So, is this something to worry about? (odd sensations after drinking alcohol)

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

I never stopped to wonder until now if this is unusual or not, so you tell me…

I don’t drink very much, usually no more drinks in a year than months, and one of the reasons why is that it makes me feel funny. I don’t mean buzzed, though that occasionally happens too, but even after a drink or two - like the margarita someone gave me tonight - I usually get a strange feeling to my limbs and forehead. My forehead feels a bit prickly/pressured like it does when I have a fever (which also might be odd, never thought about that either) and my limbs feel kind of heavy, like after swimming for a long time.

Does this happen to other people, or should I be concerned about this? Doesn’t matter what I drink, ftr, though I tend to stick to fruity things when I do drink, never beer and I try to avoid champagne altogether because even a couple ounces leaves me dizzy.

#2

I get abnormally sweaty off even small amounts of booze, it gets even worse if someone used a caffeinated drink as a mixer.

I know an adult woman who seems to get sloppy drunk on as little as two beers.

#3

Does she ever visit Salt Lake City?

#4

I have a suspicion that what you’re feeling might be what others would call buzzed, and when you think you’re buzzed, you’re actually drunk. Alcohol affects everyone a little differently, and while some just get sleepy, maybe you feel tingly and heavy. It’s only something you’ll know with experience. I get a little floaty feeling when I’ve had one or two, before the happy, goofy, kinda loud drunkard shows up another couple drinks after that. Also can depend on the type or alcohol. for me vodka = happy and tequila = weepy. I stick to vodka mostly!

#5

I get what I have called ‘heartburn’ from booze, but I don’t think it is. My stomach hurts, starts burning; this is something that any sugary drink, from soda to fruit juice, has done to me, so I guess that’s not surprising. What is weird is that it spreads from my stomach into my bones, notably collar bones, shoulder bones, and elbows. Hurts/stings/burns like that for about 20 minutes to a half hour. Then it goes away. I quite often started out a night of drinking by getting the first one out of the way and lying down for a half hour until the symptoms subsided. Then on to the real drinking! It never got worse or came back, just that first drink. Just…weird.

#6

I don’t experience the forehead thing that I can recall, but I, too get pressure/heaviness in my arms, and also my upper back. I don’t drink very much at all, but I’ve gotten it whenever I drink for years, and I don’t have any diseases or anything. I do think that I may have an allergy to alcohol or may not process it correctly, because it does make me stuffy and feel sick very easily, but I don’t know if that’s related to the pressure/heaviness.

#7

Do you turn red in the tingly areas? Are you Asian? Could it be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction?

#8

No to both. Good thought, though.

#9

Some years ago I dated a gal who after one drink would say that she felt the affect of alcohol in her knees. She wasn’t able to ever accurately describe the situation in more specific detail so I interpreted that to mean, one more drink and I’ll make my move!

#10

The feeling in your limbs isn’t something I experience, but the forehead thing is common. I don’t know if you like Hemmingway but he talks about getting ‘tight’ in some (1?) of his books and that’s the sensation he’s talking about. I figure if anybody’s ever been an expert on being drunk, he was, so you should be good to go on that front.

#11

I used to know a woman who would turn beet red after a sip of wine. We used to egg her on, convincing her to drink a bit so we could watch her turn red.

#12

You’re fine. I don’t know if I’d call that buzzed; when I’m “buzzed” I have the vague feeling of an actual buzz going on somewhere indeterminate, a sort of happy humming that makes me notice background noises and movements less. But you’re not the first person I’ve heard talk about heaviness and feverishness and so forth. At least you’re classy enough not to announce gleefully to the entire assembled group, “my thighs are tingling!” after a couple of mimosas – that was the tall blonde college freshman, and boy did she get a lot of attention for the rest of the night. :smiley:

#13

Is it accompanied by a feeling of being more charming and finding ugly women more attractive?

#14

You know when you mouth is gettin’ dry / You pretty high.

#15

Alcohol is a vaso dilator. The effect is stronger in some people than in others.

I’d imagine the forehead sensation to be the tissues in your upper sinus swelling as a result of the dilation. Is the feeling deep in your forehead or more in the skin?

Likewise, the dilation can cause a drop in blood pressure, which would affect the limbs and extremeties in much the way you describe.

Do you generally have low blood pressure? Sinus problems?

#16

I could have written an almost identical OP (and have been tempted to in the past…thanks for saving me the trouble!). Drinking half a glass of wine makes my limbs so unpleasantly tingly that I’ve never drunk more than that.

That weird tingly feeling…UGH. And people ask me why I don’t drink…

#17

This happens to me, exactly as you described. I used to have other even more unpleasant physiological effects when drinking alcohol, like weird lingering tightness in my chest after even one drink (at age 22 = :eek:), so all of them combined made me not drink for the past 10 years. I now drink regularly, and have found that drinking more often makes this stuff subside - perhaps the body habituates to the various effects of alcohol that cause these side effects.

I still not infrequently get weird hot flashes (“white hot” feeling, sweating for a minute or so) when drinking. I’ve always assumed that all of the aforementioned was some sort of mild allergy or reaction.

#18

Just throwin this out there.

The one and only symptom I had of developing Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was a burning, aching sensation across my shoulders and upper back, and down to my elbows, within a few seconds of drinking alcohol. Think of those body aches you get when sick with a horrible flu or stomach virus, take away the fever, and amp up the pain. If it’s anything like that, you might want to get it checked out.

#19

What you need to do is what we refer to as ‘powering through’

Drink more, and you’ll break through the initial stage into a light, happy stupor.

#20

Now there’s an elf who can’t hold his liquor!

[Couldn’t resist once I saw the user name. :D]