but it happens to me just as bad or worse. I blush so easily if hot, cold, laying down and especially drinking. Sometimes when it comes on I just leave where I am and go home because I am so tired of telling people that I am fine. Nothing works for me at all.

When I drink any form of alchol even cought mixtures my body just starts to flare up. I get red blothes all over my body and it starts to itch. Does anyone else get these symptons? However, when I drink a glass of milk it seems to calm the symptons down and I am OK again. Now I dare not touch any form of alcohol as it is not worth the problems it causes. I have had tests done and my doctor says that my liver is OK. I would like to know if anyone has a found a cure or even a way round these alergies to enable me to have a social drink now and again. Does anyone know if it is possible to get alergies when taking some form of tablets as I thtink this is how I got my symptons.

Not sure exactly why, but I went through a similar experience although at first from a botched lumbar puncture. I thought it might have been the sulfites in the pain shot...he tried 7 times, & even had to ask for another lap pack, as he had already used up all in the first...very painful, felt like he was sticking it in my bones & rolling it around. It was a few days later that I started running a low grade fever, my back wouldn't stop hurting, I had TERRIBLE nausea,tingling sensations-numbness in extremities...burning allover abdomen..heart started to act up...I couldn't keep any food down. This lasted literally months...I finally went to a doc in the box, & when he asked me how long I had been running the low grde fever, he put me on 15 days of very strong antibiotic...that stopped the fever, but not the other symptoms! I still suffer to this day & that was literally 7 years ago...Now after having a bottle of chardonay, I noticeed this morning that my body was starting to experience the same PREVIOUS SYMPTOMS as the lumbar puncture.

If I'm going to have to relive this NIGHTMARE over again I don't think I can take life anymore. I pray to God in Heaven it's not the same thing.

I am a 30 year old female and up until a year ago had been drinking socially since I was a teenager. I had never experienced anything out of the ordinary until my birthday last year. I woke up after a heavy night of drinking with a bright red chest. During the day the redness formed into individual hives and itched like crazy and felt hot. The next day the redness spread up my neck and onto my face. It wasn't just flushing, it was itchy and hot like urticaria or something. Then my eyelids swelled up- one more than the other weirdly- and the symptoms took 2 weeks to disappear completely. My asthma also worsened during this time. Since then this has happened to me 5 times after drinking alcohol BUT it doesn't happen every time I drink alcohol and it doesn't happen with the same drink every time. It's become so bad that of course I've given up alcohol but last night I went out to a pub and although I was only drinking soda water and lime, I woke up with the rash again. All I can think is that I must have accidentally drunk someone else's drink as I was putting my glass down a lot and not really thinking about it. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to stop the reaction but as soon as it starts I drink as much water as I can, take antihistamines and milk thistle. I can't find anything about this online so if anyone has experienced something similar please let me know.

Yet another one with no answers and only questions, I've started to develop itchy, red cheeks whenever I drink wine or beer. The itching lasts a couple of days and then it starts to flake off like I have dandruff of the face. I've been drinking socially for twenty years and can't remember ever having this problem. I guess I can deal with it, but I'm wondering if there is a lotion or medicine that stop the itching and flaking. Best of luck to everyone on solving this one.

I agree, no advice just more sufferers. I cannot seem to find any useful advice anywhere.

I'm 25, been drinking socially since my late teens and have had no problems. Last year I suffered a bad chest infection which brought on asthma type symptoms which I stil struggle with. Around this time I noticed that if I enjoyed a few drinks I would get the worst cold like symptons. My nose will drip like a tap and the sneezing fits are ferocious. They are actually worse te next day. I had drinks last night (vodka) and it is not 11.30 pm the NEXT night and I am still blowing my nose, its red raw and sore. I have lost count of the times I have sneezed, its so bad it hurts. I know it sounds like a little case of the sniffles but it's really debilitating. I have to breathe out of my mouth and I can't taste anything - getting to sleep tonight will be fun.

So I guess I'm resigned to not drinking at all, which is a shame as at my age it focusses heavily in my social life.