H2 Blockers (Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac, Axid) (Page 50 of 52)

Hey Alex575,

Thanks for your input! Have you tried Pepcid AC or generic famotidine? If you drink more than 4 cocktails, do you get the flush?

Usually Pepcid works wonderfully for me up to about 3 standard drinks, then I have to either take a break or experience some bad flushing.

Wow, thanks a lot, Alex575!

Interesting that Zantac works so much better for you! And it's great that you still don't get the flushing after having more than 4 drinks. My flush also results from anything from beer to Everclear. While beer gives me the flush immediately, hard liquor takes a little longer to cause a reaction, and the flush from hard stuff is more intense. I've also found out that taking Pepcid after drinking for some reason doesn't work for me. No correcting of the flush if it's already started happening. It's either knocking the pill down about half an hour before drinking or getting the flush all night. I'll try drinking more water in between drinks to stay hydrated. For a lot of people, this seems to help negate the flush as well.

In addition to Pepcid, the H2 histamine blocker, I've also been taking a generic form of Zyrtec, which I think has been helping stop the flush too, since it blocks the H1 histamine response. Aspirin might help for some, but it hasn't had any added benefits for me.

I might see you around San Fran sometime since I'll be headed there later this summer! Hopefully, I won't be glowing the place up!

A quick question for all Pepcid AC users.

Does taking 2 tablets of original strength Pepcid AC (10 mg x 2 = 20 mg) equal 1 tablet of maximum strength Pepcid AC (20 mg x 1 = 20 mg). I'm sure there are chemical differences other than the dosage, but is the effectiveness against Asian Flush about the same?

Thanks in advance!

Been almost a year since I last posted my results with H2-blockers so I thought I'd do a followup with some more findings.

I've been testing taking ranitidine in various amount of time before drinking and I've had best results with taking it several hours before drinking.

I experience this aswell initially when drinking. Then after a few units it fades and I feel normal.

In the past year I've been testing both at what time it's best to take ranitidine, and how much. After several tests I've found out that taking just half a pill, no less than 6 hours before drinking, gives the best results. The closer to drinking I take it, the more severe side-effects I get (more on this below). If I start drinking without taking ranitidine, and start to flush, I've come to the conclusion that I just have to stop, let it wear off and call it a night.

After using ranitidine extensively over almost two years I've slowly come to find out that it has a couple of side effects:

1. Blackouts and not remembering anything the day after drinking.
2. Not feeling as intoxicated as I should feel after a certain amount of drinks.

The blackouts are rare, but annyoing. I normally have good behaviour even when drunk, but it's an anxiety-inducing feeling not remembering what you've said and done the night before, even though I've been told everything was fine.

Not feeling as intoxicated is probably the reason why this happens, because lately I have been tracking how many drinks I've been drinking, not taking ranitidine, and how many drinks I've been drinking when taking rantidine. In the latter case I've discovered that I tend to drink more. My tolerance for feeling intoxicated rises and I have to drink more to get the same effect.

In my latest "tests" I've found out that halving the dose (just break a pill in two halves with a knife) decreases the effect of ranitidine, and decreases the chance that any of the side effects occur. Combining this with a more precautionary approach, taking the pill 6+ hours before drikning has given great results so far.

Just three weeks ago I was going to a concert friday and birthday party saturday. I was dreading the second day all week because 2 days in a row is usually a guaranteed recipe for disaster. I didn't take any pills friday and it was fine, and I took half a pill just when I woke up on saturday and, to my big surprise, everything went just fine!

I've found that there are three crucial elements to success with H2 blockers. The amount you drink (find your tolerance, keep track and avoid over-drinking), how fast you drink (find your own pace and no bottoms up. Ever) and WHEN you take the pill. The combination of the first and latter being the most important aspects of whether or not I'll have a good night without flushing and without side-effects.

Although I don't have any scientific competence to say this, it seems like taking the pill well in advance gives my stomach time to prepare, and thus reducing the amount of ranitidine required to avoid flushing.

My next project is to test ranitidine (I use 75mg pills from Ratiopharm) against Zantac (also ranitidine, but different brand) and Pepcid (famotidine) more systematically to see what experiences they give.

Interesting.  So it's like the liquid form of Convivia.

Would this be effective for homozygotes also or just heterozygotes?  I'd love to get my hands on some as soon as possible to test it out!

Hey guys, i'm really excited about this product(as I am with any new product that comes out trying to fix my problem)
Watch all the videos, read all the info and check out all the media hype about it. They have a startup funding page on Indiegogo currently and are 3/4 of the way to their goal. I myself have donated a small sum as it sounds like a really good idea. So atleast go check it out and link your friends also if they have AF.

It isn't a complete fix, they reckon each bottle let's you have about 3-4 drinks. It's obviously not the magic full fix we're all looking for. But i've tried every single other potion, pill that has come out on the internet and this seems the most legit. The owner herself emailed me straight back on the fbook page every time I have had questions for her.

I wonder how it could work with a famotidine/before elixir combo??

igg.me/at/beforeelixir/x/9890262

Until Alda-1 becomes available on the market, I think cysteine and vitamin C can be alternative remedy for step 2 mentioned above.  If Before Elixir works the way it's advertised, those two supplements which are already available on the market, can do the step 2, at least partially.  This may eliminate the need for anti-acid products.

Here's a link to article on combating acetaldehyde: http://ceri.com/alcohol.htm  Scroll down about half way and it shows "200 mg cysteine plus 600 mg of vitamin C (with or without extra B-1). I take one before I start drinking, one with each additional drink and one when I’m finished".

I have tried the above supplements without anti-acid and it only reduced flushing little bit.  That may be due to my fast metabolizing of alcohol.  Only if that metabolic rate can be brought down to normal level, I may be able to drink like others...  :-)

Per post #1241 above, I took antacid about 1 hour ahead.  Then L-cysteine and vitamin C just before having a beer.  Then another dose of L-cysteine and vitamin C right after finishing a beer.  It works well.  No flushing, no headache and no heart palpitation.  Only thing missing was the buzz.  I only get about 5 minutes of it and then gone.  I guess that means I'm one of those who metabolize alcohol fast. 

Until Convivia or the likes become available on the market, this combo will be it for me.

Hey Dalmore,

Were you able to take 200mg L-cysteine/600mg Vit-C exactly? I can only really find 500mg capsules of each, although I don't 500 mg L-cysteine/1g Vit-C would hurt.

Does the overactive enzyme that converts the alcohol to acetaldehyde quicker and gets rid of the buzz faster occur in all Asians with the flush? Or just a certain number?

I take little more because that's what each pill contains.  I can go through extra effort and break up the pills but I don't.  I don't think taking little more L-cysteine and vitamin C than recommended is bad.

As far as I know, it's about 40% among eastern Asians who suffer from alcohol induced flushing.  I would say short lived buzz isn't that much of a problem.  The real problem is sharp increase of acetaldehyde.

Up to what percentage would you say antacids get rid of the flushing for you?