I've been told I have Alcohol Flush Reaction, which basically means that I lack an enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase) which breaks down alcohol in the liver. Therefore, to all intents and purposes, I'm allergic to it as when I drink even a little, I feel very ill and go very red. Does anyone know if there are any foods/drinks/medicines that can help with the breakdown of alcohol sufficiently enough so that I'm able to hold SOME of it? Or even more, is there anything that gene technology can do for me? Thanks a lot.
Sandra_s Sat 07/05/05 10:39
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As far as I know, alcohol dehydrogenase is the only enzyme that breaks down ethanol into something that the body can utilise further (acedaldehyde then on to acetic acid). Ethanol is toxic and if you can't break it down you should avoid it. Unfortunately, gene therapy is still a long way off treating this and I think there are other diseases that are more important than AFR to be cured. You may have to resort to other chemicals to get off your face.
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Totally in agreement with the conclusion expressed by andy hughes. I came to the conclusion many years ago, as a social drinker, that I received absolutely no benefit from even one drink of alcohol and haven't touched it nor felt deprived of it since. I would add the comment that the genetic disposition towards deficiency of aldehyde hydrogenase is especially notable by researchers among Asian populations, especially Japanese. It so common that a term has developed for it's description; oriental flush. The phenomena is noted among Native American populations here in the U.S. as well, who are thought to be of Asian origin. It's possible your condition is genetic in origin...
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Question Author
Thanks for all your replies. I totally agree with what you're saying, and have no desire to "get off my face" or anything like that, nor do I care what people's views are. I just figured that if possible, it would be nice to enjoy a glass of wine at a celebration or something, but it's no biggie. And to Clanad, yeah I'd heard about its prevalence in the Asian population, and since my mother is a Chinese-Malaysian and experiences the same, I figured it must be genetic.
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Hi Sandra try zinc. The best form is a chelated type, which means it is bound to an amino acid so that the body can absorb it like food. Try it at home first, see how you get on. You will probably need quite a high dose 40 mg x two 30 mins or so before the alcohol. you will only get a good zinc at a health shop (independent ones have a greater variety). When/if you purchase Zinc check the actual zinc in the tablet/capsule because some although they say 40mg, this is the weight of the capsule, and not neccesarily the amount of zinc. You will probably need zinc to be part of your daily diet. And vitamin c helps the absorbtion of Zinc. Zinc is not toxic, it gets washed out of your body as does vit C.These nutrients cannot be stored by the body. Good luck
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Alcohol is lovely stuff and I'm offended that anyone would bad mouth it!
Spoilsports ;-)
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Sandra_s. Please take care over the advice on zinc. It can be toxic in large amount and the advice by marianne joy is to take over four-eigth times the recommended intake for a woman (or a man). see here for more information:
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/cc/zinc.html#rda
just beacase something is water soluble does not make it non-toxic! Iron, vital for life is toxic if you take too much, the same for many water soluble/excreetable vitamins - ie vit C. I would take great care before following this advice, and I would doubt that it will solve your problem as the absence of the enzyme is the problem, not a mineral difficiancy.
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Some people need to go to dictionary.com and look up the word 'sanctimonious' before they post messages.
I'm not asian and I have this same flushing that has come on in the last 12 months (I'm 34) nd its embarassing and impacting on my ability to enjoy fine wines and spirits. Its not so bad for beer, thank the Gods...
I know I am obviously a weak and pathetic individual, but would appreciate any information on a cure for this (not a lecture - if I want that I'll call my mother, thanks)
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Weatherhead--I read your reply to this thread with some interest. I just took an alcohol based cold medicine and immediately my face was red and painfully burning. I don't drink often--the last time was a lovely glass of Merlot and I almost went to the emergency room--the burning was so painful that I had to stand in a cold shower for about 10 minutes. Finally, it became bearable and then went away.
Anyway--I am curious about your experience with this because I am 36 years old and not of asian descent (although I did live in Asia for about 9 years as a child.) Everything I have read about this claims that it is a genetic condition that is usually found in people of Asian descent. I have never seen this happen to anyone in my extended family and they are all heavy drinkers. I have no recollection of this happening during my teenage (crazy wild) drinking years.
Anyway, your post intrigued me because you seem to have the onset of this 'Alcohol Flush Reaction' in your mid-thirties as well--with no asian ancestry.
Have you learned anything more?
Diana
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Just because you are not from asian descent does not mean you cannot have a mutation in your gene responsible for production of alcohol dehydrogenase. Also, you may want to think about having allergies to other products used in the alcohol manufacturing process such as grapes, molds, brewer's yeast, sulfites (found in wines), and eggs.
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I am 39 and I just began getting red in the face while drinking just a mere 1-2 months ago. I am of polish decent so I am not asian.
This just came on all of a sudden and a bit frightful at first. Last night was another night of being at a social function and everyone commenting on my red face. I dont feel it, i might feel a bit flushed but other than that not noticable to me.
I will eventually go to the doctor but reading the posts have lowered my suspicions of it being life threatening.
Nobody in my family has this issue and I do come from family history of Liver Cancer from drinking.
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Hi Sandra, I hope I can help you out. I used to be allergic to alcohol as well. I found that out when I came to Australia and went clubbing with friends for the first time. Drunk a can of beer and my skin got all itchy. Went to doctor and got ointment to help with the itchiness. Since I'm stubborn and still want be able to go out with friends and drink, I got myself to get used to alcohol slowly. I used to carry a little plastic bottle which I filled with wine. Every few hours I drink the wine, just a zip everytime. Increase the intake slowly. I'm glad to say that now I'm no longer allergic to alcohol. I can drink wine, beer, spirits until I got drunk, stuffed, and vomit, and I still won't get any allergic reaction. Though I'd definitely get hangover the next day. Hehehe.
Hope this helps ^_^ Good luck
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My doctor told me that I was missing the enzyme to digest alcohol properly and that it was staying in my system for more than nine hours. After having one margarita, I would be sick the next morning for hour, vomiting, fever, shaking, chills. It is horrible. She described it as my body going through detox. Does anyone else have these symptoms or know what its called?
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I suffer from this problem too, except I wish it was just my cheeks that went red - my whole face, neck and chest does. It really is horrible, but the worst thing is that I can feel it coming on, partly through heat and try to "mentally" supress it.
I've learnt to live with it now but I've noticed that after 3-4 drinks it generally goes away. The problem is the build-up and of course not being able to drink casually, at lunchtime for example. So if anyone has anymore methods to stop this, I'd appreciate it greatly too. Does zinc really work though?
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I just came down with this adversion myself at age 35. I am also not of Asian descent. I noticed my eyes would itch and eventually swell nearly shut after just one class of wine. I tried all typs of alcohol, one at a time, trying to figure out if the adversion was across the board (beer, wine and liquor). It was. I also discovered that the symptoms worsened with each time I had alcohol. I then went to an allergist who determined I was not allergic to any of the regular things they test for that may be in any of these substances so he concluded it to be the alochol itself. He didn't mention my body missing any enzymes to break down the alcohol. I have been drinking socially for many years and didn't have this problem before. I am baffled by this but am now also afraid to drink even one drink of any kind of alcohol. The last experience not only did my eyes swell shut but I had diffiulty breathing. I guess I am done with it forever.
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I don't get the flushing as the main problem, for me it's that if I drink at all, I get red in the face a bit, then about four to six hours (sometimes more, sometimes less) I develop the most crippeling hangover - bad stomach, nausea, vomiting, head ache, faintness, you name it. And it lasts for up to 48 hours. It's like getting a bad case of the flu. And this can be triggered by as little as two drinks. Beer seems to create milder symptoms, wine and spirits more.
I am only 21, I used to go out drinking regularly, and was quite used to getting blind drunk on whiskey- I'm net commedning it, I'm just saynig that I could drink as much as the next person. I now haven't had a drink at all in six months. I am really not bothered about not getting drunk, I really don't miss the hangovers, but I genuinely love whiskey and would love to be able to enjoy one scotch on the rocks on a saturday night with my friends.
I thought it was IBS at first, but not drinking solves all my stomach problems.
Please someone tell me there is a cure out there for me!!
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I also have an allergic reaction to alcohol, currently I have skin rashes from yesterday's heavy drink (12 bottles of beer + alot of shots of brandy).
I have managed to lower it down, and cure it, because before, my whole body develop rashes, including the soles of my feet, but now, to a certain degree of alcohol drink, I can only have small rashes in my arms.
The cure is really to just continue drinking. Try drinking 1 beer every night before you sleep, it will help you train your liver to develop those missing enzymes.
I'm Asian, and here the best way to cure Lactose Intolerance for kids or adults is for the parents will have to force their kids to drink milk. And it's also the same strategy with bad breath, where foul garlic where forced to gulped down by a child every night. It's really harsh at some point, but it's been proven by our ancestors to work ages ago..
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hi, i dont know if anyone is still reading this thread but i know a lot about the condition because i have it and i went to the doctors about it. it is called oriental flushing syndrome and affects approx. 50% of oriental people. symptoms are redness in the face neck and shoulders, faintness and collapsing, nausea and vomiting, shivers, heart palpitations and rashes, all of which i experienced. it is because of a lack of enzyme in the liver and instead we have a different enzyme that converts alcohol into a more toxic chemical rather than converting it to acetic acid. i read that certain heart burn medicines can help with it and also eating carbohydrates (glucose or fructose) approx. an hour before drinking can help, but wont completely cure it, it will just lessen the symptoms. as for the people who are not of any oriental descendance and thier face just goes really red and hot, that is not the oriental flushing syndrome at all, it is something different all together. alcohol inhibits anti-histamines in the body and releases histamines in the body - some alcohol a lot more than others. a reaction to this is for the blood to rush to the face. other symptoms can be having hayfever/allergy like symptoms, such as sneezing and sometimes to get a rash. some people react to some drinks more than others and some drinks are worse for it than others (e.g. some red wines). but it isnt oriental flushing syndrome unless you get the rest of the symptoms too. hope this helps.
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I used to be able to drink beer and be fine and over the past few years I started to notice that I would suffer from what I htought was a hang over just from one beer. It kept getting worse. I found myself not being able to drink. I had one doctor mention to me that maybe my body was too acidic and my ph was not balanced. I recently came across a website and found some natural ph balance pills. I was told that with the way my diet is that I should try to keep my ph balanced. You might want to check out the site and maybe try the pills. So far I have been feeling a little better. It could be different for everyone, but check it out. The site is www.healthy-body-ingredients.com
Mike
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Hi Beercure,
I have also checked out that site. It is great. There is a lot of information on the products. I have ordered multiple products from there.
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it is really interesting to hear of others with this - don't know any others. I developed a alcohol intolerance probably about 4 years ago ( at 35 years) intialy but this has gradually increased. I used to drink loads as a teen and in my 20's but now I cannot drink any wine or spirits without deveoping flushing over my face down my neck and across my upper chest. This is a lot worse if I am hot- on holiday over the years I have had my worse reactions.I did see a allergy specialist who stated I should take some good anthistamines which do help as I still like to drink,although now in moderation. I can see day when I believe I will have to stop totally, beer is ok for me now at least I can do this without antihistamines.
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