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The Red face, The itchy Skin, The almost hangover like symptoms coming on while you are still drinking, headaches, sneezing, irritation! Sound like you... or someone you know? Unlike Santa Clause... a flushed faces at a dinner party, or picnic is not so appealing, when it comes to drinking wine, some people are allergic... but you can still have your wine and drink it too!

So What Causes the Irritation.

Well the Majority of people have a reaction to white wine, this is due to the high levels of sulphides within white wine, ( or Preservative 220) this can cause a number of side effects, as mentioned above. One of the sure fire ways to combat feeling under the weather when drinking is firstly, not to over indulge, and secondly to keep your fluids up, And i mean water not more wine, simply by having a glass of wine between drinks, you help your body to keep its fluids up, and may reduce that dehydrated, hungover feeling.

How Sever Are Wine Allergies

Well wine allergies can have a range of reactions, depending on the severity of allergy a person has. Sulphur dioxide has had minor reactions, and in its pure form, deadly reactions, but you can avoid high levels of it when drinking wine.

For the average person reactions such as, flushing, wheezing, nausea, headaches, stomach pain, congestion, There are a few ways to combat certain symptoms, some may result in drinking certain types of wine, and some just thinking about what you drink.

Well it is known that high levels of sulfur dioxide can cause asthma attacks, and tightness of the chest and even anaphylactic shock, these is in extreme cases thou, but for those with sensitivity even minor exposure can cause some nasty side affects.

Allergies and Treatments

Look out for wines with a higher sulphur level, this is wines found in casks, and sweet white wine. So What is left to drink you ask, well red wine, sparkling wine, and dry white wines like chardonnay, they have lower amounts of these additives in them, you will also find organic wines have lower sulphur dioxide levels.

When it comes to a Blushing face when drinking wine, things get a bit trickier,

When you drink your body produces a number of chemicals, a lot of allergic people lack a chemical called alledalsehyde dehydroenase, which counter acts alcohols presents in the body, and for those people this means symptoms such as drowsiness nausea asthma and facial flushing. There is not really a lot that can be done against this, other then building up an immunity over time, this way symptoms will lessen as your body learns to cope with wine.

The Red Wine Head Ache

If you suffer from head aches when it comes to red wine, you may find the tannins in the red wine are triggering histamine production, the majority of people have no problem with histamine, but it can cause some to suffer from sever headaches.

So how can you counter act the infamous wine head ache your ask, well some suggest popping an aspirin an hour before drinking. And if that does not work, you can try drinking softer reds... and if all else fails try less reactive wines such as champagne and method traditionale sparkling.

So get those wine allergies under control, one you identify what it is in wines that irritates you, then you can drink, and feel good, and avoid those nasty side effects.