Zero sheets to the Wind

What’s it like to be allergic to alcohol? Just ask engineering senior Chad Crisostomo.

By Chris Robbins
Illustration by Jason Candler

Here is where the interactive will be linked. Decide if you want to link to a new window or another template page.

Three sips.

Three sips of water can be refreshing, but three sips of beer are just too much for Chad Crisostomo.

Crisostomo, 22, is an engineering senior who is allergic to alcohol, and the previously mentioned three sips are enough to put an end to his night. The minute the alcohol makes its way into his
stomach, he starts cramping, and pretty soon it’s even money on where it’s making its exit.

He first discovered he couldn’t drink during his sophomore year. While at a friend’s party, Crisostomo drank two Mike’s Hard Lemonades on a dare from his roommate and started throwing up every 15 minutes. When he finally recovered, he decided to take the hint and hasn’t done it since.

“For fun,” Crisostomo says, “I play video games and go to concerts.”

So how do his parents feel about it?

“I figured it was best not to tell them, to avoid the hassle,” he says.

His mom didn’t want him to drink nor have any friends that do, and his dad never expressed an opinion on the
subject. They still don’t know.

Just because he can’t drink doesn’t mean he doesn’t to go to parties. Crisostomo frequently moonlights as the designated driver for his friends.

“I figure I’m still around the fun because I’m always the DD,” he says.

But it’s not as if it was a choice between that and AA, anyway.