H2 Blockers (Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac, Axid) (Page 32 of 52)

Hi my problem is not just that I go bright red, but that I have a horrible headache and suffer from extreme drowsiness nearly immediately.  After half a drink.  I fall asleep wherever I happen to be, at a bar, on a sofa in a club, standing up...My tolerance is so low that I also throw up if I have about 2 glasses of wine (if I manage to stay awake long enough to consume them).  I also get really cold after a few drinks and start shivering.

Does anyone suffer from these symptoms too?  And does anyone know if pepcid or other H2 blockers work for these symptoms too? I don't even care about being red as a beetroot, I just want to neutralise the sleepiness/puking/shivering so that every once in a while I can go and get as drunk as my friends without passing out.

Hey Sweetpea,

I thought that you'd be able to tell us if Pepcid helps with the tiredness/pukey-ness cos you've been taking the pills??

A friend who doesn't suffer from the Blush but does get the pukey-ness, said that she takes Gaviscon before drinking - anyone else tried this?

Hrrm, since the thread has been dying down. Please share your recent experiences with the pepcid and drinking...... good or bad.

Try to be specific. You know, how many you took, how many MG they were, if you ate, how much you drank, etc etc.

ok...............

hi, im a 'non-asian' sufferer. its only recently that ive started getting a pretty severe 'flush' as many describe, all over my face. Needless to say im paled skinned, so its VERY noticeable and looks like a massive blotchy rash.

its v.unpredicatable, but i get it worst when i drink the day after drinking, or only leave two/three days before drinking again.

ive tried pepcid. started on 20mg, which did v.little. up't it too 40mg, with mixed results.

-on one occassion it left me without any flush whatsover (BONUS!)-  but another time it was REALLY bad, even tho i hadent had a drink for nearly 2 weeks.

its made me think i may have something slightly different to asian flush, as i only get the 'flush' symptom, plus it varies with severity.

- SO i wouldnt let this put you off pepcid, seems like it does the trick for most in this forum.

-is there any other caucasians who has something similar to me? if so, what have you done to help it? or, does anyone know what it could be?

thanks.

So I've been reading this board for a few weeks and decided to buy some Pepcid and start experimenting with the so called Flush. 

Experiment #1
Took 2 Pepcid ACs 20mg each and did not eat anything.  Took pills about 30 mins before drinking.  Drank 2 Blue Moons and was feeling good.  Normally when I drink Blue Moon, I get red REALLY fast but this time, I was barely red and my face wasn't burning up.

Experiment #2
Took 3 Pepcid ACs 20mg each and ate some food before taking the tablets.  Took the pills about 1 hour before I started drinking.  I had 2 Captain N Cokes, 1 Magarita, and 3 Miller Lites.  I was definitely buzz but I was not red at all.  I was a little pink but nothing like I normally would get! 

Woke up both mornings feeling just fine.  No side effects from it.

So far, the tablets seems to work extremely well.  Will post more results as soon as I can test it

hi I would like to post my experience with pepcid AC. I read that it works so I bought a box of it and try it out. I first started by drinking at home after eating 3-4 pills with no food. It seems to work well for me
Last week I went out drikning with my friends, and I ate 4 pills 1.5 hrs before drinking. I starting drinking lots of alcohol. Around 3/4 of a bottle of johnnie walker. I got so wasted that night I completely passed out. I dont even remember what happened that night, someone had to carry me home. It was a really scary experience, I can normally drink alot and dont get wasted. Wat happened on that night has never happend to me before in my life, drinking till i duno what happened.
I wasnt sure if its the pepcid AC tats causing me to get knock out so easily so i tried it again 2 nights ago. I ate 2 pepcid AC before going out drinking. And this time i drink slowly, I think in 2 hrs I drank half a bottle of whiskey. Whats weird is I wasnt really feeling drunk, but then all of a sudden I just pass out completely. And my friend had to drag me home. I seriously dont think I'll ever try pepcid AC again, it messes me up so bad I really regret trying it out. Its like im just drinking and  I know that im not even close to being drunk yet, and all of a sudden you just go BAM and falls asleep. I have never experience anything like that. It was a reallllyyyyyyyy bad experience.
I can normally drink alot of alcohol even with asian flush. For those of you who wants to try out pepcid ac, i suggest you try it out at home first. You dont want to go out drinking and get knocked out like me. It was reallyy emberassing. I have never gotta that drunk ever in my life. And i got knocked out twice in a row. seriously
I dont even know how to explain to my friends. I told em I took lotsa valium before I went out because I was depressed, I told them it must be the valium that knocked me out.

Hello my fellow sufferers.

So I was at my friends wedding this past Saturday night. You know what that means to most, woooooooo hoooooo!! Tons of great food and open bar!! Yay normal people! Not I though. I spent half my day planning out how much to drink, when to take the pills, how much water to drink. All that stuff. Even at the wedding I was like that lol.

So yeah, I took 3 20mg Pepcids at around 430. The reception started at 530. It was very short. It was over at about 545 ish. Anyway, after that..... open bar began.

They were serving tonsssssss of appetizers during this period where everyone was socializing. I was ordering Absolut + Pineapple most of the night.

I had to cave in and eat SOME appetizers. Small things, finger foods. Anyway, I was fine.

Later was the dinner. This DELICIOUS Italian food. I'm sitting at a table of around 10 people with this plate of food in front of me feeling like a weirdo for not eating. So I ate this piece of chicken parm that was on the plate, that's it. It was very good! I was fine at this time. (this was about 5 drinks into it).

Two drinks later I was feeling blah. Extremely drunk and now blah from eating. I knew it too. Good thing we left shortly after. It was around 11 by the time I got home. Stumbled in, went straight to the bathroom, and puked chunks. What a waste of chicken parm that was :(

All in all, I had 2 Captain and Cokes and 7 Absoluts and Pineapple. The food wasn't a wise choice.

I HATE not being able to eat and drink like normal people. Hate hate hate it.

Today is Friday and I had a heatup eggroll about an hour ago. Small food. I'm starving myself to go out and drink. Blah.

lol nope Steph. Whenever I drink and eat, it's curtains.

Usually when I'm done drinking I can eat whatever and just pass out. But this night was in the middle of drinking.

Even the previous post I made about the Italian Restaurant I went to..... I ate about an hour before I went out and I was in the bathroom for like 10 minutes yacking it up while I was out drinking. (in between the first and second drink)

I mean, I don't mind puking. If it makes me feel better then I'll actually swallow my fingers to make it come up.  I usually feel better afterwards. I want to eat though!!!!!!!!! :-|

and lately I've been "pre-drinking" also. so if I DO get any red, it will occur before I head out. Like right now I'm probably going to go out in an hour and I'm sipping on some Capt. and Coke. My face feels heated a lil, but I look fine in the mirror. Took 3 20mg Pepcids again.

Stomachs practically empty. I feel that ache for food :(
Anyway, I'm slightly buzzing.

I've noticed that the key is to just drink water inbetween if you can, if not just try to make yourself pee a lot to get the alcohol out of your body. You'll still feel the effects of what you drank, but it's not sitting in your system anymore.

okay, after several months of trying pepcid, there are some of my observations:

- effectiveness varies.  when you last ate, what types of drinks you have, types of activity (dancing/clubbing or just chillin'), etc.

- even when it "works", it will only help to reduce the redness.  it does NOT seem to help with the other symptoms, such as the increased heartbeat and that "not-quite-a-headache" type feeling.

Oh my gosh, you poor thing...
While for the most part it sounds like you've always suffered from the dreaded glow, your sudden change in reaction is a bit concerning.

I don't think any of us get all sweaty and it sounds like you are burning up when you have even a wee bit of drink.

I would suggest going to a doctor. Maybe maybe it's just that your symptoms have gotten worse as you've gotten older I don't know. Maybe see a doc of asian background as they may be more likely to have heard of the Asian Flush.

Maybe it is hormonal, and that you have developed incredible intolerance to alcohol?

Dunno. Good luck and let us know how you're getting on.

Hi all,
I'm a relatively new drinker (started about a year ago after starting college) and 100% Korean.
I've heard of Asian glow before drinking but had no idea it would affect me so heavily.  I get beet-red all over my upper body, head pounding, and eyes blood-shot.  This happens most of the time I drink after two or more beers (or one Beirut game :D).  I'm willing to give this Pepcid thing a go but I'm really concerned about potential side effects. I've been reading the forum and the only potential side-effect that looks scary is "impotence". Is this a real side effect? Can anyone attest to it (although I don't blame people for not discussing it). 

Also, I'm going to a party this weekend and want to experiment with Pepcid AC for the first time. Any advice on how much I should take for the first time?

I'm a 5'8" ~150 lbs male.

Hi Kev,

Welcome!
Let me ask you this... how many medicines do we take that say that potential side effects are hair-loss, impotence, dizziness, your arm falls off or whatever?? I would say pretty much any medicine apart from cough syrup has some scary sounding, possible side effects.

I think that the thing to do is to exercise some common sense -- take the pills only when you really need them and take the minimum amount that you need to reduce the flush.
For me, this means 3x20mg pills which I take at most, once a week.

The general concensus here has been to:

* Not eat too much the hours leading up to your drinking -- your stomach should be pretty much empty or almost empty
* Take the pills -- I'd take 2x20mg (or 4x10mg) pills for your first time
* Have a big glass of water
* Wait at least an hour before your 1st drink
* Drink your 1st drink slowly
* Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Some people here have said that they take their 1st drink at home, so that if any redness comes up, it happens at home. Then you should be able to go out and drink normally.

For me, I can snack or eat a light meal after taking the pills. The pills still work but I do have to make sure that my first 2 drinks are sllloooowwwww ones. My first 2 drinks a painfully drawn out over at least 2 hrs. After that I am relatively fine, I can drink as much as I feel like.

Some of us have discovered that certain drinks bring on the flush worse than others. For some, it's fruity drinks, for some it's wine. But it seems that most of us are best with spirits like vodka and rum.

I personally like Caparanjas and Tequila shots (I save the shots for late in the evening!)

I think that the pills are effective for around 8hrs. I have topped up with an extra pill if the drinking session is a particulary long one, but I'm not sure if this helped or not?

Let us know how you're getting on!
Good luck :)