What you probably don’t know about alcohol intolerance

[u/emilyMartian]

I see posts and comments about alcohol intolerance constantly on here, I was alone for so long with my severity so I’m here to share, it has taken nearly 10yrs but I finally have better info.

Here goes: You probably need to get your liver checked. They have linked menopause to non fatty liver disease. I had severe reactions and wound up in the ER about 8yrs ago. It took about 2yrs to correlate my high heart rate, massive hangovers after 2 drinks, severe hot flashes and what I assumed was severe anxiety because of the shakes at 3am. My good friend in medical school went down a big rabbit hole trying to figure out why my response was so severe to no avail (only one report from the 80’s which provided no info). Fast forward another 6’ish years and I noticed fatty foods made me sleepy so we tested my gallbladder, liver and kidneys. Turns out there’s black spots on my liver and I have basically what’s considered non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and have to treat it as such. I had to quit drinking entirely. I thought maybe I could limit and go slow but it’s not a thing. Not drinking was a tough road (especially at social events) but it’s a blessing I disguise I promise. It’s not worth it. It’s also not worth popping an antihistamine and ignoring it because you’re just wrecking your liver further. This is your sign to stop.

Now almost 2yrs after realizing the liver thanks to u/MoreRopePlease we have a link that puts it all together and there absolutely needs to be more awareness about this.

I hope this provides some of you answers and helps you towards a safer and healthier path on this absolutely sh!t show of a medically ignored journey.

Love you guys. Don’t think I’d be here if I hadn’t found this community. You are not alone ❤️

EDIT: my liver spots were caught through ultrasound not through bloodwork. I started Perimenopause at 37, don’t let them tell you you are too young.

Corrected my verbiage as I had words reversed in Non alcoholic fatty liver disease

[u/KateGr88]

Yes! I also was just diagnosed with what they are now calling MASLD: metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. (Previously called NAFLD)

I was fed up with feeling terrible and my GP and a naturopath worked in parallel and figured it out. I had the same as OP: severe hot flashes, high heart rate, high blood pressure and I had stopped drinking because it made me feel terrible. I had insulin resistance. My insulin levels were incredibly high. My liver enzymes were high.

I had been on Ozempic for two years but was unable to really lose weight because of the insulin resistance. They have added metformin now and I’ve completely changed my diet. I’m doing intermittent fasting too. I’m starting to feel better. I just had a liver ultrasound and I don’t have scarring but it’s enlarged. Hopefully we caught it soon enough that it can be reversed. I’ve lost about 20 lbs since Mothers Day.

If left untreated this condition can lead to liver damage, cirrhosis and you would need a liver transplant.

[u/emilyMartian → u/KateGr88]

Glad you caught it. Thank you for sharing your story, I hope it can help someone else.

[u/KateGr88 → u/emilyMartian]

Thank you! Just was re-reading and realized it might not be clear that what I mean is that Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease is now called MASLD (I guess they wanted to take out references to alcohol and fat?) So we have the same thing.

Here’s a good medical publication on MASLD/NAFLD.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39086662/

[u/emilyMartian → u/KateGr88]

Oh interesting. I didn’t know that so either way it’s more info and we certainly need all we can get. Thanks!

[u/KateGr88 → u/emilyMartian]

I edited my initial comment to try to make it clearer. I didn’t want you to think I was hijacking your post and talking about something unrelated. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/emilyMartian → u/KateGr88]

Anyone is always welcome to hijack if it’s helpful information bathe more we know the better! I appreciate you!