Alcohol Allergy?

[Helevitia]

I have a problem and wanted to see what the general opinion was.

About 1-2 months ago, I drank some cheap red wine (although it was very tasty). About half way through the glass of wine, my ears started burning up and they turned bright red. I then noticed that I had red blotches all over my shoulders and upper chest/back. I thought, some people have problems with red wines, so I will just stop drinking red wine and go back to beer

Move forward to last weekend. I got home from a long day at work. I sat down , ate and cracked open a Guinness. About half way through the Guinness, same thing happened that happened with the red wine. Now, for dinner I had some mixed vegatables with Shitake Mushrooms. One time before(8 years ago) I had boiled some shitake mushrooms and ate and drank the broth and mushrooms. I immediately got very hot and broke out into hives. I went to my doctor and he gave me some benedryl and sent me home.

On a side note, I have eaten some shitake mushrooms hear and there over the years but never noticed any problems.

Now, I have read that it is possible for alcohol to make your allergy symptoms worse.

OK, so there is the facts. My questions:

1. Can you suddenly gain an allergy to alcohol?
2. Does the part about alcohol making other allergies worse seem factual to you?
3. Should I just quit drinking?

Two more things I thought of. Last night I took a drink of a Coors Light just to see what it would do. It did nothing but it was just a drink.

And two, I am going to Hawaii next week and altough I don't need alcohol to have a good time, it would be nice on occasion

Anybody have any thoughts, opinons or facts they would like to share?

Thanks,
Dave

[ayoub_ibrahim]

Are you taking any medication?

[Helevitia]

Naproxyn - every now and then
Nexium

[Jessterw]

I've had a similar problem; however, mine seems limited to red wines and certain berry-flavored alcoholic beverages (think wine coolers). The one rare instance where an allergic reaction was caused by something other than the aforementioned was when I drank what is called a rum runner (not sure of the contents beyond every rum the bar had handy). In that rare case I actually puked later on in the evening. Usually I just become flushed and warm or I develop cold sweats.

Never had any problems with Guinness (I'd be lost if I did ), but the problem does seem to spread to other drinks as time goes on (initiially it was just red wines, then it was the wine coolers, etc.), so it could very well be progressive.

[Helevitia]

Interesting info Jes. Thanks. I'll be very upset if I can't drink Guinness anymore!

[TnT]

My buddy gets red spots and rash like things all over his arms, legs and chest if he drinks over a certain amount of alcohol (more than a couple shots or a few beers). He says they feel itchy, but not scratchable (like on the inside) and he sometimes gets shivers.

We discovered it when we took him out and gave him Long Island Iced Tea. At first we thought it was a localized incident cause I've never heard of a reaction like that. A couple weeks later and he had 3 or 4 beers and got a mild case of the same thing. So now he sticks to 1 or 2 light drinks.

Poor guy will never get drunk.

[Sasq]

Fortunatly Jesse doesn't have an 'ararugi' to nihonshu which he shall shortly be partaking large amounts of.

[LvR]

You guys with the so-called alergy must stop sticking your heads in the stuff - its only for drinking!

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by LvR
You guys with the so-called alergy must stop sticking your heads in the stuff - its only for drinking!

Thanks, I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, now I know!

[Brian Ellis]

Interesting about the combination of shitake and alcohol. All mushrooms contain toxins, although the "edible" species much less so than the highly venomous species like amanita phalloides. Also, the toxins are only absorbed by the stomach, so that, by the time they reach the gut, there is no further absorption. Some of these toxins are alcohol-soluble, so co-ingestion of alcohol can increase the toxin absorption very considerably. This is particularly so with the coprins, such as the shaggy ink-cap, where all the books recommend no alcohol when eating them. I have eaten various coprins (without alcohol) and, frankly I don't know why people do, as they are pretty well a mushy, tasteless, plodgy mess. Fresh morels are also better without alcohol, although the dried ones are OK (the toxin sublimates away during the drying process). I don't know whether shii-take (I think that may be a better spelling) has which toxins, but it is possible they do because of their "healthy" reputation, suggesting that they may have a pharmacological effect.

Most of the common edible species, such as the common mushroom, cèpe (porcini, bolet), dried morel, black Chinese mushroom, horn-of-plenty (interestingly but misleadingly called trompe de la mort or trumpet of death in French), chanterelle, girolle etc., are, to the best of my knowledge, harmless, even with alcohol, unless taken in really excessive quantities (either the alcohol or the mushrooms). I love wild mushrooms, but do not have the confidence to identify many species, even the cèpe has toxic and inedible look-alikes

True story:
An Italian family in Lausanne were rushed to hospital a few hours after eating a fricassée of mushrooms they had gathered. They were happily saved, treated and discharged a day later. The same night they were rushed back to hospital in extremis. Apparently, the wife decided that the leftovers of the fricassée were so delicious, she fished out all the mushrooms and served the sauce as a garnish over their steak, that evening. Darwin nearly had his say!

[G400SG16mb]

if you've got yeast overgrowth, alcohol is the worst thing you can have, especially beer. There may be additives you're allergic to too.

[Helevitia]

Thanks for the info Brian. So it IS possible that alcohol can make the absorption worse of the offending toxin. Now, I have no proof that the mushrooms I ate that night were the cause of my problems, but it is definitely suspect.

Something else that crossed my mind is that something else is going on such as an underlying bigger problem with my body. Is that possible?

@G400SG16mb - I read all about the different ingredients one can be allergic to in all kinds of alcohol and it just seems weird that it would happen after 18 years of drinking. This lead me to think about the second question above.

[Helevitia]

I decided to drink a beer tonight to see how it effects me. I started by taking 3 drinks off of a normal 12 ounce beer. I then took 3 more drinks a few minutes later and now I am typing this message a little nervous. My ears aren't hot yet, thank god. I'm gonna wait a while before drinking anymore though...

[Helevitia]

Well, I drank the whole beer and no reaction. Interesting for sure. I guess I need to be careful and watch what I eat.

[KvHagedorn]

You could experiment.. eat nothing and drink a six pack of Guiness and see how it goes now.