Soul Catcher

My best friend and I were talking today. She got really red and her neck and face started burning, plus she has unexplained hives. My face gets hot and I feel really flushed after I have a drink. Her mother said it's genetic(she is a recovering alcoholic). That you rather get the "drinking"(alcoholism) gene or you can be allergic to it. Has any one else noticed this? Just wondering.

somebodysfool

same thing happens to me, but not everytime i drink, it's kindof a crap shoot. i don't drink often enough to figure it out. my friends gat a\big kick out of it though. oh, well i'm glad i'm not alone.

j

Jazzman

Yep, My 1st wife would get all pink in the face and neck when ever she drank! She would get all silly and goofy. My 2nd wife would get as mean as a pissed off snake! I'd say both were allergic!!

Girlfriend

Hi Soul Catcher,

When I drank, I'd turn red and have red splotches on my upper chest. But, that would just last for like a 1/2 hour or so.

I always wondered if it was an allergy. I've heard doctors say before that if you eat (or drink) something over and over and over again, you can develop an allergy to it.

I also thought it might be my blood pressure was going up when I'd start with the first couple of glasses of wine.

Interesting!

guyinNC

In my research into alcoholism in an attempt to help my wife, I came across some articles and a book that said that alcoholism was akin to a food allergy. This theory was that some people react to alcohol like some people react to specific foods. The thought was that by change in diet, and with the use of vitamins, alcoholism could be treated.

I have no idea if this was backed up by any real emperical evidence, but who knows. I say try anything that might help and could not hurt.

nocellphone

Hmmm... sounds like what might happen if one were to, say, ingest a poisonous substance... Huh. That's strange.

Waaaait... Wait a minute... *scratches head*

drunk... in-TOXIC-ated... toxic... poison... drinking... poison...

Drinking poison?!? No wonder when people drink they turn red and splotchy and they slur their speech and they stumble around and their behavior changes radically and they pass out and have seizures and their livers fail and their hearts are damaged and their brains don't work and... and... and...








Sorry. What was the question again?

Zoey

Allergies are strange. Some extremely allergic to bee stings. Some extremely allergic to peanuts, while many are not allergic. Individual thing I feel.

An allergy Dr. said, "We crave what we are allergic to" This seems to hold true in alcoholism. It is mentioned in the AA Big Book.

However when I crave steak, it is because I am low on iron. When I crave bacon it is because I am low on salt.
I believe both ways, a craving can be the body telling us what we need, yet the craving for alcohol is the worst craving ever and is totally bad. Pretty confuseing.