After reading as much of this forum as I could, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has tried to be helpful to others with advice. I also wanted to say that I think the post by c0m1c a few months ago shows what a jackass he is. If you don't think it's a problem then cool, you have nothing to say.
I haven't tried Pepcid, which seems like the only reasonable solution. But I wanted to bring up the problem of cancer that keeps getting mentioned: I think if we're all gonna agree that this is the best (i.e. easiest, most effective) solution, then maybe we should give it some serious thought? I find it scary to be using a drug that specifically says not to ingest it with alcohol every time before drinking. And cancer isn't something you drop dead of right after drinking. It takes years of exposure to carcinogens and it may only increase risk of colon, liver and oral cancer, so we may not know for a while. If people are going to use famotidine regularly with alcohol, I think we should at least consider the risks.
These are my thoughts on cancer:
Acetaldehyde (what causes blushing, etc., metabolized from alcohol) is definitely thought to be a carcinogen. It's sold to chemists with that precaution on it. I searched clinical studies for anything useful and I found one study (Cancer Letters, 2006, June 4). It says there is a definite link between throat cancer and lack of the ALDH2 gene (what causes blushing) in alcoholics. It says this "enhances the link between acetaldehyde exposure and cancer". That is some scary shit and gives me serious pause.I think there's a possibility that Pepcid will make things worse . . . it's supposed to make you more drunk, so it could also be increasing blood level acetaldehyde, therefore increase your risk of cancer.
Anyway, I'm gonna try it myself at some point, but I just don't think it's a permanent solution, you know? Doing most things a few times probably won't do anything, but once a week who knows? People should be careful and maybe someone should at least ask a doctor if we're recommending this to hundreds of people. At the very least, I wouldn't be taking more than the recommended dose and I definitely wouldn't be mixing Pepcid with other stuff.
People that lack the ALDH2(like us) have a greater chance of getting throat cancer since we don't have this gene to break down the alcohol, more of the alcohol passes our throat and into our blood. The pepcid works to stop the redness, but it doesn't protect against the alcohol build-up...and hence the greater risk of cancer. So plz try to drink moderately or lightly if u can...(I know it sucks!).