[Closed] Intolerance to alcohol

I feel like that most Sunday mornings tbh. 😀

You might have an allergy or something like that.

The best thing you can do is try to build up your alcohol tolerance by upping the amount slightly from time to time.

For example, a table spoon, then two table spoons etc ... up until you can easily down few pints at a time.

Just start slowly and you should be fine.

I never liked whiskey before so I learned to drink it slowly and now if I go out with mates we can easily finish a bottle easily between two or three of us.

However, I still prefer the rice wine made by my mum or Japanese sake... ya ... they taste superb.

For example, a table spoon, then two table spoon etc ...

Cheap date 🙂

I understand intolerance is more common in Asia

I think thats usually alcohol flush reaction - red and blotchy skin reactions caused by gene controlling metabolism of alcohol. If I remember rightly its the alcohol being processed very quickly into biproducts that are toxic so people with the condition don't get drunk very easily as the alcohol is out of their system very fast but the result is they get red and inflamed skin instead

I'd consider you lucky. And I envy you slightly.

If I'd been born intolerant to alcohol, I'd have more teeth, a lot less debt and look much younger. No regrets, I really liked it.

It is poison,after all.

Edit. Alcohol Flush. isn't that when you've had a massive glass of white wine really fast? Beamer.

The best thing you can do is try to build up your alcohol tolerance by upping the amount slightly from time to time.

That's only if not drinking is actually a problem...

As for building tolerance.. I SNIFFED an irish coffee and I feel sick. So no thanks 🙂

I don't have any Asian in me to my knowledge.

Want some........?

Aye, used to be known as the Korean gene when I lived in Japan (mind you the supposedly pure-bred Japanese weren't much better...)

maccruiskeen - Member

For example, a table spoon, then two table spoon etc ...

Cheap date

Those are for home practice only at tiny amount.

In the far east those bar hostesses cheat by adding water to their beer and alcohol so we were all falling left, right and centre while they are a still going strong ... damn!

Yes, I could drink my friends till they drop now due to my whiskey practice here ... I win! 😆

I understand intolerance is more common in Asia

I think thats usually alcohol flush reaction - red and blotchy skin reactions

I don't change in colour whatsoever no matter how much I drink ... my friends do. I win ... again!

edit: proper Borneo rice/coconut sap wine if you got the chance to drink them ... bloody lovely but be warned you will not know what hit you once the kick starts and you will drop like a fly ...

I like alcoholic drinks. Unfortunately they don't like me and I don't like them enough to suffer the downsides.

It gets tiresome explaining why you don't drink.

jam bo - Member

I like alcoholic drinks. Unfortunately they don't like me and I don't like them enough to suffer the downsides.

It gets tiresome explaining why you don't drink.

In that case you should try rice or coconut sap wine as they don't taste like chemical drink at all. Think of exotic fruit juice ... they smell brilliant too. 😀

Damn glad this is something I don't suffer from, I really enjoy a good beer, or single malt, although, I suppose that if you've never really drunk alchoholic drinks, you don't know what you've missed.
I don't get shitfaced, mind, I like to savour the flavour, so I don't just neck it back.
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Want some........?

If that's your best effort then no ta 🙂

It gets tiresome explaining why you don't drink.

It certainly does - especially when you're met with complete incredulity for half an hour.

You are not alone, it's not a bad thing, don't see why folks want to spend money in something that makes you feel ill.

I reckon I've had some benefits and some negatives, over my lifetime I reckon. On the plus side, I've never made a severe **** out of myself when drunk (although I've done a few sober ones). On the negatives - I'm sure a good beer/wine/whiskey is lovely to those who enjoy it. I find myself wishing I like beer on hot days or after rides.

Just googled the symptoms of intolerance though - nothing like what I experience. Strange. Benji - what happens to you?

My girlfriend can drink 3 glasses and be ill. Same with her sister.

My (Chinese) bestmate- at Uni we used to call him Chundercats ho!!

I just couldn't imagine a tiresome conversation with you mol. 🙂

Yes. When people try and persuade me to force alcohol down, I ask them to imagine me drunk...

Could it be psychosomatic.

You may be able to specify some sort of double blind test (maybe) with vodka and some strong flavoured softdrink?

Aside from 'Asian Flush', which is genetic, there are different kinds of allergy and intolerance. I know Richard E Grant, despite in performance in Withnail is unable to drink - he throws it all up again after a few minutes if he does. Rutger Hauer used to have to spit the guinness out when shooting their ads because he's unable to drink too.

Possibly psychosomatic yes. But I'd bet hands down I'd be able to pinpoint the vodka - if only because I've had vodka before. My sister was convinced I wouldn't be able to tell because vodka is tasteles, so she put some in my Coke. Of course I could tell. Thinking back, it wasn't very acrid, so she can't have put much in, but I could clearly tell. Tasted like some sort of cleaning product.

A better test perhaps - I can tell if a trifle or cake has fake sherry flavouring or real sherry in it, even if I'm not told. I can also tell the difference between chocolates with alcohol in and the other rich dark ones - even when they taste very similar. I can feel the alcohol in my nose and head. Although those two are harder, because there's often not much alcohol in.

Macck - interesting. My mother-in-law can only have half a glass of wine otherwise she gets really drunk - but she actually likes wine and will regularly have that half glass.

red and blotchy skin reactions caused by gene controlling metabolism of alcohol. If I remember rightly its the alcohol being processed very quickly into biproducts that are toxic so people with the condition don't get drunk very easily as the alcohol is out of their system very fast but the result is they get red and inflamed skin instead

Yeah kind of. Alcohol metabolism is done in 2 steps by 2 different enzymes. Many Asians are missing the 2nd one, so end up with acetaldehyde (nasty stuff, carcinogenic etc) in the blood. Rather than not getting drunk very easily, you get drunk *very* easily. Shame, as I do like a single malt and one is enough to get me tipsy and slightly flushed.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but I am 50% Asian.

especially when you're met with complete incredulity for half an hour.

Rather than not getting drunk very easily, you get drunk *very* easily

I find myself wishing I like beer on hot days or after rides.

[quote=rogermoore ]

I find myself wishing I like beer on hot days or after rides.

Can't you have a good alcohol free beer?

No.

My wife is horribly ill if she has more than a glass of wine in an evening, bed all day, apart from when she has to get up to be sick, she's done it three times in 18 years, twice in the last 3. I doubt she'll ever do it again.

Means I never have to drive 🙂

A friend of mine went pale white after trying to outdo everyone in drinking. I thought he was going to drop dead every time that happened so asked him stop drinking but he just kept going ... he does not look very healthy nowadays as he has become so bloated, due to medical reasons and I suspect due to years of alcohol related abuse (not alcoholic but more like effect of binge drinking from after work drinking sessions), I thought he could explode at anytime. Heavy breathing and his body frame is small but yet carrying unhealthy weight.

Another one can easily drink gallons of alcohol but he just turn red like cooked lobster, although I cannot drink as much as him but no change in colour for me. However, whenever we went out with the lads I would be constantly worried of alcohol poisoning due to the high amount consumed in one night. 😯

I had to work quite hard in my younger days to get a taste for the demon drink, but I cracked it eventually.

It is not just an Asian phenomenon. I have noticed African friends get very stocious very quickly and almost have personality changes. I read somewhere not all cultures have the same enzymes for breaking down alcohol. I was outraged travelling around southern Africa in the early 80s to discover so called black man's and white man's beer. But when I saw the effects I understood it, a bit.

Aren't you pretty intolerant of everything that normal people like, molgrips?

I used to drink like a fish, but be it half a pint or a skin full I'd feel rough, but still go back for more then next day.
Fast forward several years and it turns out the isinglass is making me ill as I am allergic to fish, now it is in very small quantities but if I drink one that uses isinglass I'm rough if I drink one that doesn't I'm fine.

For someone who used to love real ale and used to take pride in my ability to keep real ale well, being the person in charge of the cellar at 3 pubs when selected for the good bear guide, it's hard.
Now I have to settle for smelling a pint of real ale, although I did have a pint last year and was rough so it's cider for me with the occasional lager but I have a list on my phone of one's I can drink.

[quote=luke ]Fast forward several years and it turns out the isinglass is making me ill as I am allergic to fish, now it is in very small quantities but if I drink one that uses isinglass I'm rough if I drink one that doesn't I'm fineInteresting. I also developed what seems to be an allergy to certain beers. It's pretty random but I can feel the effects after half a pint or so if it's the "wrong" type of beer. If I don't heed the warning I end up with a 60-hour migraine. I've been told there's a chemical in the beer that is a side-effect of the barley malting process and it does seem to be the case that I'm fine with wheat beers.

There's an alchohol free wheat beer that's really quite nice actually. Think it's Bavaria, sell it in Morrison's. Totally different to normal alcohol free beers like Becks which is bloody aweful. Doubt you'd get it in pubs though.

Might give you (op) the experience of a nice cold beer after a ride though, albeit at home.

Not intolerant but I can tell, like Molly can, when it is in food. I rarely touch the stuff [ 2 pints this year and on the same night ...I was pissed]

Dont get why anyone would drink alcohol free anything as surely its the getting pissed bit that is the good bit. IMHO none of it tastes as nice as say Mango juice or Vimto or a nice brew.

molgrips - Member
I don't drink...

So you won't know what remorse is then? 🙂

Seriously, it's an over-rated activity.

I do like an occasional malt, but it's a slow sipping job.

I can go months without.

I see no need to bring out my inner arsehole by drinking more...

since doing more exercise and a vague attempt at riding more I've become more intolerant to alcohol. Cheap date and 0% and 2% beers seem to be the norm at the moment. A couple of ciders and I'm away with the fairies.

Might be worthwhile trying some alcohol free beers to see if there is anything else in alcoholic drinks that does you in. I was told the non alcoholic stuff was brewed the same with the alcohol taken out although I'm not sure if thats entirely true judging by the taste of some 0% brews.

I have a problem with coffee that makes my head go round and nauseus, no probs with tea so go figure?

My tip for alcohol free is erdinger alcohol frei. (its isotonic too so awesome after a hot day in the saddle 🙂 )

My problem was I was very tolerant to alcohol, to the point where I was concerned I was developing a wee problem.

Quit a year or so ago now, and it's still a pain in the ass having to justify myself to why I don't drink.

Seems especially hard if you come/part of certain cultures in society. Where a pint or two are seen as much a daily ritual as cleaning your teeth.

I seem to have developed an alcohol intolerance of some kind. The symptoms for me are a blotchy red rash, sleepiness, blocked nose/sinuses, general unwell feeling.

It's weird though, not every time do I have the reaction. Really annoying as I was just getting into whisky & red wine, and those seem to be the worst triggers (but again, not always).

Now aged 50.. I've finally given up any hope of building up a 'normal' level of tolerance to alcohol but still keep trying 😉

Never been able to drink much. My mother is the same, so is my son. Dont think I've ever drank more than 3-4 pints in one night in my life, though I do still have a social drink at least once a week. After one I feel drunk.. after three I'm in bed and ill for the next 24 hours. Symptoms are like a hangover from hell.. Some beers can trigger it after a single pint.

Been a blessing and a curse. Saved an enormous amount of money but lost an equally massive number of weekends when I took the risk of that third pint and paid the price.

Difficult part is people not actually believing you when you explain it to them.

Vomitting and a very sore throat is my usual symptons, the smell alone makes me wretch.