Can alcohol make your face flushed or neck burn or feel strange?

A flushed face is common, this is the first time I’ve heard of neck pain but I wouldn’t consider it cause for alarm as long as it dissipates quickly. It may also mean you have allergies (or sensitivities) to some contents, my mother for example gets beet red when she drinks even a sip of red wine.

Yes, definitely. Wine almost always makes me flush if I haven’t eaten enough or am otherwise getting, ahem, more alcohol than is perhaps wise.

@dynamicduo my Mom was the same way. One glass of wine and her cheeks were rosy.

What about beer? I am not going to say that I felt pain but my entire neck felt strange. ENough to make me most on here lol

*post

Yeah, that happens to me sometimes too.

It’s likely a common item between the two that causes your symptom. Does it occur when you consume hard liquor?

No it does not.

I couldn’t help myself and I googled! Cancer keeps popping up! I hate the internet.

This happens a lot to people with lower alcohol tolerances, especially people with east Asian heritage. Here is some info, and the urban dictionary page for Asian flush.

I am not Asian though. And this has never happened to me before.

I’m not remotely Asian—don’t worry, it happens to me too.

When you say that your neck burns, you mean the the external skin on your neck feels warm or flush? I just want to clarify that it’s a dermatological phenomena and not a throat issue.

I am sensitive to sulfites, which are mostly in red wines, but also in some white wines, beers and other alcoholic beverages and mixes. To be honest, I still need to research this more, myself. When I drink them, I get flushed and also get a bit itchy in spots, like along the folds of my neck and elbows.

It is not really my throat it is my neck if that makes any sense. The sides of my neck mostly inside.

you say that it’s NOT you throat, but that it is INSIDE the sides of your neck? I am confused…

Yes. Normal. Drink on.

Do you smoke? There might also be some kind of damage to your throat that makes it feel alcohol strangely…. If it is your skin warming, refer to the wikipedia page I linked. If it’s otherwise, that’s something different.

lol its my neck. when i think of throat I think of my esophagus. I do not smoke

What wikipedia link?

@missjena: In my first quip, linked as “Here”.

Wine, especially red, can produce various allergic symptoms (sulfites and tannin). I lived with a French family for a while. They had a famous little vineyard, and we drank fancy red wines. I got a violent headache regularly until I switched to white.

My face turns soo red when I drink. But, then it gets really pale. Totally normal.

How did your neck feel though?

well, what do you mean by neck, your throat or the outside?

outside

I dont know where just not my throat. It is my entire neck…..

MissJena, when you blush does it spread down your neck? When I blush because I’m embarrassed, it is usually my entire face, my neck, and the very top of my chest. I blush HARD when I blush. Your neck is totally within the normal blush zone.

I compleatly understand! its a numb weird sort of feeling and its not inside or outside… its just the neck in general… I get it too, i think its normal

You might have experienced what is known as Oriental flushing reflex (sometimes called Oriental flushing reaction), which causes symptoms such as facial flushing, drowsiness, increased heart rate, and nausea. It is called Oriental because it occurs most often among Asians or those of Asian descent.

The main genetic cause of the Oriental flushing reflex is a variant of the ALDH2 gene (ALDH2*2), which reduces the body’s production of an ALDH2 enzyme. This adversely affects the metabolism of alcohol which leads to the symptoms.