Asthma triggers

[Doddster]

Can drinking alcohol make your asthma worse?  It seems that if I have an alcoholic drink - wine mainly - it makes me cough and short of breath.

[caregiver222]

Wine and beer are the main problems and they can definitely precipate an asthmatic attack. It is due to the chemicals in the processing, particuliarly sulfates. It isn't the alcohol.

[Sunny602]

That is good to know risp...I too am just a social drinker, never really paid attention as to whether drinking had anything to do with my asthma flare ups. I will have to keep an eye on that next time I indulge...Thanks! Sunny :)

[risp]

I am new to this website, so I hope you still check this. YES, wine can definitely cause an asthma attack in a quick second!!!!!! In fact, that's about how I found out I had asthma. I did not develop asthma until I was 25. I am now 36 and it seems to get worse. But I have found that any drinking alcohol increases my attacks. Wine, beer, and others have a lot of preservatives in them. I was told this is what is problaby causing such extreme attacks. I never was a wine drinker, but went on the atkins diet years back...Red wine was allowed, so I drank one glass and started wheezing very heavily. Didn't know it was the wine, until a few years later and tried it again. I was out one night on a date. We were sitting at the bar, after 2 glasses, it got so bad I was rushed to the emergency room. I'm still not sure what it is about wine, as I just choose to stay away from it, but over the years I have found that almost all alcoholic beverages cause me to go into attack. I hope this information was not too bad for you, but may save your life or someone else's. Best wishes to you. I only drink socially and very little, but I always take precautions before I do.

[Oddbod]

I really hope wine doesn't make it worse. I have just been told I may have asthma and been given a "preventer". I did hint to the doctor that I thought I may just have allergies and could red wine be the problem. Thankfully he laughed. Although, I did read in the waiting room that red wine can cause sinus problems.
Over the festive period I noticed that after consuming larger amounts of wine I did feel worse. It could also be dehydration though.

[miscdesign]

I don 't know if it has anything to do with Asthma, but maybe you are allergic to the alcohol - just a thought.