Readers Respond: How Alcohol Allergy Affects Different People

Responses: 61

Updated May 21, 2009

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I cannot drink alcohol without suffering diarrhea. Has anyone else experienced this symptom?
—Guest Mary

I have always had a cocktail or tow every evening for 40 years and now eveytime I drink any alcohol I cannot breath and my sinuses are so pluged I cannot even lay down . What will help
—Guest brenda

I have, maybe within the last year and a half, broken out with bright red blotches on my skin after having a drink... and it normally lasts about 3 days... i just do like one drink when i go out, ,but 2 days ago i had like 6 plus a vodka shot.... I AM RED EVERYWHERE! thought i was the only one too, very wierd
—Guest Sara

I am wondering if I am allergic. For some reason occasionally when I drink beer after only two drinks I experiance a sick feeling in my stomach and often throw up followed by a killer headache the next day. I have always reacted by sneezing and Getting a runny noise which doesn't worry me but thing is new and annoying. Years ago I even passed out after having two drink and woke up dreadfully unwell the next day but always presumed my drink got spiked. Am I just a light weight or is something wrong.
—Guest Fiona

One day playing raquetball I started feelign itchy, skin got red and i broke out in hives, hypotensed and almost passed out. Went to ER. low blood pressure, they said i was dehydrated and hypokalemic(low potassium) My heart was pounding. After an hour at ER with IV and Oxygen, I felt fine. fast forward 3 years, and now I get the same symptoms, but it seems like it is always the day after drinking, and always within an hour of eating something(anything). I have not pin pointed a particular food trigger, just eating food in the afternoon the day after drinking. Allergist says its my diet and stress and drinking too much. If I have just one or two beers, I seem to be OK. I sometimes can 'jump start' the symptoms by working out, or exercizing (again day after drinking). It is a scary thing and I would feel a lot better if I knew for sure it was the alcohol.
—Guest igethives

Ok, so I literally just drank two drinks tonight, very far apart and I am beat red and soooo very itchy it's ridiculous. I have never had this kind of reaction before and I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I've been drinking for about 5 years now and this just happened out of the blue. I very rarely drink, maybe twice a month and so I'm really not accustomed to this kind of reaction.
—Guest Susie

Everytime I drink alcohol i get so red my face is burning, hard time breathing anything even a wine cooler, it sucks not to be ABLE to have one drink EVER I have been like this for years. I even was in the hosiptal before because of what happens.
—Guest julianne

the next morning i feel uneasy to breathe, light headed, like i oculd faint, and make my self throw up, it seems to help sometimes but i have spells where i feel anxious and faint
—Guest bobbie

Up untill about 2 or 3 years ago I never had a problem with Alcohol. It started out just having a red burning face. Then last year my lips and cheeks went numb. Last night my face was read, swollen and got hives on my chest. Last night was the first time it was so severe. But I am going to try a little experiment to see if it is just Even Williams that swells me up or if it is all alcohol.
—Guest Kathy

I know for sure I'm allergic to alcohol but my allergic reaction doesn't kick in until the next day. If I drink a little and sober up before I pass out, then nothing happens. If drink more than a couple of beers or 3 shots of liquor and pass out without sobering up, then the next morning, I wake up slightly swollen with small-itchy red bumps all over my body. Two days after drinking, it gets worse. My face (cheeks, eyelids, etc) swell more and the bumps are more itchy. By the third day, the swelling starts to go down and the bumps slowly go away. I'm usually okay by the fourth day.
—Guest Joline

Two years ago I got extremely sick after drinking a few beers. At the time I thought it was food poisoning. It started about 3 hours after consuming dinner and drinks and lasted for about 4.5 hours. I experience extreme digestive problems including nausea and diarrhea along with extreme chills. Over the next year the amount of alcohol required to trigger a reaction has shrunken to only a sip. The reaction to a sip of beer is less extreme but follows the same pattern. This last year I started reacting to small amount of food cooked with alcohol. I even reacted to three beer battered onion rings. I avoid all alcohol including foods cooked with alcohol.
—Guest Guest

why am i so sick?! i drank the other night and feel like crap fever, body aches, sore throat, chills, weak, stuffy and runny nose why do u think this happend i usually am just hungover if i drank a lot.
—Guest alex

any time we have a family celerbration like thanksgiving i have to get water for the toast because it burns my throat to have a sip of wine or that grape jucie stuff i have never had anything to drink before
—Guest ali

I have long suffered with excrutiating migraine headaches aswell as been blessed with juvenile diabetes-sarcasm! Anyway, I have never been a big drinker but I do socially enjoy my cold one or two while watching a NASCAR race or a BoSox game or even wrenching on my car.Also,I love the taste of a good cedar charcoal mellowed whiskey occassionally. I have recently discovered that even after just one drink be it my all time favorite Pabst or a glass of Jack on the rocks-BANG! Instantly I have a pounding headache, coupled with extreme nausea and it lasts for 2 damn days! I can't even enjoy a cold beer while watching a race and though I have tried different types of beer including a light beer and I simply love Vodka and Tonic with a twist of lime, I simply just can't have one GD drop anymore. My doc says I may have developed an allergy to gluten- I blame Al-Qaeda! I pissed!
—Guest Eyeball Ray

I usually had a Canadaian Mist and diet 7-up in the evening for the past 25 years. This last year and mostly recently this last month noticed I was turning red in the face and itching. So, experimented. Had a fruity drink with amareto in it and nothing. Next time had the mist and 7 and turned red and about itched to death. So, conclusion....no mist and 7. Somehow picked up a allergic reaction to it. Why? Have no idea. Just started severely this last month. Thought it was because I was tanning and itching. Then noticed it only came in the evening and after a coctail. Figured it out and can certainly change what I drink.
—Guest itchy

Daniel More, MD
Allergies Guide

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