Hi! i was wondering if any of you finaly found out what was causing this sudden ''problem'' ? im a little worried since im experiencing a similar situation...im 18 yrs old now, i have been drinking since i was 14 (thats awful, i know) and i was handling alcohol really well until recently....i used to have a really high tolerance to alcohol, i could drink a LOT before getting drunk, and i never passed out nor throw up, but the best of all is i'd NEVER get hungover, in the morning i'd just feel more tired than usual but after eating/drinking something i'd be fine.
Now for the past 3 months my tolerance to alcohol has gone ridiculously low. i cannot have a simple glass of mixed liquor without getting this horrible feeling that makes me wanna puke the hell out of me, also makes my head spin to the point that im stuck on my chair. feel like gravity is pulling me back, it gives me a really hard time keeping my head up, just like a new born lol. the first time this happend i was really confused, i didnt believe that alcohol was the cause. just like some of you i thought i had been poisoned, it was horrible...so i went to sleep but then according to my boyfriend i got up 2 hours later, i was aparently sleepwalking, i went directly to the bathroom and started vomitting everywhere then went back to sleep...then a couple of days later (i drink 2-3 times a week during summer) same situation, but worse. i still couldnt believe it was the alcohol, so i didnt stop drinking and went through the same nightmare everytime, then i offically knew what was the problem... But anyways, i have a theory...3 months ago i totally changed my diet (which was real bad), i only eat organic food now, no more artificial c**p or additive, and the only sugar i get is from fruits. So i believe that maybe, by feeding myself healthy food/drink only, my body might have decided to fight against anything else. i must say i was eating really bad before, so maybe my body couldnt see a difference between all the different type of c**p i was ingesting.......would that make any sense??? any nutritionist here?? lol anyways..ive stoped drinking now and i'm fine beside being really bored.
I'd still like to hear about you guys?? any change or explanation???...i hope my post is written in a clear manner, english is not a language that i use on a regular basis.
however, 2 years ago i decide to turn my life and quit smoking and cut down alchol and be vegan~!
yes i did successuflly quit smoking and alchol, and cut down dramatic with my meat consumption.but now if i drink 2 bottle of beer, i would felt extremly sleepy, and then i felt chill, then stars in my eyes....humming sound in my ears....and now i felt like vomit.....
it is actually emarrasing, i remeber once, i only drank 1 bottle of beer, and was standing and chat with some ppl, all of sudden the symptons all came up.... and all of sudden, i fall onto me kneel.....it was the first ever i felt like this....
I also think is change of diet......which cause these dramatic change......is it good or is it actually do more harm.....??
who could ever answer this......
Been experiencing the same thing with most of the symptoms that were described. My main symptoms were an awful racing heart, skipping beats, some vomiting (not a lot) huge adrenaline rushes/ anxiety... feeling awful.
I did a little experiment.. I made an appointment to have a full scale blood work panel done while I was going through these awful "next day" symptoms. I wanted to find out what was happening... Is this a liver/stomach/pancreas/gall bladder thing? Turns out all my bloodwork came back normal.. (I even had an EKG done while I was having that awful racing heart symptom and that was fine..) BUT what was abnormal was my alcohol blood level. I drank quite a bit of wine the night before and when the blood was drawn (12+ hours later) the alcohol level in my blood was still very high. Unusually high for a 12 hour period where my liver should have metaolized it. The doctor concluded that I was allergic to alcohol and can no longer metabolize it fast enough. That being said my liver tests were perfect. (There is nothing wrong with my liver or anything else other than I am allergic now.)
Some questions I asked him:
1. Why does this happen?
My doctor said its usually hereditary, you probably have a gene somewhere in your family. Some people will develop this suddenly in their lifetimes and others who can drink their whole entire lives may never become allergic. (It doesnt mean you drank too much as you can drink only once a year and all of a sudden become allergic to alcohol just like that or you can drink like a fish your whole life and never have this happen as well as vice/versa.)
(Allergies seem to be medical mysteries in general though... as I met a woman who loved to eat shrimp and one day she ate it and almost died.)
2. Is there something I can do/take to avoid this reaction to alcohol (other than not drink)?
No. Infact, its dangerous, Because your liver is not metabolizing the alcohol at a fast enough rate, you can go into toxic shock/ poisoning if you were to consume quite a bit. You are also at huge risk of going into cardiac arrest during this period if you overdo it.
Alcohol allergies and alcohol withdraw are two different things. You can be born allergic to alcohol. (I was confused by the two...)
Overall, Im happy to know what was happening to me and don't mind one bit that I can no longer consume alcohol... I dont care about alcohol, I was just worrying something was wrong with my body, particularly my liver! I was worried I could no lover take an advil and was going to suffer liver failure or something! (I get a bit paranoid about my health...) I would be way more bummed to find out I was allergic to chocolate or something. I hope this helped some people. I can't speak for everyone's situation. I think its always a good idea to have your own medical tests done- just to rule out any probems you could have just in case there really may be something going on with your liver since its for sure a liver thing.
Oh, I also have acid reflux (prilosec helps this) and have a family history of anxiety disorders.
Take Care and avoid alcohol! :-)
My problem is much worse...i feel like total death like you do when you have small amounts of achol except i dont touch achol at all. I go through the week hitting and missing and hoping that i dont have the death feeling of what i would describe as a major hangover.
If i drink a ton of water i dont get feeling better until the next day and sometimes the water thing doesnt always work.There is nothing that eases my feeling like im dying..no amount of extra sleep, no food helps, no medicine no nothing except after 20 years of trying everything i discovered that an alka-seltza sometimes has an immediate reaction and i feel so much better but it only lasts for an hour then im back to hating my sad existence(doing another alka has never worked).My life has been such a waste im serious and that makes me angry
Have had simliar issues. Drank alcohol for 10 years with no side effect and then one day bam! That was 7 years ago and if I consume one drink now I'll feel sick for a week. I've been to 4 different GI's inclduing two trips to the mayo clinic and all they can tell me is "nothing is wrong and stay away from alcohol".
Type in Sudden Alocohol Intolerance on youtube and watch the video.
Alcohol is technically a poison many people cannot tolerate: my doctor exemplified the fact that about a third of individuals from asian descent flush and feel instantly ill often after a single drink due to a genetic inability to metabolize alcohol. That makes sense, but what he failed to explain or investigate is why, only a number of months ago, I could drink like a fish and suddenly can't have more than one drink without developing the equivalent of a 24 hour flu.
The issue in his mind is moot because drinking alcohol is not a part of the Canada food guide, and obviously anyone would be 'better off' avoiding it entirely. I am guessing this is the reaction that most doctors have. It confounds me considering that I have a plethora of health issues headed with a giant question mark and feel that some investigation into this would be useful: instead my doctors are choosing to treat each of my symptoms individually with a multitude of medications. As a result, I am a 24 year old with a pill organizer.
The hardest part is that my family is English... and without the ability to drink alcohol, I am without the ability to connect with them. Although in my doctors eyes it is a non issue, my family considers me lost without the ability to keep two glasses of wine down. It sounds ridiculous: but I dare any one of you to try to hold a conversation with a drunk English family while sober.
It seems to me that more research should be done into this because: yes, alcohol is technically a poison which we would all be fine without and some people can't tolerate from birth, but it does not make sense for a person to be fine with it for twenty four years and then not on the eight thousand seven hundred and sixty first day. At the least, putting some time and effort into knowing the cause could tell us a bit more about human health. At the most, it would cure me from whatever it is that is dragging my health down.
I drank heavily as a teenager, but developed an intolerance at about age 20. No nausea, mostly just crushing hangovers, with pain and depression, after one drink. Even my mouth would hurt. There were other issues even after I stopped drinking totally and I was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease; it's still unclear whether there was/is a connection, but it's something to be aware of.
I have recently been in the same boat, not getting severely sick, but not feeling well. My stomach gets very bubbly ( like insane instant gas trapped) and severe heart burn off of one drink. I used to drink a lot and quickly I would have a little heartburn the next day and hung over if I drank too much but nothing after one drink. I have recently had my gall bladder out, and I have been having some pains in my right side. I am wondering a lot if my liver is still adjusting, and that could be your reason too. I also have been having quite a bit of acid reflux, and I take a PPI daily, but it is not strong enough. For those that have become intolerant, you should have a liver function test. If your liver is unable to digest the alcohol, it will act as a poison and make you very sick. Good luck!
Same same. I'm a 37 y/o male. Never drank till I was 27, but I was off and running in no time. I could drink with them all and keep going and at first have very mild hangovers . I'm talking 6-7 shots and 3-4 beers in just a few hour period. Did that for maybe 7 years when I decided to quit. I quit for a year and a half and had some drinks. Next day I had the runs the whole day. I so stubborn it took me weeks of this to figure out that this isn't right. I have some ideas on what happened. Either the body says ok it's gone lets keep it out and now it's just either going to kill you make you very un comfortable, but the body will just not have it any more. I tried all different kinds of alcohol from white to red wine to shots to beer. All caused 2 days of the runs. I am also on prozac that is the only thing that changed, might be the reason( so I stopped that for a couple days to see, nope) . So that was a few months ago, and this past couple weeks I tried again. You can guess what happened.
Yup same thing sick the next day and very tired and slow with little motivation just from 6oz of white wine. I was also worried about the gluten thing and tested my self one day eating nothing but foods high in gluten that whole day and was completely fine. I can drink if I take enough imodium, but I soon figured out that taking imodium every day can't be healthy, and I still felt very ran down just without the runs.
So folks what we have is a no more drinking life ahead of us. Oh well. I'm over it.
I have never had a hangover in my life. I'm 31 now, so I just thought it was an age thing. I had 5 drinks vodka and whiskey(nothing for me) 2 nights ago and was miserable and whining like a baby the next day. I noticed I have been blacking out when I drink out of nowhere and a horrible hangover the next day? never had that before? I guess I am embarrassed to go to the doctor over this cause I feel he will just tell me to stop drinking. I can do that but I would like to know whats going on with my body:( Its crazy the amount of other women dealing with the same sudden change on this! I hope you all find the answer as well as me <3
I have the same condition as you all- started in my early 20s and I am in my late 20s now. My doctor diagnosed me with a deficiency of alcohol dehydrogenase or basically the lack of enzyme needed to break down alcohol which is a toxin. There is no cure I have found. Please if anyone finds anything let us know. so far the only "cure" I have found is just to not drink.
There may well be a whole number of different issues occurring here, all with the same result - drinking alcoholic drinks makes you ill in some form. But it may be nothing at all to do with the actual alcohol so long as it's consumed in moderation. I've posted here before. My partner Jane has an allergy to sulphites which are in virtually all alcoholic drinks, but she can drink sulphite free wines with no problem. If she drinks too much in one go (usually anything over a bottle and a half) she gets the runs and hot sweats etc which we believe is her body telling her the alcohol is no good for her. But she can drink a bottle a night with no ill effects.
We run a wine retail website with a dedicated section on sulphite free wines. These wines are also free of just about everything else too - all chemicals, artificial yeasts, gluten, animal derivatives etc so all that is in them is fermented grape juice. Can I suggest you try some of them, then if you still have an issue you know it must be either the alcohol itself or some natural element of the grape such as tannin. We only sell in the UK and most of you seem to be in the USA so this is not a commercial pitch! But take a look at our site and see if you can source any of these wines in your own country. We have helped literally hundreds if not thousands of people get back to drinking wine again, most of whom were told (incorrectly) by their doctors it was the alcohol affecting them!
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