Allergic to alcohol

[piggybank]

Hello,

My husband is allergic to alcohol including hand gels/medical swabs, drinking alcohols and herbals that have been extracted in alcohol such as tinctures. He has reacted to Kalms valarian tablets as well (here the valarian was alcohol extracted before being put into tablet form however in this case it could be another ingredient?).

Anyone else out there with alcohol allergy???So far he is not anaphylactic but does struggle to breathe and gets very swollen lips and tongue if he drinks. However where it's, say an ingredient in a stir fry sauce he is more red neck snd hives. I have dncouraged him to get an epipen but so far he's not discussed it with the doctore. His worst reaction to date was from a tiny alcohol swsp placed on a finger that was pricked to test blood sugar during a health check. Antihistamines did not help and he had a week of steroids. Since this episode he has been teetotal.

I am struggling to replace red wine in my cooking. Cosmetics are difficult to fjnd as well. Any tips, please??

Thank you!

[piggybank]

Sorry for the typos. It should say that i've encouraged him to get an epi pen (not fiscouraged him).

[MAFIL]

Sorry, although I've got quite a lot of allergy related experience, this is a new one to me. I believe it is very rare to have a true allergy to alcohol so by the sounds of things your husband is very unlucky indeed. From what you say, your advice to him about needing an adrenaline auto injector is spot on. He may not have had a full blown anaphylactic reaction yet, but swelling of the lips and tongue is very concerning, and the more accidental exposures he has, the worse things may become.
Who prescribed the steroids after the last incident? I am surprised they didn't arranging further investigations and a referral to an allergy clinic then. I think you really need to lean on him to seek professional help.
I can't help at all with product suggestions I am sorry. Have you contacted any of the relevant charities such as Allergy UK or The Anaphylaxis Campaign? They might have something on their websites, though with it being such a rare allergy you might need to email and ask for advice.
I hope you can persuade him to see sense and get to the doctor. Unfortunately lots of people stil don't take allergies very seriously and I can imagine that this particular allergy might be seen as a bit of a joke by some. Do you think he could be embarrassed about it and that might be stopping him going to the doctor? I can imagine it could be the sort of thing that some blokes in particular might make jokes about.
Best of luck with it all, I'm sorry I can't help more.