something weird happened to me two nights ago; I purchased some really cheap Pinot Grigio wine, had two glasses and went to sleep… nothing unusual about that, but around 6 a.m. nxt morning when i had to make a visit to the rr, I got up and nearly fell flat on my arse! I felt drawn to my left side and the feeling didn’t feel as though I was drunk, I just felt extremely dizzy. I’ve recently had a cbc done and that was fine, and my bp has been normal, checked it again today, so in process of deduction couldn’t figure out what was going on, so I had one glass of the same wine last night and again experienced the same feeling, though not as strong as previous night when I had two glasses of wine… could it have anythign to do with the wine? Also recently completed antibiotics for strep throat, so shoudl be clear of any infections–pills were potent!
Well, until someone else comes along with more information I can tell you that my mother is allergic to most wines. Specifically, she is allergic to nitrites/nitrates and this is an allergy that she has acquired relatively recently in her life.
I had some nasty wine in China. I mean $.25(yes…25 cents) per bottle. Made me recoil in horror…but not sick. And it was old…with loose twist top. I bought a case of it for $3 from a Chinese colleague who had a daughter that work with company.
You may want to be wary of trying such items again in the future. Cases of people being killed or seriously injured(blinded, I guess) by drinking “wine” or other drinks that were topped up with anti-freeze, a la Bart-goes-to-France, are common in China. If it has a loose twist top, I would not touch it with a 10 foot pole.
thanks for this site, very informative… i’m guessing it was the sulfites in the wine. And while the bottle wasn’t as cheap as the wine from china ($.25/bottle!!!), I’ll go back to minimum $12/bottle
It was quite vile. Tasted like frozen fruit punch that had somehow gone bad. I had a friend who made punch out of most of the same wine she bought. She said the punch was vile as well.
It’s actually quite common to find wine for about $2 a bottle in the grocery store that is bad…but not horrible. China has no famous, good quality wines and are desperately trying to get into the market. I’ll give them credit; they make the best(and worst) cheap wines in the world.
If related to the wine, the differential diagnosis includes allergy (including sulfites), methanol posioning, ethylene glycol poisoning, contaminated wine, and ethanol poisoning (if the listed alcohol level was inaccurate for some reason). This isn’t Staurday night palsy, but you’d be surprised how often I see that.
If not related to the wine, inner ear infection would be more common than flu, heart attack, problems with blood sugar or lectrlyte levels, heart attack, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or transient ischemic attack, etc.
if checking my electrolytes wasn’t part of the cbc and other blood tests, then I guess not… but I have been feeling itchy in Left ear and few times thought i was feeling fluid draining out of same ear, but when i dabbed with a cotton tip, it was dry, and wk prior had completed antibiotics for strep and ear infection in RIGHT ear.
Sorry, I can’t quite come up with any English cites at the moment. I heard about such incidents quite often on local television and newspapers when I lived in China (FWIW I emigrated in 1998 but make frequent trips back, and things have not changed AFAIK). Any Chinese local would be extremely wary of any bottled beverage that didn’t come sealed. It may not be antifreeze but could be any number of nasty things.
I would have to wonder about dehydration as well. This description sounds like me after a stomach bug that left me not able to even keep water down. I would veer to one side when trying to walk across the room.
Antibiotics don’t do much for viral infections even if they are powerful ones. Labyrinthitis is often viral – but I don’t think this mystery will be solved soon. IIRC, Sulphites are also used in some salad dressings and Japanese cooking.
