Why does perfume give me a headache?

Why does German beer give me an instant headache?

• I have been drinking various types of beer for a while now (7 or 8 years) and recently moved to Germany. It seems that nearly every beer I try here gives me an instant headache. Pilsners, many Hefeweizens, Dunkels, Hells, everything! I could drink pint after pint of American microbrews (Harpoon, Smuttynose, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams), Guiness, British Ales, IPAs, Stouts, Porters, non-German wheat beers (Hoegaarden) and never get a headache while drinking and often not even the next day. Yet after moving to Germany almost every beer gives me a headache before I finish the bottle. I am talking specifically about bottled beers - Flensburger seems to act the quickest, but Tyskie(techincally polish), Warsteiner, Fransiskaner, Augustiner, Shultheiss, Sterni (no suprise there I guess) and almost every other beer also give me headaches. Paulaner Hefeweizen seems to be one I can drink without getting a headache until the 4th bottle or so and Berliner Kindl is also good in the headache department (if not so much in taste). When I drink beers "vom fass" from the tap I don't tend to get headaches. What could be causing the headaches?

• Answer:

  Alcohol-related headaches (and hangovers) are generally caused by the byproducts of ethanol metabolism, not the alcoholic beverage itself, per se. The body will select the cleanest alcohol for processing first (ethanol) and convert it to acetaldehyde (toxic). As you sober up, your system runs out of clean alcohol and begins processing low-grade alcohols (methanol) and the acetaldehyde it generated earlier. It converts acetaldehyde to acetic acid (vinegar), and methanol to formaldehyde and then to formic acid (both toxic). (Higher percentages of asian populations flush when consuming alcohol because they lack the enzymes needed to convert acetaldehyde into vinegar, leaving their body laced with acetaldehyde much longer than is normal.) An effective method for avoiding a severe hangover is ingesting an additional round of clean-alchol as you are about to be sober. Enzymes (alcohol dehydrogenase) focus on the new ethanol, and leave the "dirty" alcohols alone until the kidneys can process them into the urine. I suspect that the you have changed the rate at which you are consuming alcohol. German beers generally have lower alcohol levels (usually 4.8% ABV instead of 5.5%+ for craft American beers), and smaller bottles (11.2 oz instead of 12 oz). The small decrease in speed at which you are ingesting alcohol might just be enough for your body to burn off all of the clean alcohol and begin working on the nasty stuff, giving you a headache, as the methanol, formaldehyde and other byproducts begin to destroy (oxidize) your brain. And perhaps draft beer doesn't have the "slower-drinking-effect" because it is served in bigger glasses, or perhaps you drink faster in a pub than at home. Try drinking slightly faster; don't let yourself sober up and keep a small buzz rolling. If you can't do that, pound a beer and a liter of water before you go home to give your kidneys some fresh ethanol. Every alcoholic beverage (and most fruit juices) contain a bit of methanol. Hospitals treat methanol-poisoning with IV ethanol (vodka) using the same principle. If that doesn't work, try ingesting antioxidants to combat the toxins generated during alcohol-metabolism. There are myriad "hangover cures" available, but the most effective pills will be n-acetylcysteine, milk thistle extract, EDTA (calcium disodium), and folic acid. If you are a chronic, heavy drinker, you might need to add b-vitamins (or just drink less and eat well). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol#Toxicityl  (wiki) http://books.google.com/books?id=w9DOexT4AMgC&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=joe+schwarcz+hangover&source=bl&ots=sT8NQv0M1o&sig=K0wARFgFf1-tyMoheyXg1_zo420&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JyVNUev_BYrF2QWLeg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=joe%20schwarcz%20hangover&f=false (Joe Schwarcz on hangovers) http://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-N-A-C-N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine-Capsules/dp/B0013OSJBY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364009605&sr=8-3&keywords=nac http://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Thistle-Standardized-Silymarin/dp/B0013OULVA/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1364009625&sr=1-1&keywords=milk+thistle