For example, if wine makes you sneeze, try drinking vodka or gin instead. Likewise, if beer makes you sneeze, try drinking vodka or gin instead. And if cocktails make you sneeze, try making your own with fresh fruit juices instead of pre-made mixes.

What Does it Mean If I Have Nasal Congestion After Drinking Alcohol?

You can’t control when a sneeze happens, and you should never try to hold one in. Popular claims to having a wine allergy confound doctors. Your Sellersville ENT specialist can give you more information on alcohol allergies and tips for safe consumption. To get to the bottom of what’s causing you to sneeze, keep track of when and what you eat to see if you can find any patterns. They can help you come up with a plan to manage your sneezing.

How common is alcohol allergy?

In very rare cases, reactions to alcohol may be a sign of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The histamine causes the blood cells in the nasal region to dilate, resulting in mucus, nasal congestion, sneezing, and a runny nose. However, the severity of these symptoms may vary from person to person. Alcohol intolerance is most often due to genetic conditions and sensitivity to histamine and sulfites in alcoholic beverages. But not many people realize that there are many ingredients, additives, and preservatives within alcoholic beverages that can cause negative side effects.

How to Test for an Alcohol Allergy

Unfortunately, nothing can prevent reactions to alcohol or ingredients in alcoholic beverages. To avoid a reaction, avoid alcohol or the particular substance that causes your reaction. Alcohol intolerance can cause immediate, uncomfortable reactions after you drink alcohol. The most common can alcohol make you sneeze signs and symptoms are stuffy nose and skin flushing. Problems in the immune system cause an alcohol allergy to develop, while genetic problems in the digestive system tend to cause alcohol intolerance. These problems make it difficult for the body to break down alcohol properly.

• Red wine tends to have higher levels of histamine than white wine or beer.
• If beer seems to be the issue, it’s probably the yeast, says Dr. Glatter.
• The viruses spread through respiratory droplets or aerosols released through talking, sneezing or coughing.
• The third type of headache caused by alcohol is a “Delayed Alcohol-Induced Headache” (“DAIH”).

More severe symptoms of a beer allergy include shortness of breath, swelling of the throat or tongue, and loss of consciousness. If you’ve ever experienced swelling of the tongue or throat or trouble breathing after drinking beer, you should stop drinking beer until you’ve seen a doctor. It means you have to take great care in reading labels and choosing foods and drinks. What’s more, research shows that some people have a gene variant (ALDH2) that prevents the body from producing aldehyde dehydrogenase, an enzyme that helps break down alcohol.

Sulfites intolerance

Whether you only have the occasional glass of wine at dinner or frequently enjoy late nights out, you’re sure to learn valuable tips to nip post-drinking nasal congestion in the bud. An allergic reaction to food usually happens within a couple of hours. A food allergy is your immune system’s response to a food protein that the body sees as harmful. Allergic reactions that involve hives, wheezing, and chest pain can occur almost immediately. They should be considered severe and potentially life-threatening. If you experience these symptoms, you should seek immediate medical attention.

Watch that glass of red wine or hoppy beer if you have food allergies. Another reason why alcohol can cause wheezing is that it not only contains histamines but also stimulates the body to release excess histamines, causing an inflammatory response. When this inflammation occurs in the airway, patients can experience wheezing and shortness of breath. First, red wine can cause headaches because it contains high levels of compounds called tannins, which inhibit the enzymes that protect the brain from substances that can trigger migraines. When this blood-brain barrier isn’t protected as it should be, the brain is more susceptible to headache-inducing triggers. If drinking from a glass makes you sneeze, try drinking through a straw instead.

What are the symptoms of a beer allergy?