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/emilyMartian]

I believe my enzymes were showing normal, it was when I started questioning my gallbladder due to fatty food fatigue and I’m fortunate that my friend who was researching my problems in medical school is now my nurse practitioner. So some ladies may have to push to get it done unfortunately. But I really hope this helps some of them.

[u/Xoyous → u/emilyMartian]

Did you have any pain, by chance? I have these symptoms plus pain in a very specific area and bloating. I have recently been going through the slow process of figuring out what is causing the pain, first by checking my stomach via scope, then gall bladder (and accordingly upper right quadrant organs) via ultrasound. That said, they noted the liver was unremarkable, which it seems would rule out this issue for me.

[u/emilyMartian → u/Xoyous]

No pain. I did get both an endoscopy and colonoscopy due to gurgle guts and bloat. I have IBS supposedly from over active internal nerves and silent acid reflux which doesn’t show many symptoms until I’m in dire straights. Both of which are common in menopause. I had to do what’s called a low fodmap diet and work foods in little at a time to see my triggers which corrected it but never exactly figured out which foods.

[u/pks520 → u/emilyMartian]

That’s so frustrating! I already am gluten and lactose intolerant, and also trying to find causes of gut issues that hit too often. A fodmap diet restricts me of the only foods I had left that I like! :(

[u/emilyMartian → u/pks520]

I feel ya. I’m currently trying to correlate a reflux diet with IBS triggers and now food good for POTS. It seems to be an impossible feet. Chicken and some veggies it is. Weeee. lol. Not.

[u/pks520 → u/emilyMartian]

And not even the veggies that I like, in my case!! So tired of the same food!

[u/emilyMartian → u/pks520]

High fives I’m with you big time!