Allergic to Hops?

I am a 24 year old Caucasian female, I love beer and have been drinking it since i was like 20. In the past 6 months or so, every time I would drink beer, the next morning I would be miserable, not even hungover, it felt like I had a really bad cold. Completely stuffed up nose, swollen sinuses, itchy throat. Recently I did a little experiment where I drank beers all night and woke up with the weird stuffy feeling. Then the next night I went out and drank Tequila margarita's all night, about 7, and woke up feeling fine. I still occasionally drink beer, but now, I can't even drink 1 beer before I feel awful. One time I had such a bad reaction that when I woke up around 9 AM, my hands were incredibly tingly, that feeling lasted til about 5 PM. As soon as I drink beer now, I instantly feel my face swell, mostly around my sinus area, I get all stuffy in my nose and now recently my eyes get itchy, bloodshot and swollen. I drank a few Mike's hard Lemonade's and still felt a little stuffy. And my symptoms start right away, not the next morning now, within minutes of drinking beer I feel flushed, hot, stuffy, just totally miserable. I'm sure its the hops in beer, as Sam Adams (which is known for their massive amount of hops) is the worst for me, half of one of those and I'm in pain.. Am I allergic to hops? I can't think of anything else it could be.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

It is usually not the alcohol that produces the allergic reaction to the wine or beer. The other ingredients in the alcohol, such as yeast, sulfur dioxide, and additives are often the culprits. Beer may contain a variety of ingredients, including barley, corn, wheat, and rye that may precipitate an allergic reaction.

Moreover, women are more affected by any alcohol and can become sick after 1-2 drinks.This is because women break down alcohol more slowly than men because there is a smaller amount of alcohol metabolizing enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase) in the stomach of women.

I feel that it is important to find out the ingredient in beer to which you might be allergic.For that pls consult an allergy specialist and get skin ***** tests and blood tests for allergy done. If the skin testing is negative, it is likely that you are intolerant to beer. If the skin testing is positive, you should avoid food and drink that contain that specific ingredient.

Take care and pls do keep us posted if you have any additional queries.

[sophia497]

I was quite the social butterfly and party girl back in my days. I havent had a beer since 1986. I realized after drinking beer, I would get such a headache, it felt like my skull would explode. Also I would get deathly ill, very unpleasant. The last bout in 1986 did it for me. No more beer at all. Luckily this did the trick. These days I dont really drink at all. It just wasnt worth it, if it doesnt feel good, dont do it! I think it was probably the hops. You can get hangovers of course from other drinks, but nothing close to being allergic to hops. Thank God I am alive, because frankly you do feel like your going to die at the time. I have to say I gave up smoking cigarettes too in 1986. Nothing worse than a reformed smoker is there? ;-)  When I see youngens smoking now I just want to swift kick them in the butt, how bad it looks, smells and how the heck do you afford them these days, YIKES! I do have to admit, I remember how good an ice cold beer tasted, (minus the bottoms) but then quickly remembered the pain. Plenty of other drinks to choose from. Just wanted to share to tell you, your not crazy, there is something to it, the heck with trying out more pain, stay away from beer and see if you get rid of those episodes. Good luck!