Hi, I'm having a real panic attack here about this. Recently I noticed that if I took just a few sips of red wine my face would flush and my left cheek would feel like it was burning or it would feel like I had a sensitive feeling on that side of my face. At first I thought I was having a reaction due to the fact that I am now in perimenopause and my hormones are up and down.

I always used to get rosy cheeks when enjoying a glass of red wine, but now I can't even take a sip without getting the rosy cheeks straight away, accompanied by this burning/tingling sensation on the left side of my face.

Also, I sometimes get the tingling/burning/sensitive feeling on the left side without the actual flush, but I will flush if I drink even a bit of alcohol.

Anyway, when I mentioned this to my doctor he straight away sent me to do a special urine test to determine whether I have a condition called carcinoid syndrome (which is a horrible cancer whereby hormones are excreted into the blood and can cause flushing in the face, amongst other things).

You can imagine my reaction to this. The doctor said it's a rare condition, but better to check it. Well, that was enough to send me into major panic. I haven't had the urine test yet as I am too scared to do it in case my doctor is right.

I am 45 yrs old and have recently being told that I am in perimenopause. I have experienced some hot flashes too, but they didn't make my face blush or feel sensitive, and I managed to get rid of the hot flashes by using natural progesterone cream, but the facial symptoms persist and I'm really worried. Is it possible I developed a sensitivity to alcohol because of meno? I was never a big drinker, but I always managed to cope with just one glass of red wine.

Has anyone out there had a similar experience? I hope to hear from you. It feels horrible being alone in all this, and with a doctor who thinks it might be some horrible cancer! Please help.

This just began for me in the last month. I was quite surprised, but remembered my mom and my sister turned red from any alcohol during meno, too. I'm not much of a drinker, so it won't affect me much.

BTW, I have never heard of this type of cancer; it must be extremely rare ... flushing from alcohol is not. Take the test, but it's probably nothing more than flushing.

Hi BellaScarlett, you don't know how relieved I was to get your response. I had a suspicion that the flushing was from the menopause, but I wasn't entirely sure. I'm not a big drinker either, just the occassional wine with dinner, and before my meno I used to get rosy cheeks, but nothing that made me feel uncomfortable. Now, since my meno, my cheeks grow red hot, and one of them does have more sensitive skin than the other.

I'm not a big one for doctors, not after the way the medical community dealt with both my parents (now deceased I'm sad to say), so you can imagine my surprise when my doctor suggested I have this test without even asking me any other questions. He didn't seem to know much about meno either, all he said was that yes, it could be from the meno, but he couldn't link alcohol and the effect it can have on women going through meno.

I've decided I won't have the test at this point in time and will keep searching through this forum in case other women have had the same problem.

I am really grateful that you wrote about this, and also to know that both your sister and mum went through it. It certainly makes me feel that I am not alone in this. Thank you so much