Why Do I Sneeze When I Drink Alcohol?

Generally, clear spirits like vodka, gin, and tequila have lower levels of histamines compared to aged alcohols like red wine or whiskey. Opting for clear spirits and avoiding aged beverages can reduce the risk of histamine-related allergic reactions. Yes, it is possible to develop alcohol intolerance later in life. This can occur due to changes in enzyme production, such as reduced levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase, or due to other health conditions like liver disease or medication side effects. Intolerance is different from an allergy and usually involves symptoms like flushing, nausea, or headache. If you have a true alcohol allergy, the only way to avoid symptoms is to avoid alcohol entirely.

• Two common symptoms are facial flushing, in which the skin on the face quickly turns red, and nasal congestion.
• Red wine is fermented with the grape skin still on, white wine is not.
• Our telemedicine platform makes it easy to consult with allergy specialists from the comfort of your home.
• But in rare cases, they become painful after alcohol consumption.
• During a skin prick test, your doctor will use a lancet to prick or scratch your skin.

Why Do I Sneeze When I Drink Alcohol?

The second reason why alcohol can cause sneezing and congestion is that wine, beer, and spirits contain histamine, a compound that elicits an allergic response. Of all alcoholic beverages, red wines usually have the highest histamine content. Studies of mucociliary function in animals drinking alcohol have provided important information about both the impact and the mechanism of alcohol-impaired airway clearance in vivo. Rats fed alcohol for six weeks demonstrated slowed cilia beating and desensitization of airway PKA activity (Wyatt et al., 2004).

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Treatment with a steroid nasal spray is usually tried first (see below). An antihistamine may sometimes be used if your symptoms are not controlled; cetirizine and loratadine are the two antihistamines that have the most evidence for safety in pregnancy, and are the preferred choices. Discuss with your doctor or pharmacist if you are pregnant or breast-feeding and have rhinitis. However, treatment with a nasal spray or tablets (see below) often works so well that you may not have much motivation or need to avoid the cause of the allergy.

What is vasomotor rhinitis?

This variance could not be explained by other obvious factors such as cigarette smoking. They found no differences in CBF among the subjects related to alcohol intake. In contrast to these few clinical studies, a larger body of literature indicates both sneezing after drinking alcohol short and long term effects of alcohol on the mucociliary apparatus. A third route of alcohol exposure, unique to the lung, is by inhalation. Little is known about the effect of inhaled alcohol on the airways.

That runny or stuffy nose you get if you’re intolerant to alcohol may feel and seem like allergies, but it’s not. As we now know, alcohol intolerance is an issue with metabolizing alcohol — not an overzealous immune system. What’s more concerning, however, is that some medications can lead to uncomfortable (even dangerous) side effects when combined with alcohol. In addition, various ingredients found in alcoholic beverages have the potential to trigger an allergic reaction in some people.

By virtue of their proximal location in lung airflow distribution, the conducting airways are the first interface of the lung with the outside environment. Despite this front line position, the airways below the vocal cords are normally sterile because of highly effective defense mechanisms (Laurenzi et al., 1961). It is not surprising, however, that lung airways are at great risk for injury and infection from the outside environment. One well recognized risk factor for developing lung infections is heavy alcohol intake. On top of those reasons, the individual may have an alcohol intolerance.

Ok, so now that we’ve answered the question – why does my nose get stuffy when I drink? – it’s time to determine whether this is really a cause for concern or not. This is especially true if you suffer the occasional 2-day hangover. But even with our guide on how to get rid of a hangover, you may want to dig deeper beyond the simple remedies and solutions to determine whether there is a real cause for concern here. Alcohol-induced hives can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the severity of the reaction and the individual’s response.

• It’s brief and over quickly, but it’s just so weird that it happens.
• For instance, beer and wine contain high levels of histamine, which can also contribute to a runny nose or nasal congestion.
• One well recognized risk factor for developing lung infections is heavy alcohol intake.
• Have you ever gotten a stuffy nose after a glass of red wine?
• Alcohol intolerance is caused by a genetic condition in which the body can’t break down alcohol efficiently.

How can you treat alcohol allergy?

The authors suggested that neurogenic airway inflammation may be an important mechanism by which alcohol causes asthma, which might be treatable with inhaled steroids (Antonicelli et al., 2006b). There is even an anecdotal report that suggests small amounts of alcohol present in some inhaled corticosteroid preparations can act as a trigger for asthma for certain individuals (Antonicelli et al., 2006a). In 1963 Herxheimer measured lung vital capacity (VC) in normal subjects and asthmatics following the ingestion of brandy, vodka or pure ethanol (Herxheimer and Stresemann, 1963). Alcohol ingestion did not change VC in normal subjects but increased VC between 6–38% in most of the asthmatics and was accompanied by subjective improvement in their asthma symptoms. The VC improvement began about 10 minutes after alcohol ingestion, peaked by 30 minutes and returned to baseline by two hours.

How To Prevent Nasal Congestion After Drinking Alcohol

• Even if people don’t consume enough alcohol to cause a hangover, they can still get a headache from drinking.
• Many people report that red wine causes the most noticeable nasal congestion, even in those without an alcohol allergy or alcohol intolerance.
• If you experience a mild allergic reaction, over-the-counter oral antihistamines may be enough to treat it.

Researchers estimate that 8% of the world’s population has a defective ALDH2 gene. People of Korean, Japanese, or Chinese descent are more prone to this genetic defect than people of other ethnicities. Surgery may be an option if the medications aren’t helping or if another condition is intensifying the problem, like a deviated septum or nasal polyps. If you have nasal inflammation and related symptoms resulting from an unknown cause, you might receive this diagnosis.

Persistent non-allergic rhinitis

In addition, some people find that the alcohol in these drinks irritates their nose, leading to sneezing. Like wine, beer also contains histamines, which can trigger sneezing. In addition, beer is often brewed with hops, comprising a compound called lupulin. But alcohol tolerance is more complicated than just being “a lightweight” or not. In fact, alcohol intolerance is a metabolic disorder that doesn’t have anything to do with how many drinks you can down before your beer goggles switch on. Your body holds on to the nutritive parts of what you eat and drink, but, otherwise, what goes in must also come out.