Alcohol Intolerance poll. Please do the poll even if your answer is no.

Quite possibly. Once we have thought of all the reasons it might be wrong and not found too many!

 

What do you think of liver-related, as mariovitali was saying:

 

I would be led more in that direction if the problem was chiefly an increased hangover. Failure to metabolise alcohol might aggravate things but I don't see it being the primary cause of the unpleasant reaction.

 

I’m willing to attempt graded alcohol therapy. For science. I’d see if I could manage a glass of something.

 

it doesn't sound as if that would start in as little as 20 minutes?

 

DecodeME had a question on how well alcohol is tolerated. Did anybody have a look at what the results were and whether there was a difference in the ratio according to sex or whether there were any interesting relationships relating to alcohol tolerance?

 

I like this idea of a “hypothalamus mediated 'negative' signal” and “that human beings normally have two opposing hypothalamic responses to alcohol”. Partially because so much in our bodies seems to be a constantly changing precariously managed balance between different, often opposing factors. But also because it sits well with my comment about my experience being “perhaps like all the bad bits of drinking without any of the good bits?”

If there was something like this I do wonder how it would (1) be able to be studied and measured and (2) sit with all the theories we’ve had in the past over motivational factors and effort preference?

 

Maybe we just have to find a pharmacological agent that blocks the negative signal specifically and show that it makes people suddenly feel fine, like the dopamine analogs do for Parkinson's or pyridostigmine for myasthenia. I doubt it would be that easy but even if there was a clear effect with something it might be possible to pin down a pathway.

I think this may be an oversimplified model but sometimes things are simpler than you think.

 

(Fezolinetant) is a hormone-free medication

It's a neurokinin 3 (NK3) receptor antagonist and
doesn't contain estrogen."

Just posting this because hot flushes originate in the hyposalamus and the chemicals involveda are known.

I always felt poisoned with hot flushes.

 

@obeat The hot flushes I experienced at menopause were really severe, it was more a sudden burn up. It got quite scary for me for a time. It was different though from the ME poisoned feeling.

It sounds like the poisoned feeling could be due to a neuro-toxin though?

Aside from that I remember one particular day in my very severe years where I questioned whether I had MS because the feeling of weakness that I had in my legs did not feel like weakness in the muscle but strange nerve weakness or some kind of nerve input.

 

If Sophia had a high BMI then it's not surprising that she had a fatty liver as being overweight is apparently an almost given that you will have a fatty liver as fat stores in the liver first and then elsewhere in the body.

 

I didn't have heat intolerance until menopause. Now it is my unwanted friend who won't go away.

 

Ever since menopause I get the facial flushing and that is from just one drink.

 

It may have been the case for Sophia, but the idea of people with ME having a fatty liver is something I remember coming across for multiple patients and it was not stated that they were overweight. I myself am very slim, so if my weird liver problems are due to having a fatty one, it won't be because of being overweight. So I wonder what else might be going on in there...

 

My guess would be that the side effects are part of a general environmental intolerance problem that could be mediated by the hypothalamus (the most likely place to mediate it). I am not sure about evidence for needing lower doses or slower titration. That is a popular idea amongst private 'ME' specialists but I have not seen any scientific data on it.

 

One example that I found interesting was zopiclone. Used it occasionally years ago and found it worked well. Then had no need for many years. Since ME tried it again and had all sorts of problems, notably a significant rebound effect.
Given how it works I have often wondered how this fits in with odd things happening with neurotransmitters.

I wonder if there are just certain medications which interact with things mediated by the hypothalamus which are particularly problematic for people?