Katie Wu

I vaguely remember taking that little errant sip of wine at some dinner party my parents had when I was a kid.

I don't think that did anything to me except make me go, I'm spitting this out.

Years later, Katie finally tried another drink.

Because I was a very, very, very well-behaved high schooler.

And I sort of already knew what was coming because I had watched my parents get extremely red and goofy and sweaty and warm every time they went out and had sake or red wine.

I knew what was likely in my future.

I would compare myself to a human stop sign or if Rudolph's nose was the entirety of my face, like truly the warmth blooms from my cheeks and then spreads all over and even starts to creep down my neck.

You can see it from across the room.

It's almost like a weird allergic reaction.

Yes.

I once had a friend accidentally walk past me and touch my face just incidentally, and he pulled his hand away like he had just touched a hot tea kettle, and he literally went, whoa, your face is so warm.

A lot of people will have redness not just in their face, but a little bit all over the body.

Some people will start to sweat.

Some people will actually start to feel a little bit nauseated.

Mm-hmm.

Other people will even get a little bit dizzy.

For me, my top symptoms are definitely redness, warmth in the face, and tons of nausea and dizziness.

The kind of nitty gritty of this is, honestly, poison is building up in your body.

So one of the kind of natural breakdown products of alcohol,

is this compound called aldehydes, and they occur in a bunch of different forms.