Sinus and Alcoholic Beverages
Probably you have taken some sort of cold medicine which contains antihistamines. Thus, it would seem logical that the ingestion of histamines could cause nasal congestion. Guess what! Histamines can be found in wine (especially red), beer, some fish, cheeses, and a bunch of other foods. Have you ever heard complaints of severe headaches after a night of heavy drinking? Keyword is “hangover”. Another thing: such hangover remedies as aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), and ibuprofen can actually worsen the effects.
Oops!
Although various sources, both written and word of mouth, give advice on which alcoholic beverages are least likely to cause headache, which not to mix during a long happy-hour, which contain the most irritating preservatives and should be avoided, and so forth and so on, the best advice is to restrict your total consumption of ethyl alcohol, aka ethanol.
Much writing says that a drink a day, which is one beer or glass of wine, can aid health, but binge drinking can destroy it.
Extra information from recent news: Alzheimer’s disease seems more likely to happen among smokers and heavy users of alcohol. All those killed brain cells must add up.
Sinus and Coffee
Some writers about sinus and migraines recommend against drinking coffee. There might be something to that, but my two cups in the morning, an occasional cup with dinner, do
not seem to bother me, whereas a lack of coffee in the morning makes it hard for me to get going. See what works for you.
Careful reading reveals that caffeine is in many medicines for colds and migraine headaches, so not every real or imagined sinus “expert” is against coffee.
Tags: alcoholic beverages, binge drinking, brain cells, coffee in the morning, ethyl alcohol, hangover remedies, migraine headaches, nasal congestion, occasional cup, severe headaches
