Some of you may find this post boring or gross, but I’m writing it in the off-chance someone finds it informative or helpful. Also it might answer some questions for those who have witnessed me getting sick or not drinking over the years.
So those of you that know me, know that when I drink, I have a tendency to get sick in the form of throwing up (sorry to be crude or gross, but I truly don’t know what other term to use). And I’m not talking about the average hang over, “I drank too much” occasional type of sick. In fact I rarely ever have a hang over headache. I mean that 85%-90% of the time, within a few hours of drinking, I inevitably get sick and that’s the only symptom. In college, I chalked it up to the binge drinking lifestyle. I assumed I just always drank too much, and simply had to pay the price that night, and often on into the next day. More than once the morning after a night out, while driving to get something to eat so that I might feel better, I had to pull over on the side of the road mid trip to be sick.
In law school, when both my frequency and volume of alcohol intake decreased and the sickness continued, I started to think something was wrong and that I might have some sort of allergy. However, since I was in law school and basically on the verge of a nervous breakdown on the daily basis due to stress, I had bigger things to worry about than my stomach’s aversion to alcohol.
The cycle continued when I moved here to Atlanta, but the symptoms became so miserable (probably having to do with my getting older, sad as I am to admit it), that I have simply stopped drinking. I reserve it for special occasions like birthdays, bachelorettes, weddings, Halloween, and of course, St. Patrick’s day, knowing I will just have to pay the price later. Otherwise, I still go out and have fun, but let’s be honest, our culture is one that is centered around alcohol, and it simply isn’t as fun standing there being the sober sally while everyone else seems to be having a blast. Alcohol tends to make your nights out more fun, you more outgoing and social, and atmospheres like clubs more bearable. Speak out against the evils of alcohol all you like, but it’s true.
I’d like to note that these symptoms have been present from the time I started drinking during me freshman year of college at Florida State University. It doesn’t matter what type of alcohol I drink, though champagne seems to do the worst damage, followed by wine, beer, then liquor. Nor does it matter how much I drink. I’ve been sick while out for a friend’s birthday two hours after drinking one beer. SOMETIMES, eating will help (thus the other 10%-15% referenced above), but that’s no guarantee. I was also pretty sure it wasn’t and allergy to alcohol or gluten because I have never had any of the stereotypical allergic reactions (flushing, swelling, hives, etc.), and I have no issues when consuming the derivatives of various alcohols in other forms (wheat, potatoes, sugar, grapes, etc). I simply drink, then soon after everything in my stomach comes back up, sometimes lasting well into the next evening.
I finally decided to go to the doctor and figure out what is going on, and to make sure that those few times a year that I just suck it up and drink, I wasn’t doing any major harm. When I explained everything to my doctor she looked absolutely puzzled, which did not put me at ease. Turns out her puzzlement wasn’t due to her lack of knowledge on the issue, but that fact that the disorder I have tends to occur in people of Asian decent. I could have someone of asian decent somewhere in my family tree, but since I’m adopted, I really have no way of knowing. Based on simply looking at me however, my doctor was really intrigued (I don’t remotely resemble someone of Asian decent). Apparently there is a genetic mutation that prevents the body from making Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH), the enzyme necessary for the breakdown of alcohol in the body. The mutation causes what is called an Aldehyde Dehydrogenase deficiency, and I was lucky enough to inherit that genetic mutation. Basically, alcohol is a toxin, but a normal person breaks down the toxic makeup of alcohol using the enzyme ALDH. I on the other hand cannot break down the alcohol so my body does it’s best to expel the toxin by sending to back the way it came.
What I found interesting (and you will probably find boring) is that people of European decent tend to handle alcohol so much better than other cultures due to an evolutionary adaptation. Europeans began drinking alcohol in the form of beer or wine as their primary form of hydration centuries ago due to their unclean water supplies in their crowded cities, whereas other cultures had no need. Apparently Asian cultures tended to boil their water, which would have killed off bacteria, preventing the need to drink alcohol. I also found in my research that between 5%-10% of people of Nordic decent also have the mutation, as well as those of Native American decent (they had fresh water supplies here and thus no need for alcohol) so either one of those cultures in my family tree could also be how I inherited it. Disclaimer: I know nothing about genetics besides the punnett squares I learned in Biology class. I am simply reiterating what was told to me by two doctors and what I found in medical publications during my own research,
So to those of you celebrating St. Patrick’s in the traditional way today, have one for me since I won’t be touching the stuff myself! Have fun and please be safe!
