Allergic reactions to alcohol

[Linda]

My ex-husband has always been a heavy drinker.  He is currently 39 years old.  In September, 1991 he awoke around 12:30 a.m. itching all over.  He went into the bathroom to get in the shower and in a few minutes I heard him calling me.  He had gone ashen, could hardly breathe and was convulsing.  The ambulance attendants almost lost him before getting him to the hospital E.R. (about 15 minutes from our house).  He received Benadryl and another drug, was kept in intensive care overnight and then moved to a room for another 24 hours for observation.  In the time since then, he has had 3 more incidents, however not nearly as severe as the first time.  The allergist he saw said it would be almost impossible, very time consuming and costly to try and track down an allergy unless he could see him when he was actually having the "attack".  

He has the Enephrine (sp?) pen which was prescribed by the Emergency Room physician, and is to keep this with him at all times.  

The only common factors we can find are:

1)  He has always been drinking
2)  Has always happened during Aug - November
3)  Symptoms always occur during late evening-early morning hours
    and has always woke him from sleep.

Could it possibly be alcohol related?  It has happened only 4 times in the past 8-9 years, the first time being the most severe.  The fourth time happened 10/27/99 at 1:30 a.m.  Where could I look for information?  Should he possibly try an allergist again?

[Ashlee Musselman]

I am 19 years old and my second drinking experience as a 17 year old was sort of similar.  I had drank a fair amount, especially for it only being my second time partying and before I went to bed I began to itch all over.  I had broken out into a sort of a rash and I went to take a shower to maybe make it feel better.  So as I was in the bathroom I began to black out and the last thing I remember is walking out of the bathroom door.  I was told that I flopped onto a bed and they could not get me to come to for a short period of time.  I also lost control of certain bodily functions. All of us being underage, I did not go to the hospital in fear of getting in trouble but it certainly was not an ordinary experience.  If you have any info on what happened to the man above and what was found, please let me know.  As a college student now I think I could find this very useful.

[Ashlee Musselman]

I am 19 years old and my second drinking experience as a 17 year old was sort of similar.  I had drank a fair amount, especially for it only being my second time partying and before I went to bed I began to itch all over.  I had broken out into a sort of a rash and I went to take a shower to maybe make it feel better.  So as I was in the bathroom I began to black out and the last thing I remember is walking out of the bathroom door.  I was told that I flopped onto a bed and they could not get me to come to for a short period of time.  I also lost control of certain bodily functions. All of us being underage, I did not go to the hospital in fear of getting in trouble but it certainly was not an ordinary experience.  If you have any info on what happened to the man above and what was found, please let me know.  As a college student now I think I could find this very useful.