Have I Developed Alcohol Intolerance

Hi. Did you ever find out what this was? Your post describes my situation exactly.

Thanks so much for sharing this. I have also had a sudden intolerance to alcohol and feel dehydrated all the time and suspected adrenal gland issues. I'll definitely look into supplements and see if that helps.

Probiotics really help to restore your body. You probably have alcohol intolerance.

Also consider systemic yeast infection. If your body has an internal yeast infection, it may materialize as sudden high sensitivity to alcohol. Basically your liver becomes incapable of filtering alcohol and you get almost immediate alcohol poisoning, which makes it feel like you have gone straight to hangover (ie puking, nausea, etc) phase after only one or two drinks.
For more info, read Jane Lim's "Most Common, Most Deadly, Vol. 1".

Frankenstein food, genetic modification of food supply, all our food is sprayed or treated before harvest with toxic chemicals that your body becomes reactive towards. It's a ticking time bomb. Detox and eat only organic. Support your health with natural herbal remedies. The knowledge is there on the internet, use it!

ok this started happening to me and i had full blood testing done. turns out i have haemochromotosis and iron overload. alcohol increases iron absorbtion and what you describe above is exactly what was happening to me. i recommend you get your ferris (iron) levels checked.

Hello! I'm a 23 year old female and I am experiencing the same issue. I had 2 margaritas last night and Everything in me has been coming out both ends. :(

I am having to miss work and the stange part is me and my boyfriend dank an entire bottle of wine and no problems at all.

This random pattern started happening about a year ago and the only thing I can come up with is possibly acid reflux. I drink some Alo Juice (the yummy kind) and that helps a lot to treat symptoms. There is also coconut water good for rehydration. Try to watch your acid intake and see if that helps! Things like coffee, tomatos, oranges. Don't eat right before you go to bed. If your belly is having issues with the acid in your belly than I can see how a little big of alcohol could trigger nauseousnes. (I know it sucks because those are all my faves but it could be worth it!)

I hope this info was helpful!! Xoxo

I'm a 30 yo female and have been dealing with this over the past 7 years, with it becoming increasingly more severe each year. I have similar prickly sensations in my hands and feet as well, which I haven't seen anybody else mention, but mine is combined with severe vomiting unlike you. It doesn't happen always, but increasingly more often. I recently spent a couple weeks in Europe and drank casually throughout the day, everyday, and never once got ill. Since being back I hadn't had a drink until the other night, where I had 3 glasses of white wine. Somehow I don't remember leaving the bar, the walk home, or when I left my friends to go throw up for the night, but I was severely ill until the next day, throwing up until it was beyond green bile, and was just a foamy white spit. Also thought I saw some blood in my vomit but can't be sure. Also experience fatigue for the following day or 2. When I first experienced an episode like this when I was about 23 or 24, I only saw my college nurse about the issue who suggested I might have a peptic ulcer, so I quit coffee and heavily drinking for a while. I will admit I had been drinking more coffee in the past couple weeks leading up to my most recent incident. Wondering if anyone else could narrow their issues down to an ulcer?

Found at goaskalice. This the best answer I have found.
Dear Reader,

It's possible for a person to develop a resistance or allergy to a specific food or drink, even one that hasn't caused problems in the past. Many biological, psychological, and social factors influence how you feel when you drink alcohol. How you feel is described in terms of tolerance.

Alcohol tolerance means that after a period of ongoing drinking, on future occasions, consumption of the same amount of alcohol produces a lesser effect of intoxication, or that increased amounts of alcohol are needed to produce the same effect. Scientists refer to tolerance in two categories — functional and metabolic. Functional tolerance is when brain functions adapt to compensate for the physiological and behavioral effects of alcohol. For instance, heavy drinkers have functional tolerance when they show few signs of intoxication, even though they're at an elevated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level. Metabolic tolerance, which has to do with specific enzymes, is the rate at which the body processes and eliminates alcohol.

Factors relating to metabolic tolerance might help explain why you're feeling sick from one drink. Alcohol is absorbed primarily from the stomach and small intestine and metabolized mainly in the liver by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). If insufficient ADH is produced in the liver, the body will not be able to metabolize alcohol. A second enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), also plays a role in metabolism. Some people lack ALDH, which is often associated with facial flushing, sweating, and/or becoming ill after drinking small amounts of alcohol. Recent studies suggest women have fewer alcohol metabolizing enzymes than men. The fact that women typically have higher body fat percentages also causes them to metabolize alcohol differently — in particular, a woman will typically have a higher blood alcohol concentration level than a man, even after consuming the same amount of alcohol.

Other than metabolism, why else might you feel uncomfortable or sick after one drink?

An irritated stomach: Alcohol directly irritates the esophagus, stomach, and intestines, causing inflammation of the stomach lining. Alcohol increases the production of gastric (stomach) acid, and can also cause a build up of triglycerides (fat compounds and free fatty acids) in liver cells. Any of these factors can result in nausea or vomiting.
Sulfites in wine: You mention wine. Wines contain small amounts of sulfites. Sulfites are a natural by-product of the fermentation process that turn grapes and grape juice into wine. Winemakers add additional sulfites to wine to make the wine "last longer" — meaning sulfur acts as a preservative, helping to prevent organisms, such as bacteria, from growing in the wine. Sulfites are also present in a variety of processed and cooked foods. Depending on whether or not someone has a sensitivity versus an allergy to sulfites, symptoms include hives, breathing difficulties, even anaphylactic shock, which is life-threatening. If you think you are allergic, you can find wine without sulfites.
Congeners: Most alcohol contains smaller amounts of other biologically active compounds, known as congeners, which contribute to the taste, smell, and look of a beverage. Drinks containing more pure alcohol, such as gin and vodka, have fewer congeners than drinks with less pure alcohol, such as red wine and whiskey. Drinks with fewer congeners may lead to less severe hangover symptoms, including nausea, than drinks with more.
Other factors that influence tolerance and metabolism include:

Genetics: Studies suggest genetic factors are associated with a person's sensitivity to the effects of alcohol, so it's good to know your family history.
Medication: Alcohol can be harmful, even in small amounts, when consumed in conjunction with certain medications and/or other drugs. To learn more about the interaction of alcohol and medications, check out, "Harmful Interactions: Mixing Alcohol with Medicines," (link is external) published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) (link is external).
An empty stomach: Eating a substantial meal before drinking alcohol will slow the absorption process. If you are drinking alcohol on an empty stomach, that may increase your chances of feeling unwell.
Age: Usually, it takes fewer drinks to become intoxicated as we get older, because as we age, we process alcohol more slowly.
Certain health conditions, such as high blood pressure, ulcers, sleep apnea, and severe acid reflux, require abstinence from alcohol altogether. To give you an example of why health status plays such a major role in alcohol tolerance, consider pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is a disease that occurs when the pancreas, an organ behind the stomach, becomes inflamed. Pancreatitis can be acute or chronic, caused by a history of drinking alcohol, go undiagnosed, and if not diagnosed and treated, can cause major complications. This health condition causes acute nausea, and treatment includes total abstinence from alcohol.

Considering the myriad possibilities behind your sudden nausea and lowered tolerance for alcohol, it may be a good idea to visit your health care provider to gain insight into your situation. What has been going on in your life lately? Before you have an appointment you might want to make a list of any recent changes like new medications, other medical conditions, dietary changes, stressful events, and anything else you think could be related.

Best of luck feeling better,

Alice!

It might be a diaphragmatic hernia or a stomach ulcer. Maybe try going to a more clued up doctor :)

I don't know if this will help, but I can too no longer stomach alcohol even 1 or 2 drinks, the smell of it makes my mouth fill up with siliva and I feel like throwing up, I seen the doctor about it and it turned out my liver just could not handle me drinking anymore, the sick feeling you get and the shakes is your bodies way of telling you No More Alcohol, I know it's not very nice when it happens, I had my liver tested as will as other tests done and it turned out my body could just no longer process hard liquor, I am 43 and I stopped drinking hard alcohol about 1 year ago, I still sometimes have a beer or wine and I can process that. My liver is now on its way to recovery, please stop drinking now and just let your body heal or you will end up in hospital or even worse, I hope this helps, I was lucky and can now lead a normal life, I hope this helps in any way.

OMG thank you so so so much. I have had the exactly the same experience and always thought I just had developed some weird alcohol intolerance. This explains so much, so many of the foods you listed after thinking about it "go right through me", so to speak.
I started to drink apple cider vinegar as a tonic (which did help to reduce the swellimg and inflamation of my glands/lymphatic system and can recommend highly) and started to wake up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps and diaorea. I thought it was from the codine bassed tablets I was taking for my broken coyxis, but this explains so much. When I was a child I used to get hives after eating tomatoes omg the list goes on. I have many airborne allergies like grasses pollen and cat/dog fur so I guess its all related.
I am going to look into this further. If I knew who you were I'd hug you. Seriously this has driven me crazy for years trying to find out why I get this reaction to alcohol after a few sips when I was able to drink as a teen/young adult and no Doctor could give me an answer.
Thank you again

This is me! Wow!

Hi
I have severe reaction after drinking Prosecco.... it happened again today and it's vile. I can drink white, red wine, vodka and feel fine. As soon as I have even one glass of prosecco I will be sick, have diahoreea with really bad stomach cramps and feel hot, sweaty.
It started last year when I had prosecco for the first time in my life. I thought I had too much and that's why I was sick. But this year I had glass for my 40 birthday and 8 hours later I was dying. Today I had a glass hoping it would be fine but 3 hours later I was in so much pain in my stomach and had diahorrea plus I vomited about 20 times up to a point when my stomach was completely empty. now I feel fine because my body got rid of the poison. No more prosecco for me ever agai

Hi!

I'm trying to think of reasons why I just spent 7 hours throwing up every 15 minutes, sensitive to light, shortness of breath, and tingly/numb arms and legs. No flushing, hives, or diarrhea.

I'm a 24 year old white female, athletic body type, 5'8" 150lbs.
I used to drink heavily but only a few times and only for 1-2 months at a time, stopped going hard a year ago. However, the past few times I've drank more than ~3 drinks, I've experienced this hangover from hell. I can still have a few beers and be fine the next day.

Normal reasons: I had a variety of alcohol (vodka, whiskey, beer) on a nearly empty stomach without drinking enough water, with a much lower tolerance than a year ago. But this hangover is NOT normal!

I can rule out the genetic deficiency of ALDH2 because this just started happening, and since I can still drink beers it's not a reaction to sulfites/gluten/histamines/yeast. I don't take any medications except iron supplements and birth control and my only abnormal health issue is that I discovered I had moderate iron-deficient anemia several months ago. So if anything, my immune system is weaker.

Very interesting to see so many people without an explanation! What's the common link between us? I'm going to ask my doctor what's up at my next physical, and get a blood test to check on the anemia. And in the meantime avoid alcohol like the plague.