Cure my hangover

emergen-C, pho

I eat a little bread and maybe some beer nuts.. oh... and I don't drink too much either.

If I wake up the next day with a hangover it means I drank more than I should have and wanted too the night before. There is no pre-drink preperations. I throw up a lot the next day and feel nautious and get a bad headache. I feel like death and the taste in mouth doesn't go away no matter what I eat or drink or clean it with.
What I also do the next day is pray that I didn't do anything I am gonna regret. I wait and get anxious. Anxiety is my hangover rememdy.

drink TONS of water. We had this pilot once when I worked at the airport that showed up drunk and by the time he was tested (like 2 hours) he was fine.

Gatorade, pedialyte yes its all about potassium, thats what they give you in E.R.

While I am not the most qualified member to speak about how to go by curing hangovers; however, I am qualified to give some types of advice that I picked up on.

Mix it up while you are drinking, meaning alcoholic beverage to non-alcoholic beverage. And drinking a lot of water before you go to bed so that you don't dehydrate yourself. Also you can add lemon in your H2O because it replenishes your body with vitamin C which in turn soothes your stomach. Even adding honey in a drink will help cure hangovers because of simple sugars like fructose. Obey your thirst! In fact, I even heard that for some people Gatorade works or any type of related sports drink. The reason I believe from my basic biology knowledge would be because you need to replace the essential salts and minerals flushed out during the many visits to the bathroom and or puking.

I even heard that when you wake up you should drink coffee because coffee constricts blood vessels in the brain and counters the cerebral blood pressure that amplifies headaches. However, you will need to drink another liquid like juice so you won't get dehydrated.

You can also "crunch and munch", which is eating a snack before or during your bacchic binge. This is because you will add carbohydrates which decrease acidity. Or you can lie in a dark room with a cold compress on your head and wait it out like a man.

[QUOTE=morey]Gatorade, pedialyte yes its all about potassium, thats what they give you in E.R.[/QUOTE]
If you mix vodka with Gatorade it takes care of this while you're drinking!
I'm a fan of screwdrives cause the oj keeps my hydrated and whatnot, but I don't really get hangovers
also eating bananas helps with the whole potassium thing

For me, once I have a hangover, I'm screwed. I just keep drinking a lot of water through out the day and it slowly gets better. If I don't drink any water, I'm no good all day.

To prevent it though, I usually drink a huge glass of water and then eat something. Then, right before I go to bed I'll drink more water. I don't usually get bad hangovers since I started doing that.

One thing you don't really want to do is take aspiren (sp?) or any other types of headache medicine. It is really bad for your liver if you take them before, after, or even the day after a big binge.

Wow i think this is my first successful thread (9 replies in 4 hours, a first for me)
thanks everyone for getting back to me so quickly
keep 'em coming.

apparantly ginger is supposed to be pretty good at curing nausea. Anyone have any crazy old wives tales, like: say a hail mary backwards and sleep with one sock on. (i just made that up, do as i ask not as i do)

[QUOTE=PGoutis01] One thing you don't really want to do is take aspiren (sp?) or any other types of headache medicine. It is really bad for your liver if you take them before, after, or even the day after a big binge.[/QUOTE]
Oh the aspirin is bad for your liver huh? Good thing all that liquor isn't.

i read it up there somewhere-
drink lots and lots and lots of water.
have a drink- have some water have another drink- have more water.
headaches and the like are usually caused by dehydration so if you chase the liquor with good ol H20 you dont get them.
once you get home from your night of boozing- drink more water.
etc etc.

If you are drinking and you don't want a hangover never stop drinking. That actually does work.

[QUOTE=Proton]Anyone have any crazy old wives tales, like: say a hail mary backwards and sleep with one sock on. (i just made that up, do as i ask not as i do)[/QUOTE]

Nothing that involves prayers and socks, but I've heard ancient Romans ate fried canaries. Also rubbing half a lemon under each armpit, but you have to rub the lemon clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern; and if you believe in hoodoo voodoo, stick 13 black-headed pins in the cork of the bottle that gave you the hangover.

I'm one of those lucky bastards who doesn't get hungover. However, to help feel more energetic (at least, more normal instead of tired and mopey), definitely go with bread (pizza helps a lot), and sports drinks as mentioned numerous times above, or water if you're in a pinch.

[QUOTE=Proton]please

give me your best prevention methods, what you do while your drinking, when you get home, the next morning. Any special teas, herbal remedies? Is it all about electrolytes? Do you sleep a funny way. At the wrong end of the bed, upsidedown?
Give me the good and the bad
so please, cure my (characters) hangover[/QUOTE]

[I]caveat emptor:[/I] I realize some of this is already stated above.

A quart of buttermilk first thing in the morning, which raises your blood sugar and starts rehydrating you, curing the two primary causes of a hangover.

Also, if you get the munchies at bedtime from a boozer, it's your body telling you something. Eat. And drink a lot of water, as much as you can before bed.

I'm not prone to them myself, but when I've had them they've been whoppers. One led me to try the 'hair of the dog' cure, and I can testify that it only made things worse. Much, much worse. I traded a headache, muscle fatigue and an unfocused mind for all that plus a puking fit. From one beer.

I've heard lots of superstitions about mixing grapes and grains and so on, but as far as I know alcohol is alcohol in terms of hangover potential. What I've noticed is that with beer, especially good beer that I'd sip, it's almost impossible for me to get anywhere near drunk enough to have a hangover. Plus, beer has a lot more water in it. It's probably still a net negative in terms of hydration, but not like straight whiskey or other spirits.

The other thing with beers, especially something like a nice IPA is the stuff that leaves mouthfeel (body) in beer is unfermentable complex sugars (carmelized sugars and other simple carbohydrates), which probably help keep your blood sugar up, again as compared to straight liquor.

And those carbs mean the beer is, to use Miller's advertising argot, more 'filling.' If it's more filling, you're less likely to guzzle it down in quantities that will leve you falling down drunk. I'm not saying it can't be done, it's just that someone who isn't setting out to get hammered is less likely to get bombed on a proper beer than a mass market lager.

That gets a little beyond the 'cure' angle and into the 'prevention' angle.

If you don't like buttermilk, I'm sure other things would work just as well. A quart of V8, regular milk, orange juice or whatever.

I've also heard people who swear by ice cream, esp. milkshakes, which would scratch the same itch. Elmore Leonard used that in one of his books, 'Killshot.' Leonard's a great one to read for realistic drunks and the consequences thereof. Voice of experience, been AA for over 30 years but I guess he used to really put it away.

I have lots of experience with hangovers, thanks to drinking lots of shit beer and cheap liquor in college. Once you have a bad hangover, you're pretty much fucked. There are some things you can do to take the edg off, but you're pretty much worthless once a bad one sets in. The key is deifnitely prevention. There are two methods I've used that can get you reliably hammered without the repercussions of a nasty hangover:

Method #1 - Brew your own beer, bottle condition it, and drink the yeast residue.. It looks nasty but if you make a beer with a lot of flavor you won't notice the yeast. When I was brewing regularly I made stouts which can completely hide the yeast visibly. There are actually a lot of vitamins in the dead yeast, which somehow act as a preventative.

Method #2 - As you are ready to go to sleep, do all of the following:
1 - get 1 cup orange juice and drink it with 2 ibuprofin and 1 multivitamin pill
2 - drink 1 pint water
3 - brush your teeth

I have rescued dozens of people from hangovers with this method. You can substitute sunny D for the OJ in a pinch, but that makes some people puke. And if you feel sick while drinking, let yourself puke, and then drink a lot of water to replace the fluids. Puking can help avoid a hangover if you rehydrate properly.

Good luck,
jase

i agree about the prevention tactic. after st patrick's day, there wasn't a damned thing i could do besides rest and breathe and try to drink water. i drank some diet pepsi, but when the boy called to say he was bringing home some bread and cheese, that inspired some pretty violent backflips of the stomach... it wasn't until that night that i could handle some dry saltines and chicken broth. otherwise, lots of water and snacking tends to put the brakes on things. that night, however, i just plain drank too much. way too much. more than anyone of my constitution should ever approach. it was really, really stupid and irresponsible, and a good, stiff reminder of how i need to remember a little temperance... it was fun, but in no way worth the next couple of days.

When I drink enough that I know I am going to be hungover the next morning, I just gag myself before I go to bed. I don't know if Im tricking myself into thinking its working, but I just puke all the shit up, drink an ass load of water. Eat some crackers, and hit the sack.

Seems to work for me.

I hope you're only getting drunk like once a year. Otherwise you are destroying your throat...

I have chronic anxiety attacks where I puke, so my throat was gone a long time ago. God I hope I never go to prison....Anyhow, I gotta die of something right?

it says 'CURE my hangover' not 'PREVENT my hangover'. amateurs.

[QUOTE=JPledger]When I drink enough that I know I am going to be hungover the next morning, I just gag myself before I go to bed. I don't know if Im tricking myself into thinking its working, but I just puke all the shit up, drink an ass load of water. Eat some crackers, and hit the sack.

Seems to work for me.[/QUOTE]
that's what i did on st patrick's day right when i got home. i was so blotto i barely knew the difference anyway. of course the next day my stomach took care of itself all by its lonesome. and with the help of snuffy using the word "cheese."

the guy in the shining chews aspirin when he has a hangover. Ive never tried it with a hangover, but i have a headache 24/7 (literally) and have used it to get rid of the headaches quicker.
also, ive read that a bloody mary works. my main problem is always my stomach feeling like shit, (ive kind of gotten used to headaches) so i take a coupla tums or drink mylanta or something. never works as well as i think it will, but its better than nothing.

[QUOTE=sacredchao23]the guy in the shining chews aspirin when he has a hangover. Ive never tried it with a hangover, but i have a headache 24/7 (literally) and have used it to get rid of the headaches quicker.
also, ive read that a bloody mary works. my main problem is always my stomach feeling like shit, (ive kind of gotten used to headaches) so i take a coupla tums or drink mylanta or something. never works as well as i think it will, but its better than nothing.[/QUOTE]

I believe it's Excedrin in 'The Shining' (though its' been 15 years since I read it). The thing with that brand is it's a cocktail of aspirin, Tylonol and caffeine. Caffeine helps analgesics work on headaches.

The acetominophen in combination with booze is extra-hard on the liver, but addicts have a way of rationalizing that sort of thing.

I mentioned earlier that I rarely get hangovers, but I remember a couple of times where I had major ones, dry heaves and all, and Alka Seltzer helped. It's got aspirin in it too, and helps calm the stomach.

But get into your character's head and think about what he/she would reach for. Some people might grab the hydrocodone they have left over from their last dental work. They'd be getting stoned on something else, but their head would quit hurting and it'd plug into some of those euphoria centers in the brain. Maybe a heavy dose of that chased with Alka Seltzer and a couple of sugary Starbucks 'doubleshots' cold out of the fridge.

[QUOTE=Proton]please

give me your best prevention methods, what you do while your drinking, when you get home, the next morning. Any special teas, herbal remedies? Is it all about electrolytes? Do you sleep a funny way. At the wrong end of the bed, upsidedown?
Give me the good and the bad
so please, cure my (characters) hangover[/QUOTE]
Preperation: Before you go drinking, prepare your stomach. Eat something greasy (like pizza). If you don't want to eat, swallow a tablespoon of olive oil before drinking. This lines your stomach so the alchohol isn't absorbed into the blood stream as quickly.

The Act: You have a few choices while drinking:
- Eat some bread to absorb some of the alchohol (the effectiveness of this varies).
- Drink lots of water it between your other drinks.
- (Don't criticize for this) If you are planning on drinking a lot that night, go to the bathroom after every three or four drinks. If you are an amateur, stck your finger down your throat and make yourself throw up. If you're a pro (or you hate sticking your finger down your throat) you can clench your stomach muscles the right way several times in succession, and this will make you vomit. After you have thrown up, eat a couple pieces of bread or something greasy, wait 10 minutes, and your good to drink again for another four or five drinks. This helps you get really drunk, but doesn't let your blood stream absorb as much alcohol as if you hadn't thrown up.

- After treatment:
When you get home, drink at least 1 gallon of water with 2 Tylenol or IB Profen. Don't do it with Aspirin or any other blood thinner, because the last thing you want to do is have thinner blood right now. Some people also like to take a multi-vitamin, but I find that it makes me too nauseated to be a whole lot of help.

Hope this helped.

Robin

Also, when you wake up, if you have a hangover, eat burnt toast. When you get alcohol poisoning and get your stomach pumped at the hospital, they give you charcoal to help. The burnt part of the toast has the same effect (only it's a smaller amount, so it's to a lesser degree).

Oh, sorry, left one out. If you hook someone up to an IV they'll be great in about an hour or so!

[QUOTE=notreallytrillian]Preperation: Before you go drinking, prepare your stomach. Eat something greasy (like pizza). If you don't want to eat, swallow a tablespoon of olive oil before drinking. This lines your stomach so the alchohol isn't absorbed into the blood stream as quickly.

The Act: You have a few choices while drinking:
- Eat some bread to absorb some of the alchohol (the effectiveness of this varies).
- Drink lots of water it between your other drinks.
- (Don't criticize for this) If you are planning on drinking a lot that night, go to the bathroom after every three or four drinks. If you are an amateur, stck your finger down your throat and make yourself throw up. If you're a pro (or you hate sticking your finger down your throat) you can clench your stomach muscles the right way several times in succession, and this will make you vomit. After you have thrown up, eat a couple pieces of bread or something greasy, wait 10 minutes, and your good to drink again for another four or five drinks. This helps you get really drunk, but doesn't let your blood stream absorb as much alcohol as if you hadn't thrown up.

- After treatment:
When you get home, drink at least 1 gallon of water with 2 Tylenol or IB Profen. Don't do it with Aspirin or any other blood thinner, because the last thing you want to do is have thinner blood right now. Some people also like to take a multi-vitamin, but I find that it makes me too nauseated to be a whole lot of help.

Hope this helped.

Robin

Also, when you wake up, if you have a hangover, eat burnt toast. When you get alcohol poisoning and get your stomach pumped at the hospital, they give you charcoal to help. The burnt part of the toast has the same effect (only it's a smaller amount, so it's to a lesser degree).[/QUOTE]

Medically speaking some of that advise is garbage. The activated charcoal treatment in the ER compared to burnt toast, you're talking about the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing one.

If you're puking drunk, that [I][B]is[/B][/I] alcohol poisoning. Mixing some sort of ritual gagging in is not going to save your ass. Four or five shots more? Kids die from 'power hours' and other rituals that encourage drinking enormous quantities. For that matter, the Russian vodka shot competition, last time I heard about it, the winner died of alcohol poisoning hours after claiming the trophy.

Some of what you're saying about greasy food is legit, but I have to question the value of intentionally ingesting extra fats to allow you to take on alcohol you're hoping not to absorb.

Whether you take a hangover as a natural consequence of excess along the lines of the Thanksgiving Day nap, or if you (or your character) wake up to a nasty surprise, I can't see where dubious tips on wasting resources is helpful.

I'm far from a teetotaler, but trying to use toast as an activated charcoal treatment, that's too much.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]Medically speaking some of that advise is garbage. The activated charcoal treatment in the ER compared to burnt toast, you're talking about the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing one.

If you're puking drunk, that [I][B]is[/B][/I] alcohol poisoning. Mixing some sort of ritual gagging in is not going to save your ass. Four or five shots more? Kids die from 'power hours' and other rituals that encourage drinking enormous quantities. For that matter, the Russian vodka shot competition, last time I heard about it, the winner died of alcohol poisoning hours after claiming the trophy.

Some of what you're saying about greasy food is legit, but I have to question the value of intentionally ingesting extra fats to allow you to take on alcohol you're hoping not to absorb.

Whether you take a hangover as a natural consequence of excess along the lines of the Thanksgiving Day nap, or if you (or your character) wake up to a nasty surprise, I can't see where dubious tips on wasting resources is helpful.

I'm far from a teetotaler, but trying to use toast as an activated charcoal treatment, that's too much.[/QUOTE]

He didn't necessarily ask for what worked, he asked for what people believe works - the good and the bad. Admittedly, some of this is bad. I was just reciting methods my friends used in college. But, if you go to a doctor and ask him about the toast, he will tell you that it will help at least some. They give charcoal in the hospital for alcohol poising ... most hangovers are no where close to this, so toast is at least slightly helpful.

gatorade, greasy food, a multi vitamin, but the only real way is to make yourself a cocktail.  'climb back up the tree you fell out of.'             ' the beer I had for breakfast ,wasn.t bad so I had one more for dessert.'

My own two cents on prevention pretty much repeats everyone else...I do one water, one beer and can go on like that for a long time and usually wake up fine. Also drinking to the point where you're still drunk in the morning helps too, since you can rehydrate while still intoxicated and not feeling a hangover, granted that's excess and not recommended by your doctor.

As for curing a hangover should you get one...sports drinks do help, I prefer ones with lots of b vitamins like the 'revive' vitamin-water. Also I've found midol works wonders too (that's what I get for living with women and not keeping a store of advil). The caffeine makes a big difference for a hangover induced headache. The cramp meds may or may not be useful, it's a diuretic/antihistamine so I'm thinking not. With that in mind I'm sure excedrin probably works just as well or better since it's just acetominophen, aspirin and caffeine.

Also the old alcoholic's adage of "hair of dog" does actually work quite well. But to have another drink when you wake up feeling like shit takes a lot of mental willpower to overcome the biological aversion reaction...that or an addiction.

Activated carbon is really a myth. The food industry uses active carbon to filter impurities from distilled liquors...that means you pour vodka through an active carbon filter (say a brita) and water AND alcohol both come out...but the impurities are left behind.

Then you also have the issue that burnt toast is NOT active carbon...it's just regular carbon without the high surface area that makes active carbon unique. Active carbon requires preparation and treatment...it's not common naturally.

Finally you have the issue that active carbon treatment for alcohol poisoning, it's a myth. At best the activated carbon will leach out impurities from the blood stream, or filter toxins still in the stomach. But since it doesn't work on ethanol, hospitals don't administer it. Active carbon DOES work on methanol which is where the misconception comes in.

Really more an FYI and to clarify the doctor bit since it was inaccurate. People do eat toast, they do sell those active carbon hangover/drinking pills and the such, they just don't work beyond placebo effect.

What I do is : I drink water while I'm consuming alcohol. I usually carry a bottle of water with me in case of need, I've been doing this for a few months and in the next morning I don't feel as bad as I used to. in the next morning I usually drink orange juice or vitamin drinks and I take a little nap. In case I have work the next day I drink a fuckload of coffe and water all through the day. I dont use guronsan or other suplements for hangover but I do recognize its merits.

I find sleeping it off works for me. That or I have another beer. It make take a long time to finish beer number one but once you've got it down your neck you're all good again. If you don't fancy that...sure water does the trick

I always drink lots of water, pop a couple of tylenol, then have a big, greasy breakfast. Chocolate milk afterwards. There's something about the thickness of the greasy food and the milk, it coats your stomach or something, always works for me.

the Dec. '08 British Medical Journal had a study finding no scientific evidence for any hangover cure or effective prevention.

But that's probably no fun--this is fiction, dammit!

Without knowing your character or story, my inclination is to go with the most bizarre, cringe-inducing (preemptive puking), or even potentially harmful (washing aspirin down w/ OJ) folk remedy you can find. I'm not personally familiar with any, though - sorry.

And despite that study, I swear by drinking a shitload of water before bed.

Just my 0.5 cents

-Paul

LOTS of water, while you're drinking, before sleeping and in the morning. A bit of experience will thought the character to leave the bottle near the bed. It's not uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night craving for water.

Vitamins in the morning are good.
Yoghurt is great as it feeds and embalms the sensitive stomach. Also it's dairy so it helps detoxication.
Sour (acidy?) and fatty soups are great too.
Brine (that water from fermented cabbage) is god's gift if you have it

i was told the modern optimist is the person who drinks a bottle of two of wine, a few pints of lager and then some shots to finish...and then a pint or two of water before bed

practically, your body's lost water, energy and salt. so sports drinks would help a lot or you could get a litre of water, put in a teaspoon of salt and then a couple of tablespoons of sugar.

more interestingly, i've known bloody marys to be advocated, sleeping with one foot on the floor and clinging onto the mattress for dear life will stop the room spinning, snorting vinegar, eating 15 olives stuffed with garlic followed by a french stick with sesame seeds.

course, mind over matter, so you could have a character convinced something crazy does work and the placebo effect takes hold and it actually seems to?

Eat oatmeal the morning after you drink. And contrary to popular belief, don't drink coffee. It will just dehydrate you more. Drinking water while drinking alcohol helps too.