Allergies, sinuses and beer

Anyone else have issues during allergy season? Sunday was a brew day and I drank 2 pints of sours for bottle dregs. Afterward, my sinuses felt like I had an infection. I attributed it to the acid in the sour, as I didn't want to admit a cold. The next morning, no issues.

Last night, I had about 4 oz of some porter I made. Again, dry, painful sinuses. I started doing some searching and it looks like people with allergies can experience dry sinuses after consuming alcohol. My sinuses are kind of dry anyway since I'm on Zyrtec, which has been working for allergies. I then remembered that I had kind of the same feeling about 2 weeks ago drinking SN Tumbler.

I want to test this theory a bit. I am going to attempt taking zero allergy meds today, unless it gets really bad. I guess nasal spray can help to.

Should I just cave and decide beer is not for me in the fall? I have a Dr. appt in the upcoming weeks, so I'll ask him too. Just wondering if anyone else on here has the same issues.

My old man was never a drinker when i was growing up. He got drunk only very seldom only on holidays and when had what he called the croop. He would pound a pint of southern comfort which floored his a**. Im sure he had a hangover the next day but he was always over his croop.

Doesn't really affect me. I have horrible allergies, but beer doesn't make them any worse. My dad on the other hand, pretty much doesn't drink beer for the whole of allergy season for the reasons you mentioned.

My brother in law has allergies to hoppy beers. His throat closes up and his ears itch. I would be miserable!

I used to get wicked reaction to beer but narrowed it down to mass produced commercial lagers.
Have been told that finnings used to make lagers clear (settle the sediment) can cause allergies &/asthma. It contains sulphites.
Another thing - I saw allergy doc who did the skin scratch test to see wot affects me. One was rye grasses & wheat. Did the 3yr allergy immune injections & now lots better.
And I rarely, if ever, drink lagers now.

I find that mine is worse in the spring. I usually have to cut WAY back on beer in the spring time. I do find that stouts are better. I agree with Darkblade, that lagers are MUCH worse. I thought one year I was going to die from a Yuengling.

It pretty much sucks!

I have pretty bad sinus and nasal allergy problems but I've never had any problems I attributed to alcohol. I wonder if some saline spray would take care of the dryness problem when you drink.

Bob has really bad allergies, but alcohol doesn't seem to hurt. Sometimes he helps me crush grains, though, and that seems to irritate the allergies. As long as he drinks it, and doesn't help brew, he seems to be just fine!

As long as he drinks it, and doesn't help brew, he seems to be just fine!

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Sounds like some friends I have!

PS. Go Pack.

edecambra said:

My brother in law has allergies to hoppy beers. His throat closes up and his ears itch. I would be miserable!

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large amounts of hops do this to me, some worse than others.

For me I find that combining beer (or coffee) with processed sugar products (cookies, cakes, etc) creates a full blown allergy attack to the point where no allergy medicine will stop the sneezing, runny nose, etc. The attacks would sometimes last 3 to 5 hours w/continuous sneezing… it was absolutely horrible!

Used to be if I drank beer I would stay away from processed sugars 2 days before + 2 days after drinking it. Now, I stay away from processed sugars all together so I can drink beer every day!...well, almost

I'm highly allergic to the dust from crushed grains. Drinking the beer doesn't bother me but grain dust makes me run for the kleenex.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Darkblade said:

Another thing - I saw allergy doc who did the skin scratch test to see wot affects me. One was rye grasses & wheat. Did the 3yr allergy immune injections & now lots better.
And I rarely, if ever, drink lagers now.

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I will definately see if the doc will refer me to an allergy doc. I would love to actually figure out what my allergies are. They usually only last a couple weeks in spring and a couple in fall. Some days can be really bad, others mild. I do notice my allergy season being shorter than some people's I know. I have never had a reaction to lagers though. The stuff I just read only mentioned alcohol in general. Maybe I'll try an ounce of Jameson or something, but only if the doc can't give me any answers.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

I have pretty bad sinus and nasal allergy problems but I've never had any problems I attributed to alcohol. I wonder if some saline spray would take care of the dryness problem when you drink.

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I normally don't have over dryness issues. I think I will try some nasal spray, should I feel the need to pour a beer. Also, I don't seem to react to beer during non-allergy seasons. I seemed to have drawn a parallel to my meds right now, which may not be justified. Even during my peak problem times, I only usually take 1 pill every other day at most, for a duration of a week or so at a time. Right now, I'm up to 1 a day, going on a month. I haven't taken one today and feel okay right now (knock). We'll see.

I have hardcore seasonal allergies during summer. Alcohol used to block my sinuses, but I guess they got used to it cause it doesn't anymore

I had allergy scratch tests done several years ago, and I asked the Dr. if he tested me for barley and hops, and he said he did since our pre-test interview revealed that I liked to drink quite a lot of beer. I was not allergic to either one, so I still drink a lot of beer

if i drink too much, it definitely gets me stuffed up the next day.

Seven said:

I'm highly allergic to the dust from crushed grains. Drinking the beer doesn't bother me but grain dust makes me run for the kleenex.

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Similar here. Makes me cough, slightly restricted breathing, wheezing. I don't crush my grain anymore. Handling it and doughing in doesn't affect me, just the airborne dust.

yeah, crushing the grains trigger some sinus problems, and i generally have bad plant allergies most of the year (and i'm a botanist, woops)
if alcohol makes them worse, i never plan on finding out, because having a clogged up nose and drinking some homebrew/craft brew is much better than having a clear nose and not drinking beer. think of it as a quality of life issue...

It's the alcohol itself that can worsen sinus problems, by both swelling the nasal and sinus membranes, and by acting as a diuretic, resulting in drying out the nasal passages. According to WebMD anyway.

FWIW, my sister has some minor allergies to grasses and grains. Drinking beer makes her itch.

JJL said:

It's the alcohol itself that can worsen sinus problems, by both swelling the nasal and sinus membranes, and by acting as a diuretic, resulting in drying out the nasal passages. According to WebMD anyway.

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This is what I read when I looked it up. It's not being allergic to beer, but having the alcohol being a diuretic. At least that's what I'm banking on.