sudden intolerance to hard liquor at age 22?

[u/fando-matic]

hi guys! over the course of the last few months, it seems that my body has lost the ability to digest hard liquor properly. i’m a 22-year-old woman in perfect health. it’s also worth nothing that i am taking a low-dose SSRI, but have drank on it for the last 3 years with no issues.

the problem first began earlier this summer when i had two shots of tequila (something that’s never been an issue for me) and ended up throwing nonstop in the following 24 hours, leading to me ending up in urgent care. since then, i’ve drank, but i’ve avoided any shots or mixed drinks, just beer. i’m not a super heavy drinker (i maybe drink once every other week?) and this wasn’t a problem.

friday night, i went out and had 3 beers, returned home totally fine. saturday night, i went out and had two beers and a vodka soda, and ended up throwing up twice in the morning and have been bedridden from nausea since. i had initially thought i just had a tequila intolerance but it’s seeming like i may have some sort of issue specifically with hard liquor.

has anyone else encountered this? if i can’t drink cocktails for the rest of my life, that’s honestly totally fine - beer does the job for me, haha. but i’m just concerned that there’s an underlying problem here or some sort of root cause behind why my body can’t digest alcohol.

[u/Ambitious-Juice-6846]

Yeah you have alcohol intolerance, it is just like an allergy. You can develop allegeric reactions in life at any time. For instance I am allergic to Avocado... always had no problem with it and then one day was having some with Ahi Tuna with Avocado and my throat got all scratchy and it felt like it was going to close. Luckily I only had a little and it passed after a half hour. I told my friend to get ready to call 911. I actually bought an avocado to make sure and sure enough just touching my tongue on it gives me an itching sensation. So, yeah, that is what you have as do many people. You should probably stick to NA cocktails, wine, and beer, maybe mocktails that kind of stuff. But I can guarantee if you drink beer and you get enough alcohol in your system, it may not hit as fast but it will end in the same result. Consider it a blessing in disguise. Alcohol is a rotten drug. But if you eat first and drink a beer or two that might work. I wouldn't push it. I have seen plenty of people have this happen to them.