subject: ¬ Red Face Alcohol - symptoms, causes, cures [print this page] Red Face Alcohol - symptoms, causes, cures
Red Face Alcohol - the symptoms
A huge number of Asians (about 50%) and a lesser number of non Asians (5%-10%) experience very annoying and (most often unknown to suffers) life threatening symptoms when consuming alcoholic beverages, the most common of these symptoms being red face when consuming alcohol.
The condition is called many names:
Asian Blush
Asian Flush
Asian Glow
Asian Girl Glow
Alcohol Intolerance
Alcohol Allergy
Red Face Alcohol
note: much of the information on this page is from the alcohol red face website where there is a lot of good information on this condition.
Here is a list of the possible symptoms of this condition:
Red Face (often a very bright, beet like red) - [very common symptom]
Redness in patches on different areas of the body such as the shoulders, chest, thighs - [very common]
A prickly feeling, most usually, in the face- [very common symptom]
A feeling of hotness around the face- [very common symptom]
A feeling of congestion in the head. Quite often this symptom can be extremely intense- [very common symptom]
headache
Itchiness of the skin which can occur at any part of the body but most commonly wherever any redness isoccurring- [very commonsymptom]
A hangover the next day that is way more intense than it should be relative to the amount of alcohol consumed- [very common symptom] (this condition specifically is referred to as the 'Asian Hangover'
Difficulty breathing, sort of an asthma attack sensation- [less common symptom]
Nausea- [less common symptom]
Vomiting- [less common symptom]
The one GOOD side effect or symptom is that people with the alcohol red face condition are much less likely to ever become alcoholics simply because all the symptoms associated with the Asian Glow condition are unpleasant and greatly interfere with enjoyment of the alcohol.
You might experience only one of these symptoms, you might experience all of them, or somewhere in between. I varied from individual to individual.
The one thing you need to keep in mind is that you will NOTnecessarilyexperience any of these symptoms EVERY single time your drink. I personally have the alcohol red face condition myself and that was one of the oddest things about it. Sometimes I could consume alcohol 4 or 5 times without any symptoms and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, I would get hit with these symptoms again.
Red Face Alcohol - the cause
Alcohol is a foreign and unnatural substance to the human body. Even if consumed only moderately and irregularly alcohol is still a substance that the body never has a need for. As such in order to digest alcohol when it is consumed take a special digestive process that is much different from when food is consumed.
Unlike food your body can not store alcohol. If you consume food to excess your body stores it for later energy in the form of fat. If you consume ANY alcohol, even just one alcoholic beverage, to your body that is excess. So if you consume even just a few drinks your body has to immediately and swiftly process, digest, and eliminate the alcohol. This is very stressful for the body and all organs related to the process of the digestion of alcohol. Most stressed is the liver. (God never expected us to drink that is why he, she, sorry girls, only gave us 1 liver). To digest the alcohol in your system you liver produces a special enzyme. The very act of this enzyme interacting with the alcohol in your system produces a waste product. Most people, people who do not get the Asian Glow or Asian Flush, their bodies flush this waste product without an issue. In red face alcohol sufferers this is not the case. As alcohol is consumed and this waste product builds up in the bloodstream the above symptoms start to occur.
For those more scientific minded here is the technical explanation straight from wikipedia "a condition in which the face and/or body experiences flushes or blotches, due to an accumulation of acetaldehyde. The acetaldehyde accumulation can be caused by a missense polymorphism that encodes the enzyme, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), normally responsible for breaking down acetaldehyde, a product of the metabolism of alcohol. The acetaldehyde accumulation can also be caused by a polymorphism in the gene encoding the ADH1B enzyme, increasing production of acetaldehyde by more rapid metabolism of alcohol. Flushing, or blushing, is associated with the erythema (reddening caused by dilation of capillaries) of the face, neck, shoulder, and in some cases, the entire body after consumption of alcohol."
Red Face Alcohol - long term dangers
There is STRONG scientific evidence (not hard proof YET) that people who aresusceptible to this condition and these symptoms when consuming alcohol are at much higher risk for cancer of both the esophagus (tube food goes down when you swallow) and the stomach. Acetaldehyde (the waste product produced in your when as your body digests alcohol) is a known carcinogen and recent research strongly suggests that alcohol flush-afflicted individuals consuming alcohol continually may be at a higher risk for alcohol-related diseases, such as liver and esophageal cancers and digestive tract cancer
Red Face Alcohol - the cure
There are two ways that you can deal with the Asian Glow and its symptoms.
Consumption of Famotidine (found in the heartburn medications Zantac and Pepcid AC) 30-60 minutes before consuming alcohol. The problems with this solution alone is the Famotidine actually causes increase blood alcohol levels or in lay terms will make you get a lot drunker a lot faster. (oh boy, I hope no college kids are reading this) This treatment is not consistently or reliably effective. It works for some sufferers of Asian Flush and not others. In the individuals it does work for it works some of the time and sometimes not.
The only know treatment that seems to work with blazing success is called the No Red Face Formula. It is basically a recipe of ingredients you find at home or the grocery store. The no red face formula...
Is currently a non prescription treatment
is very inexpensive to make
is 100% effective in 100% of people who use it (given this fact it will probably not be too long before it becomes illegal and only available by prescription)
