Topic: Reducing the flush
Hi i'm new here, interesting to know that such a forum exists.
Anyway im male, 20, 5'11.5 and quite skinny. I used to think that I had too little blood volume in my body to dilute the alcohol, hence the redness. One time when I was 16, I had a mug of vodka(yea its stupid, but i was 16) and I stayed red ALL night. Later on when I was 17, I had 3/4 pint of beer and got only slightly red, but developed the worst headache I'd ever had in my life. It was so bad i had to go right home n sleep for several hours. The pain remained even after I woke up and I had to take 2 tablets of paracetamol/acetaminophen to get it off. Regular drinking never produced any tolerance against the flush.
More recently, I had red wine and irish cream on separate occasions and didn't develop the flush nor any headache. I suspect it was because I had food in my stomach, and drank slowly, sip by sip on both occasions. I also have this theory that malted drinks induce a stronger flushing/headache reaction, as my worst flush-related experiences all involved malted drinks. I don't wish to pop any pills to antagonise the flush, and I hope to learn more "natural" ways to overcome it. :)