Some people are reporting alcohol intolerance after a COVID-19 infection. There’s little research on the symptoms, and doctors believe it could be a form of long COVID.

Last December, only three months after my first COVID-19 infection, I got the latest vaccine booster. The next day I felt unwell, and the day after that I tested positive a second time for the virus.

It was a bad stroke of luck to catch COVID before the vaccine had time to build resistance in my body. Thankfully, I was negative within a week — a mild case, or so I thought. Immediately after recovering, I noticed something was off. Every time I drank alcohol my face would feel hot and flush red. Then I’d get dizzy and a deep exhaustion would set in.

Three months later, those reactions haven’t gone away. If I have even one drink, I’m so lightheaded and fatigued that I can’t even contribute to a conversation. It’s beyond simply feeling tired or sleepy — more like a deep lethargy that even makes sitting upright on a barstool difficult. The experience of drinking has become so unpleasant that I’ve pretty much stopped entirely, forfeiting the nightly glass of wine I usually sip while I cook dinner. Gin, I’ve discovered through trial and error, is tolerable in small doses, but even then, I don’t feel great.

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Turns out, it’s not just me.

Last month, I posted about the phenomenon on Instagram,........

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