Why does one glass of wine leave you with a pounding headache, anxiety at 3 a.m., brain fog, or a racing heart—especially if it never used to?

In this episode, Dr. Emily Wheeler unpacks the functional medicine reasons alcohol can hit differently in your 40s and beyond. You'll learn how your liver, methylation pathways, histamine, hormones, and nutrient status all influence how your body processes alcohol—and why your symptoms may actually be valuable clues about your health.

Inside this episode, you'll discover:

• Why acetaldehyde—not alcohol itself—is responsible for many hangover symptoms
• The two-step detoxification process your liver uses to metabolize alcohol
• How methylation affects your body's ability to process alcohol efficiently
• Why histamine intolerance can trigger flushing, headaches, insomnia, and anxiety after drinking
• The surprising connection between perimenopause, estrogen, and alcohol sensitivity
• The personal California girls' trip experiment that changed how I understood my own body
• Why supporting your body's pathways—not masking symptoms—can make all the difference

Your symptoms aren't random. They're information.

Whether you've noticed your alcohol tolerance changing, wake up feeling awful after one drink, or simply want to understand what your body is trying to tell you, this episode will help you connect the dots through the lens of functional medicine.

Subscribe to Rise Above for practical conversations about functional medicine, hormones, metabolism, detoxification, and women's health—so you can better understand your body and take confident steps toward lasting wellness.

Connect with Dr. Emily Wheeler
🌐 DrEmilyWheeler.com
📸 Instagram: @DrEmilyWheeler