Strange Symptoms: Allergic to Beer?

[parmenides]

I am a 24 year old male, and I've always loved to have an occasional beer with dinner. About 8 or 10 months ago, though, I started getting ridiculous hangovers (extended vomiting, headaches, etc.), after having only 3 or 4 beer. (These symptoms would never occur, however, until around 9am the next day.) So, I switched to rum and whisky, and the sickness stopped happening. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been testing my luck again, trying one beer on occasion, and nothing happened. So, two nights ago, I shared about 3 or 4 glasses of draught with some friends, and at about noon yesterday I quickly broke out in a strange skin rash -- 100's of small red spots (like small blood blisters) from my shoulders to my knees. They are still there today, although it's not getting much worse now (I've been taking an antihistamine, and I'm awaiting the results of a blood test).

Are these normal occurences? I suspect I might be allergic to something in the beer as it digests... But, I have noticed that these weird things have only occurred when I'm drinking domestic (Canadian) beer, while imported European beers have never yet affected me like that... Any thoughts on this would be appreciated! Are there different ingredients that might be doing this? I really hope I there something I can do...

[jifnif]

wow I have heard of alcohol allergies but yours sound pretty severe.  although i enjoy imports myself i am not sure if they differ from domestic ingredients.  well, besides maybe more hops and grains in the imports???  are you allergic to wheat??  I hope you find out, sorry i dont have any answers.  I just wanted to reply.

[boninclyde]

My friend had the exact same problem. She drank Budwiser for years and started to have hives. She eliminated everything she could think of and changed all products she uses. 3 months ago she got off the bud and switched to yuengling beer. No more hives. There is a difference in beer ingredients. Don't know if bud recently change theirs that made her sick.

[FGQB]

I also am wondering if I developed an allergy to ingredients in beer....My symptoms: Seems like a virus...about 9 am I get a terrible headache, get sick...yellow bile...and alternate between sweats to chills. I get sick about every 20 minutes, and basically hang out in the shower, bath and bed for about 12 hours and then am just fine. This happened when I drank way to many Budweiser beers on the river, so thought it was from over indulgence about a month ago. Friends came over last night and I drank 3 cheap beers, from Wisconsin and the exact symptoms within the same time frame. I have no food or medicine allergies. It is so severe~~worse than any hang over I have ever experienced...even in college!! Comments?

[laura1977]

have you ever thought about the yeast?

[lel2259]

maybe you have a yeast allergy??

[Momma_Bear]

It sounds as if you may have celiacs disease, which is actually an allergy to gluten. The symptoms that you describe sound very much like the symptoms of celiacs. Your doctor can test you for it and if you do have it, then you can control it with dietary changes and save yourself a lot of pain and medical costs down the line. Also, you'll be happy to know that there are a lot of wonderful gluten-free products on the market now. They are not always easy to find, but they're out there - even gluten-free beer!

[limberlostgirl]

FGQB I have the EXACT same symptoms!!! Am doing research as well. Have heard a rumor that the beer companies are starting to use GM (Genetically Modified) grain which could lead to more of us becoming gluten intolerant. This would also explain why in the past we were ok and suddenly now we get sooo sick. If you find any additional information please pass it along and I will do the same.

[macti01]

Hi, i am a 38 yr old caucasian female who has been drinking beer since 16.
I started getting an allergic reaction about ten years ago. I drank mostly  Miller Light.  My chin started getting red and flaky under the corners of my mouth.  I couldn't figure out what it was for a really long time.  Then i went to London and drank European beers with no problems to my face at all.   I decided to switch to Coors Light.....no red chin but gives me diarrhea.  I started drinking Bud Light.....red chin was back, the more i drink the night before the worse my chin is.  So im completely confused about why this is happening.  I wish someone would do a comparison study to different beers ingredients and how much so i'd know what to drink now.  Anyone else have this problem??

[macti01]

Hi, i am a 38 yr old caucasian female who has been drinking beer since 16.
I started getting an allergic reaction about ten years ago. I drank mostly  Miller Light.  My chin started getting red and flaky under the corners of my mouth.  I couldn't figure out what it was for a really long time.  Then i went to London and drank European beers with no problems to my face at all.   I decided to switch to Coors Light.....no red chin but gives me diarrhea.  I started drinking Bud Light.....red chin was back, the more i drink the night before the worse my chin is.  So im completely confused about why this is happening.  I wish someone would do a comparison study to different beers ingredients and how much so i'd know what to drink now.  Anyone else have this problem??

[helga123]

hi i am 23 years old, i have noticed that when i drink beer like redhorse, the next day, the palms of my hands would turn into red and its sooo itchy.
But when i drink wine or tequila, i dont experience this.
Any informations regarding this matter?

[Soonerman]

The beer would contain gluten whereas the wine and tequila are most likely gluten free.  As mentioned above Celiacs disease could be the cause of all of your troubles; the other common allergy would be wheat.  If you have been tested for food allergies and found no allergies, it doesn't mean you don't have celiacs; in allergy testing (skin ***** test or blood test) they do not look for Celiacs.

Another option which was previously mentioned is yeast; not an allergy to yeast, but an overgrowth of candida (just google candida and have a look for yourself).  The candida love the yeast/sugars, like that found in beer and would allow them to thrive in your stomach.  Can cause a variety of problems.

[miasma]

Hi, I'm a 28 year old bloke and I've been drinking since I was 17 or 18. Two years ago I started sneezing. Initially I blamed the cat but after a while I noticed it coincided with when I drink beer or wine or even spirits. So I had to lay of the booze but every now and again I'd be tempted back to it.
Then I read that most allergies, or more accurately for me, intolerances, are the bodies way of saying enough. I thought well if i'm not drinking very often why when I have one drink do I start sneezing again. So I tried to cut out yeast through not eating bread, which I now realise I ate loads of. Breakfast lunch and sometimes dinner.

The best thing is now I can drink all alcohol without sneezing and I can still eat soda bread which tastes just as good as normal bread. So if you're suffering from beer sneezing try ditching yeasty bread for a bit and see what happens. Good luck, Dave

[pcat]

I too have the same problem with beer. I used to drink it all the time and had awful hangovers (no vomiting but I couldn't get myself out of bed and had a brutal headache). I switched to just drinking liquor and have not had a problem.

Last night I had a beer with dinner. I didn't feel too bad while drinking it (I usually found that I would get a headache after my first one but after a couple it went away) but this morning I have another brutal headache. My stomach feels okay, but my head hurts so much I can barely keep my eyes open. I also didn't sleep well because of it.

I know its not as severe as some of the above, but could this also be a gluten or yeast issue?

[swampcritter]

Comment from a home brewer. I'll tell you a little about beer and make some suggestions.

Beer is a pretty simple concoction -- yeast, malt, hops, and water. The traditional grain to use is barley, but its typical to find beers with corn, rice, and wheat used during the brewing process. They make the beer feel lighter to the palate, and brewers call these adjuncts.

As grain is a very common allergy, you might consider if you have problems with particular grains. Chemicals unique to each grain survive fermentation.

Hops are the flower of a vine, and each beer uses a blend of varieties depending on their acid content. Beers have differing hops contents, and you cannot always tell from the taste. This is because the acid in the hops mixes differently during the brewing process depending on water chemistry, grain content, and brewing technique.

So you might also consider -- are you allergic to other foods? Is your stomach sensitive to acid? Do you react more to beer with a higher hops content?

There are two basic types of yeast used in beer, ale yeast and lager yeast. Breweries use the same strain of yeast in all their batches for each beer type they brew. The genetics of the yeast, and thus the chemicals it produces during fermentation, are unique to particular breweries.

It could be that you are not sensitive to yeast per se but to one of the chemicals produced by the yeast from a particular brewery.

I am not a doctor, but if you get rashes on your stomach after drinking, this could be a sign of a liver problem. You might want to chat with your doc about that.

[alexmac708]

I have also been drinking beer pretty consistently for the last five years but then this summer I think I drank too many too fast and got sick. Ever since then I have been experiencing the same symptoms and if I have one I will even feel get a terrible hangover and feel sick, but if I drink any other hard liquor I don't get the same thing. I have drank many Canadian beers, Amstel, Coors and this all happens. Unfortunately the only beer this hasn't happened with is Colt 45, what the hell?

[tomdale]

Also, American beers contain adittives to enchance beers foaming action, mouth feel, ect. In Gremany its against the law to use any thing but the four basic ingredients, grain, hops, water and yeast.  Cheep american beer could be the problem, try some good home brew, or German beer.

[EuphoricX]

I would like to direct this comment to those who have 'allergy-like' symptoms the next day while drinking SOME types of beer, but no symptoms when drinking other types.  Try an experiment: Find out the filtration process of the beer that gave you the killer headache/nausea the next day.  I bet it is unfiltered, and therefore the beer would contain active yeast.  Then, try drinking a beer (such as an import or higher quality domestic) that IS filtered (i.e. no active yeast present).  If you don't feel the same after this night of drinking, then you probably have a yeast allergy.  Other than that, my only other suggestion is to drink a lot more water when you drink beer, especially if you are outside in the sun or drinking a lot of coffee, etc... dehydration can give you extreme hangover symptoms!

[atrepasso]

Omg finally someone with the same syptoms as me..I am 23 as well femaile..I have been drinking beer since I was 13, never had any problems, until I was 21 i started getting rashes red bumps on the palm of my hands and on top the next day after drinking, it doesn't seem to happen everytime, i try to just drink vodka and it doesn't happen. Its confusing, one time i only drank keystone and the next day I was fine, but other times when I drink bud light i get the rash the next day and a bad hang over!!

[funtimefranky]

Peroni beer brings me out in a red dry rash on my scalp, on the sides of my stomach, chest and I get little rashes & dry skin all over. It took me 3 months to conclude that Peroni was the cause. It a pity as its my favourite beer. I would love to know what it is about Peroni that set of this reaction.

[phil52]

Most people do not know that beer contains a lot of sodium (salt).  If you have borderline high blood pressure or are salt-sensitive, or you have a lot of fluid retention, it may be better to switch to moderate booze which does not contain salt.

[eve363]

i'm 18 and female and around 110 pounds and the past three or four night i've drank decent amounts of budweiser.  i usually drink bud light.  but this morning and yesterday in the morning i woke up with hives all over me.  this mornings is way worse than yesterday.  last night i thought it was my cat or my bed or something, so i slept in a different room, but it happened again.

i really hope i'm not allergic to bud, because its my beer of choice.

[bocceball9_9]

I have reactions to all alchol. At first I was diagnosed with allergies, to all grains, corn, wheat, barly, oats, and the other grains. I am allergic to so many thing I forget. But regardless, after a year I was dianosed with celiac disease, in addition to all my allergies. They work together to make my life very difficult.

[Leppy]

Sounds familiar indeed. I have come to the conclusion that I'm allergic to certain TYPES of beer. If I have even a single bottle of Sam Adams lager for example I feel terrible...even my heart rate increases. Later I will get eczema on my hands/fingers and terrible hangovers including ear ache. I can drink other beers such as Guinness without a problem (phew). Interestingly I also feel bad after eating white bread so it could be either the wheat itself or perhaps the yeast that causes the problems. Interesting to test diff combos and see how your body reacts (I'm a biologist by training so I got some satisfaction by playing around and narrowing it down). Good luck to all...listen to your body and it will reveal all

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
It is usually not the alcohol that produces the allergic reaction to the wine or beer. The other ingredients in the alcohol, such as yeast, sulfur dioxide, and additives are often the culprits. Reactions include hives, worsening of shortness of breath in an asthmatic, and skin rashes. Alcohol can cause a reddening of the skin due to dilating blood vessels, however this should not be mistaken as an allergy.
There are many ingredients within wine and beer that can cause allergic reactions.
True allergic reactions following beer ingestion are uncommon. Beer may contain a variety of ingredients, including barley, corn, wheat, and rye that may precipitate an allergic reaction.
you feel that you are experiencing an allergic reaction to wine or beer, find out all the ingredients that are present in the beverage. Then, visit an allergist/immunologist and undergo skin testing to the available ingredients in the beverage. If the skin testing is negative, it is likely that you are intolerant to wine and beer. If the skin testing is positive, you should avoid food and drink that contain that specific ingredient.
Working with an allergist/immunologist, the best qualified medical professional trained to manage the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of allergic diseases, will demonstrate improved outcomes and quality of life for people suffering from an allergic disease.
ref:http://www.aaaai.org/patients/advocate/2006/winter/wineandbeer.asp