Alcohol intolerance - delayed reaction and increasingly bad hangovers

• My hangovers have been getting worse, even though I've been drinking less. It's also taking longer for my hangovers to start. Is this normal? I'm 26 years old, medium build (5'8", 160lbs, maybe ~20% body fat), reasonably fit and healthy. I've never been a heavy drinker - never once been blackout drunk in my life - but in previous years I could drink a fair amount, fall asleep tipsy, and wake up feeling basically fine. I am of Asian descent, but I do not get any red flushing whatsoever - I've confirmed this with multiple people over the years. Also, I rarely drink - we're talking maybe one night of drinks a month, and zero drinks at home or in restaurants. But recently I noticed some things changing in the way I react to alcohol: I drink a moderate amount (say 3 pints of beer over 3 hours), go home, sleep, wake up after 8-9 hours with a mild headache. I take a dump, which smells much worse than usual, and is sometimes diarrhea-like in consistency. Then after 1-2 hours (so this is maybe 13-14 hours after I have finished drinking), I start feeling feverish. I get really hot and break into alternate sweating fits and chills. I start to salivate excessively and my saliva is bitter. At this point there's a fair chance I vomit and/or have diarrhea. The cycle repeats itself (fever, saliva, vomiting) for another 2-3 hours until I feel better. The fever is new and has only happened to me in the past year. I think the bizarre thing, besides the severe hangover to a moderate amount of drinking, is the delayed reaction - for example if I finish drinking at 9PM, I only start feeling really sick at 11AM the next day. In prior years, if I'd really been drinking too much, I would wake up after 3-4 hours needing to puke. Basically I never have any immediate adverse reaction to alcohol the night of. It's just the morning after I probably have the worst hangover of anybody. I also notice different alcoholic drinks affect me differently. Beer almost always makes me sick, but I can drink liquor without too much fuss the next day, and wine - especially really good ones - almost never causes me issues unless I really go overboard. So, what do you think? I'm wondering if I have such severe reactions because I rarely drink, or if this is a genetic intolerance to alcohol that will get worse as I age. Is there something in particular about beer that causes bad hangovers? Thanks.

• Answer:

  Do you notice any sensitivity to wheat? That's the main connection I could make with beer-specific alchohol, especially with the digestive issues and feverishness afterwards. Do you eat gluten/wheat in other things? Have you noticed getting sick after bread or grains?