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Asian Flush / Asian Blush / Asian Glow Community
Discussion and anecdotes about the Asian Flush/Flush/Glow/Red Face (turning red when drinking alcohol), including using H2 blockers (e.g. Tagamet, Pepsid, Zantac) and other products to combat its effects. Hosted by Eric Cheng on http://echeng.com
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Jan 11, 2005: On December 3, 2003, I posted
a message in my web journal about the Asian Blush, which quickly resulted in over 100 very-informative comments. This forum is intended to be an information source for those of us looking for information about why we turn red when we drink alcohol.
April 25, 2006: For now, guests may post new messages. We've gotten some spam, so you now must be registered to post.
NOTE: Please do NOT treat information posted here as medical advice. However, once you've read these forums you'll probably want to get ahold of some Pepcid AC. Please support these forums and
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redhead wrote:i think we should form a group and maybe have eric cheng pool money for us and we can donate it to acetaldehyde research (which is CANCEROUS) by the way, so that we all, and billions of people in the future, can do without this very inconvenient problem.
i think we are all assuming the same thing- that someone else will get it together and come up with a cure. but until that someone knows that there are people who are willing to help and support him/her they are going to research topics that seem the most relevant or useful. ive read a lot of post that are like 'hey, were asians!! asians are smart! we should have a cure by now!!'. this is not only stereotyping asians, it also shows how passive our attitude is toward our situation. most of us have lives but i think spending a little time on curing this is worth it!
n-acetylcysteine is the answer, i'm convinced of it and the only question for me is dosage.
Ok, so I gave this a shot last night. This is basically what I did, started drinking around 8 PM and took 1 tablet of 600mg NAC sustain with 1 capsule of 1g vitamin c with my first drink. Took a second NAC sustain at 9:30 pm along with 2 more 1g vitamin c, then took a third NAC sustain at midnight along with a fourth vitamin C then a fifth vitamin C later around 2 AM. In all, I had 3 beers, 3 mixed drinks and 1 shot along with 1.8g NAC sustain and 5g vitamin C spread throughout about 5 hours of drinking. In the past, I got the full asian glow effect for about 2 hours then it would wear off for the rest of the night and I'd be fine. I'd say the redness from the initial glow was reduced about 50% (it was still clearly visible though) and maybe it was a placebo effect, but I *felt* like I was detoxing the alcohol a lot quicker. I felt completely sober by 3 AM (about 2 hours after I stopped drinking).
I think taking the pills in intervals is a lot more effective than taking it all at once because it keeps the dosage in your system sustained at a high level the entire night. I just carried them in a ziplock bag in my pocket. One of my friends thought I was popping E (lol). I will try it again next time I go drinking but I will probably take 2 NAC sustain initially instead of just 1 to see if it has a greater effect on the initial glow period. The other reason to stagger vitamin C intake is so that it doesn't cause diarrhea.
P.S. If you take pepcid with it, it'll probably reduce redness altogether, but I don't like mixing drugs with alcohol so I don't do it.
I've done some research on the web on this and I like the sound of it. I will try it sometime in the next month. What I do right now is just pregame 1-2 hours before I go out then the glow is gone by the time I'm out partying. I've tried the Pepcid and it mostly works but it's treating the symptoms and not the underlying cause. NAC sounds like it treats the underlying cause by detoxing acetaldehyde directly. Not only does it do that but it's also supposed to be a very powerful antioxidant and healthy in many other ways so it's like a win-win situation. I'm not going to go crazy and take 6-7 tablets like some of you guys. I'm just going to take 1 or 2 sustain 600mg tablets with 1500 mg of Vitamin C and see how that works for me.
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