Over the many years, given my line of work– I have run into so many stories told to me primarily by women about peculiar reactions to wine… I heard stories about blinding headaches, swollen lips, splotchy rashes, tightening of the esophagus/ sinus, distended bellies, insomnia– you name it. And one of the current themes always is… “It started to happen in my late 30s/ early 40s.”
A lot of change happens in your late 30s/ early 40s I am discovering— and I thought I might share my story with you.
I LOVE Rosé wine. I love it for so many reasons: It is a sensory delight; the perfect choice day or night, in the city, country, beach or picnic; at French Laundry or Gotts Roadside Diner or the Swanson Salon.
This past 4th of July weekend, I had one glass (literally one glass) of French Rosé + shortly thereafter endured one of the longest migraine headaches of my life– lasting over 12 hours; The type of headache that even extra-strength EXCEDRIN could not quell/ wrangle/ dilute.
As I suffered through the early hours of dawn, I recalled previous other migraine headaches, and disappointingly– they all reared themselves after a convivial time involving Rosé. Any kind of Rosé: American or French— and always made by decent producers. And oddly, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why… The night before, I had a glass from the same bottle and experience nothing different. Why was it drastically different 24 hours later???
It is only until something happens to YOU or a LOVED ONE that we get resourceful and demand answers.
So, I decided to email a small round up of brilliant minds: my doctor, acupuncturist, and a friend who is a Master of Wine. I wanted to know did sulphites or histamines– both common culprits in the realm of wine allergies/ reactions, drive my situation. Their responses addressed such topics as dehydration, lack of food consumption, hormones, intolerance of sugar/ histamines/ sulphur… Basically it all boiled down to the body chemistry of the day/ hour.
Their answers were as vague as the pages of confusing/ contradictory expert opinions shared on the internet. As with all things, I learned most from the COMMENTS sections– and in there were mostly WOMEN also trying to get to the bottom of their conditions. Within the comment section there wasn’t a single consistent scenario: Some people were affected by white wine, red wine, Rosé, beer, yeast, sulphur, sugar, American wine etc. Interestingly, Merlot was often sited as the safest varietal/ wine– causing little reaction.
The take-away gleaned throughout the countless comments was PAY ATTENTION to your body. Track yourself/ your body’s vulnerabilities– as these reactions are REAL to you, and only you.
Any white. Even one glass leaves me feeling like I will throw up ( usually do ) and a headache follows.
I have always suspected the sugar is too much for me.
I recently visited Napa, including Swanson!!! I asked about wine headaches at a few tastings, my husband was mortified! Apparently men don’t suffer from this as much as women. Anyhow, none of the men who I asked had anything new to offer in their answers, so with my own research I came up with the following pre treatment to avoid the headache. I drink a cup of green tea in the late afternoon and I take the following vitamins with a big glass of water: 2 multi vitamins, 2 b complex, 1 probiotic. No Headache before, during or after.
Strangely enough, the same American Rose that we always seem to have at home gave me a blinding headache that woke me up two hours after I went to bed last night. It’s never been so rude before.
Ladies, thanks for your responses.. I have also been told to take 1/4 antihistimine pre- wine when consuming historically tricky varietals. I plan to do a lot more research here.
I can’t think of any female friends who haven’t, at some point, experienced what you are describing: debilitating headaches after very little wine. Fortunately they are infrequent. I have noticed these random headaches are decreasing as I age; more of an occurrence in my 30′s-40′s, not so much now that I am in my 50′s. The consensus with my friends is they are hormone related. Great post!
I feel your pain, Alexis! I used to get the worst migraines in college and I chalked it up to stress of school and living in the chaos of NYC. Ever since I moved out west, I only get them once every 3-6 months. Much better! I noticed the same thing as the experts: sometimes it’s caused by stress, sometimes by a hot climate (Disneyland on a summer day), dehydration, etc., etc. My saving grace is Imitrex nasal spray. It tastes awful, but it works 10x faster than the tablets. Only issue is that I’m pregnant now, so I can’t take Imitrex (annoying) AND I can’t drink (double annoying)! Love your blog! Keep up the good work.
It was a Malbec that did it to me. One glass, and had such a wicked headache I have not ever consumed it since! But I drink reds often (well, not TOO often) and have not had a problem. After age 40, it seems all these strange things like that have happened, body chemistry is a odd thing! Thanks for sharing your experience!