face turns red when i drink any kind of alcohol

eddydeng over a year ago

Im 21 and asian and dont drink that often but when i do my face turns extremely red. It feels like all the blood is rushing to my head and i can feel my head getting warmer. This occurs with any type of alcohol. After a while though it dies down and my face returns back to "normal".
I am aware that this does not occur through out my family, just me. Is there a name for this allergy/allergic reaction? thx

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StefL96272 over a year ago

haha i'm 19 and asian; yeah that happens to me too \\
I usually take pepcid half an hour before i drink// it helps =)
I don't think it's an allergic reaction.

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Guest over a year ago

See im 21 and im asian also and the only one in my family that this happens to. Like if i drink ANY kind of beer, alcohol, or ANYTHING my face turns really red, feels like its on fire, and i can feel my heart pounding everywhere, then after i calm down it goes away but im super cold! Is there not anything i can take or do to prevent this from happening? and whats with this asain glow!!

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Guest over a year ago

im 22, half hawaiian and half white and had maybe a cup of mixed crown and coke, i turned bright red. it's happened before when i drink and thought it was just that i was hot or something. it sucks when your skin is usually pale, you take a shot, and you turn into the damn kool-aid man.

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Guest over a year ago

I'm 23 and completely white, and this happens to me every once in a while. Sometimes I drink and have no problem, but sometimes this happens. I just found through web searches that this is most common in Asians, and it's actually a condition in which we don't have as much of an enzyme as most people (the enzyme is called ALDH2). The condition is referred to as alcohol flush, but it's also called the Asian Glow. I find that particularly amusing considering I'm the whitest person you'd ever meet with bright red hair. :-P Apparently it isn't an allergy and isn't dangerous, but people with this deficiency are at a higher risk of getting esophogeal cancer later in life. :-( Also, I've read that Pepcid is the only possible "cure" for us red-facers. :$

If y'all want to read about it...here's the wikipedia link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction

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Guest over a year ago

It's face cancer caused by drinking. It's fatal I'm afraid to say.

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Guest over a year ago

Its a natural reaction caused by drinking as it causes the blood vessells near the skin to dillate but it is also worsened by being having anxiety about it happening, so if you feel nervous about it then it will be more pronounced. I have fair skin and have suffered with it until I learned to be relaxed and then it happens very rarely

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Guest over a year ago

I'm a white male, mainly French in origin, with a little Irish & Dutch mixed in for good measure. I get this as well. I had some Mike's Hard Lemonaid today and that caused it to happen. I wasn't anxious about it, I never even thought about it until afterwardds. I was a little irritable before hand, I doubt that had much bearing.. My face gets really red and then feels like it's burning. Usually goes away after a while, even if I keep drinking it usually fades. I don't drink that much, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

When I was younger I used to drink a lot more and never really noticed this condition at all.

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Guest over a year ago

I am a white female, with everything in my blood from Indian, Irish, German, Welsh, ect... I started getting this pale face with burning red checks when I was about 30. I'm 37 now and have drank more then half my life. It is an enzyme deficiency. If you try to get help for it, you will most likely be told to quit drinking. It sucks, but if you like to drink just try to ignore it and tell people your blushing cause they are so pretty/handsome. I do get head aches sometimes and if I don't stop drinking right away it gets worst. So I take two Alieve (naproxen sodium) every time before I drink and it seems to help keep it mild. Plus, it helps with the hangover!

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Guest over a year ago

I try taking Alieve (naproxen sodium) before I drink and it seems to help keep it mild.

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Guest over a year ago

Wow, I am white. A mix of german, dutch, norwegian, indian and who knows whatelse. I have the same issue with even one drink of alcohol. And certain types of alcohol can make it worse. I am not a big drinker either. Wine makes makes my face look almost purple because it's so red and hot. Drinking green tea does the same thing to me. It does eventually go away but I sure look like a m***n for a few hours. lol!

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Guest over a year ago

Head ache and red and flush face may not be something you want to ignore. Checked my blood pressure after this happened to me several times and it was very high !

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goodfuturereinc311449 over a year ago

I think there's lot to say on this kind of topic but everybody said so much about it so i think that people might get help from it.

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goodfuturereinc311449 over a year ago

never drink alcohol it's destroy life, our good thoughts, career etc.

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goodfuturereinc311449 over a year ago

The first thing that you need to know is why you turn red when you drink alcohol. Well, this is a result of the alcohol flush reaction. This happens when your body is unable to break the alcohol that you have consumed completely. When you consume alcohol, it metabolizes into a by product called as acetaldehyde. Now to break this acetaldehyde your body makes use of an enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase

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