OCD wrote:

I've come up with a theory that the reason we think it gets us more drunk when taking famotidine is that we are so impressed with the fact that we can drink more and not go red, we actually drink faster which we are not used to causing us to feel more drunk?

My theory anyway

its actually because the enzyme ADH is inhibited (ie doesnt work aswell and therefore cant break down the ethanol) therefore there is a build up of ethanol which causes the 'drunkness'. In this way H2 blockers dont help the cause of flushing (the acetaldehyde/ethanal) but slow down the rate at which it is made and gives our less efficient enzymes more time to break the stuff down to acetic acid. :)

Ethanol is the substance that makes you drunk. if one were to use an inhibitor such as Formepizole or 4-Methylpyrazole hydrochloride to inhibit the enzyme activity of ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase)  would you not get drunk really fast but reduce the whole affect of asian flush? That is the basic concept behind using H-2 blockers as they inhbit the action of ADH. However Im unsure as to whether such drugs are available on the high street and what side affects they may have.

btw Formepizole and 4-Methylpyrazole hydrochloride are inhibitors used to inhbit ADH when someone has methanol poisoning. (methanol and ethanol are broken down by the same enzyme ADH thats why ethanol used to be used as a treatment for methanol poisoning.) sorry this might be gobbledy gook for some but any Medic students out there want to shed some light?