what is behind alcohol intolerance?

[notmyself]

hi, what exactly is the cause of it? and why do you think is so common in me/cfs? ..i never have problems drinking before gettin sick ( i used to be able to drink 10 + beers a night )..now if i drink two i puke almost instantenously,its like i go straight to hungover,it feels like poison..Some doctors even used it as part of diagnostic from what i read, but what exactly is happen in me/cfs that cause this dramatic response to alcohol,especially in someone who used to tolerate it so well..?!

 

[Valentijn]

..now if i drink two i puke almost instantenously,its like i go straight to hungover,it feels like poison..

Well, alcohol is literally a toxin. We might not be able to process it properly anymore.

 

[arewenearlythereyet]

It also depletes vitamin b12. So if you are low on this already the alcohol just makes it worse.

 

[Jessie 107]

Even the thought of drinking alcohol makes me feel ill.

 

[A.B.]

Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_metabolism maybe there is a problem converting the toxic alcohol metabolite acetaldehyde into the harmless acetic acid.

Symptoms of exposure to acetaldehyde include nausea, vomiting, and headache.

The enzyme responsible for the conversion of acetaldehyde is aldehyde dehydrogenase (NAD+).

This enzyme participates in 17 metabolic pathways: glycolysis / gluconeogenesis, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, bile acid biosynthesis, urea cycle and metabolism of amino groups, valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation, lysine degradation, histidine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, beta-alanine metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, 1,2-dichloroethane degradation, propanoate metabolism, 3-chloroacrylic acid degradation, butanoate metabolism, and limonene and pinene degradation.

Many of these have been reported to be abnormal in ME/CFS. Maybe there is less aldehyde dehydrogenase (expression or activity) due to the metabolic changes associated with the illness. Assuming this is true, acetaldehyde would reach higher concentrations in the body than one would expect from the amount of alcohol consumed.

 

[pattismith]

Alcohol is thought to disrupt the transportation and utilization of thiamine (in all cells and also Brain cells), this might not help!

 

[msf]

I think alcohol had a bad upbringing.

There is a video of KDM where he reports that certain gut bacteria were associated with certain symptoms, including alcohol intolerance.

 

[Jenny]

A glass or two of wine gives me immediate improvement. Dilates blood vessels?

 

[Wonko]

A glass or two of wine gives me immediate improvement. Dilates blood vessels?

That was my assumption.

 

[Mary]

@notmyself - I developed alcohol intolerance before I came down with full-blown ME/CFS (before I started crashing), although my health had been declining for several years. Some time after I started crashing, I saw my chiropractor who does muscle testing and he told me my liver was overloaded with toxins. I'd had a job when I was 19 where I had heavy exposure to acetone. Also my digestion in general was very screwed up at this time, I had trouble eating anything before noon, and felt fluish an awful. I did a liver detox for about a month, it was rough, I felt like crap the entire month, but afterwards my digestion was very much improved, and I was able to have a couple of glasses of wine again without feeling sick for 2 or 3 days. I also had to start taking betaine HCL and added in milk thistle for liver support.

I can drink moderately now with no problem. If you were drinking 10 beers a night, that's a LOT - and your liver might be compromised from that.

 

[rebar]

I've been both, years ago it helped some symptoms, no longer I'm completely intolerant. A small sip of wine has me feeling very ill within 5 minutes. I believe it will be linked to the gut biome, and changes there.