bub@ames-lm.UUCP (Bubbette McLeod) (02/03/84)
After getting totally wrenched out of shape from drinking too much
gewurtztraminer, champagne, and single malt scotch on New Year's Eve,
I have developed a desire for a better hangover a cure.
I already know about drinking lots of water, taking vitamin B
(before, during, and after), and menudo (yum, yum) - but unfortunately
none of these worked on New Year's morning.
Any suggestions (besides temperance)?
-bub
{hao,menlo70}!ames-lm!bublat@wbux5.UUCP (02/03/84)
<-line-gobbler Hmmm...I can't think of anything offhand (besides hair of the dog), but I know I can't drink water the morning after....I get drunk all over again. For me, a strong Bloody Mary usually does the trick :-). -- Laurie Topor [ihnp4, houxf, mhuxt]!wbux5!lat CSO \ 185 Monmouth Parkway \ West Long Branch, NJ 07733 \ (203)-870-7491
ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP (Dave Ihnat, Chicago, IL) (02/04/84)
Ok, you asked for it! This has been an important topic for me, and I haven't hesitated to incorporate the best of both personal experience with the recommendations of the "Masters". So, following is the method I use for those really incredible hangovers...the ones where I wake up under the mattress. (I own a water bed.) Now, this isn't just try-and-fail; some of the following was reasoned from many discussions with nurses and doctors who are fellow imbibers; the rest, extracted from an excellent text, "The Hangover Handbook", by David E. Outerbridge (Harmony Books, New York, copyright 1981 by David E. Outerbridge and Rae Lindsay, ISBN: 0-517-545845 (cloth), 0-517-543567 (paper)). (That ought to convince you that this is real!) This text confirmed many of my medical speculations, and in addition, provides detailed medical descriptions of just what you're doing to yourself when over-indulging in drink; numerous reasons to ignore the terrible effects you just learned about; anecdotes throughout history concerning this oldest of pasttimes; and, finally, dozens of remedies, rated according to their efficicacy. So, on with... PROBLEM: Why do you feel horrible? ANSWER: To simplify, you're dehydrated and your blood electrolytes are shot to hell. You've loaded yourself with impurities, too--congeners and aldehydes, which are poisons in their own right. These have to be metabolized, requiring protein and oxygen. Alcohol causes important elements such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium to be temporarily unavailable, leading (in part) to tremors. (How? Not here. Study the books.) It also washes away vitamins B1, B6, and C. Alcohol inhibits REM sleep--this is why you can sleep 8 hours, and still be tired and irritable. Finally, neurons react to the presence of a depressant such as alcohol by becoming more sensitive; it takes time to re-adapt. Thus, the sensitivity to light, sound, etc. So, of all the offered remedies, I've settled on the following; in light of the foregoing discussion, you should be able to guess the reason for each component. 1) DRINKING IS AN ART. Be an artist. Plan these things; eat a *hearty* meal beforehand, high in protein and minerals. The old bit about grease is, surprisingly, not too crazy. The slower the rate of absorption, the better. Incidentally, vitamin C is a chelating agent for numerous congeners, especially aldehyde; so is cabbage. Stoke up before drinking! 2) AVOID THE WORST. If you have a tendency to drink light liquors, indulge it. The darker the liquor--bourbon, as opposed to vodka--the more impurities. (This is, of course, almost impossible to do.) I don't do this; Jack Daniels' is my bane and my joy. Usually in reverse order. 3) GO TO BED: Here, you may look ahead. Take a few glasses of water to anticipate the dehydration. Also, take the following witches' brew--lay it out before leaving, if you may forget. If you don't do it tonight, then do it when you get up; but your stomach, after you've scoured the lining with alcohol, may not love it: Vitamins: A - 2x normal daily dosage B1 - 4x normal daily dosage B6 - 4x normal daily dosage C - 500-1000 mg Minerals: Nioxin - 10-20 mg Calcium - 250 mg Magnesium - 250 mg Potassium - 1 tsp. KCl solution. 3) SLEEP! If you do enough of this, you may even miss the whole thing. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to get up. Like for work...so we go to: 4) REMEDIAL ACTION: You already did it, with or without the above precautions, and HAVE to get up. Now is the time to recover: -Drink fluids. Contrary to popular fables, you won't get drunk again, although you may feel light-headed or dizzy; understand that your body has been ABUSED. In light of the above explanations, preferentially drink fruit juices--vitamins, especially C, and sugar for your depleted metabolism--or even soda pop, if you must. AVOID diet sodas; while they provide fluid replenishment, that's all. You need more. Incidentally, a cold watermelon provides liquid and simple sugars, and the cold feels good both in the mouth and throat. -Take a hot shower. Obviously, this will speed the metabolism, aside from washing that hideous stench of stale smoke and sweat from your trembling body. Along the same lines, run a mile, workout, or whatever else you tend to lean toward to work your metabolism up to a higher pitch. You'll feel worse during the workout, but better much sooner. (I cheat here. I'll take a hot sauna over the workout, but WARNING! Your body is shaky; it may not be able to take the same sauna-punishment when hungover as when sober, so use caution.) -EAT. No matter how it feels, eat a full meal. Especially lean toward foods rich in protein, vitamins, and--you guessed--cabbage! -SLEEP. If you can, go back to sleep. Otherwise, don't forget to take your vitamins if you forgot them before going to bed. By this time, you will probably still feel 'not quite right', but you will have purged yourself of most of the foul symptoms. FINALLY: Avoid aspirin. Your headache and body pains and tremors are a combination of a lot of things, and the aspirin (or Tylenol, or whatever) will not be able to solve them. If you need an antacid, well, maybe...but wait until after eating and drinking some fruit juices and water. Finally...the one problem I mentioned above, that I haven't addressed, is the neuron sensitivity. Believe it or not, a small amount of the hair of the dog *will* help. The single Bloody Mary will help...have it before eating. This was longer than I meant it to be, but this *is* a serious subject. Believe me, this regimen is easy to follow and will make it distressingly easy for you to shrug off incredible binges! From the tired liver of Dave Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz
grd@iwu1d.UUCP (grd) (02/08/84)
In response to a possible hangover cure, I would suggest what an owner
of a local tavern once explained to me. The suggestion was to eat dairy
products the day after. What I found that worked fairly well was to
eat cheese and drink milk. Cottage cheese is also good. Another
suggestion could be to take aspirin before you go to bed if you
think you've had a good night. A word of caution is needed here. I
would not normally take anything but tylenol or aspirin and use in
LOW dosages (2 max). Aside from this temperance is 100 % effective.
Garry Daly
iwu1d!grdkwmc@hou5d.UUCP (02/08/84)
I have heard that alcohol with aspirin is 100% certain to cause small (temporary?) stomach ulcers. This I heard at a Bell Labs colloquium on gastro-endroscopy (sp?). Ken Cochran hou5d!kwmc
fish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (02/08/84)
(oo)
Sorry, Bubbette, there isn't any. If you drink too much, it does a
certain amount of damage to your body, and that takes time to straighten
itself out. I'm not preaching, mind you, just stating the facts.
Now as to the symptoms, one thing that does help is to drink lots of
liquid, preferably orange or grapefruit juice. This is full of fructose,
which helps your body metabolize alcohol, and it replaces your fluids.
Drinking dehydrates you terribly, you know. Other than that, you can just
take aspirin for the headache, and wait for your body to recover.
The only thing I've ever found that comes close to being a cure is Codeine.
The next time you get dental work done, it would do you good to save a
little of your prescription for those mornings after. Codeine won't cure
anything, but it will make you feel better. DON'T take it until you wake
up feeling awful the next morning -- it interacts with alcohol. Wash it
down with a quart of O.J., and go back to bed. You might feel better by
afternoon, especially if you sleep longer.
Besides abstinence, the only way to avoid a hangover is to drink moderately.
Next time, try keeping your consumption down to one drink every 45 minutes or
so. This will give your system a chance to keep up with you. You can
stay slightly buzzed, but you won't get trashed. And don't mix your
liquor. That combination you mentioned would give a whale a hangover!
--
Bob Fishell
ihnp4!ihu1g!fishbch@unc.UUCP (Byron Howes ) (02/09/84)
Ah. Everybody with their own hangover cure and most of them contradictory. My own pet cure is: (1) Don't go to bed until you are reasonably sober, that is you have metabolized or otherwise gotten rid of (boy, is *that* a euphemism!) the better part of the alchohol in your system. (2) Drink plenty of fruit juice or water -- hyperfluidate yourself to ward off the effects of dehydration. A friend of mine who is an epidimiologist believes dehydration to be one of the primary causes of hangover discomfort. (3) Eat bulk. Bread, cereal (with milk), or anything similar so as to settle your stomach. (4) Take two aspirin and go to bed. Since I have been going through this ritual my mornings after have been considerably more pleasant, though I haven't found a way to whip the "washed out" feeling I get the next day. From the beer drinking capitol of the world! -- Byron Howes UNC - Chapel Hill (decvax!mcnc!unc!bch)
fahey@inuxd.UUCP (Randall Fahey) (02/13/84)
Since no one has yet metioned this one, I'll contribute: A former roomate of mine once swore by activated charcoal as the ultimate hangover prevention/cure. It is available from drug stores in capsules or chewable tablets ( Not recommended if you like white teeth...) and is usually prescribed to control flatulence (may as well kill two birds with the same stone). The suggestion originally came from a Harvard Medical Journal. It was not given as a guarenteed cure, but the author had done some research and it worked for him. At any rate, after swallowing/chewing several of the little guys before turning in for the night, my roomate never once woke up in a bad way (or at least never admitted it). R. Fahey ATT-CP Indianapolis
sid@linus.UUCP (Sid Stuart) (02/28/84)
I like to take a megadose of vitamine B's and go back to bed for an hour. I feel a lot better when I wake up the second time. The dosage I take is usually labled B-50, it has 50 mg of most of the B complexes. sid@linus.uucp
ed@unisoft.UUCP (Ed Gould) (03/02/84)
Actually there is a real preventive for hangovers. Hangover symptoms are often just dehydration symptoms, brought on because alcohol is a diuretic. Drinking lots of water after the alcohol helps. -- Ed Gould ucbvax!mtxinu!ed
bobgian@psuvax.UUCP (Bob Giansiracusa) (03/02/84)
There is one very simple cure for hangovers, guaranteed to work: Don't drink. -- Bob Giansiracusa (Dept of Computer Science, Penn State Univ, 814-865-9507) Arpa: bobgian%PSUVAX1.BITNET@Berkeley Bitnet: bobgian@PSUVAX1.BITNET CSnet: bobgian@penn-state.CSNET UUCP: bobgian@psuvax.UUCP -or- allegra!psuvax!bobgian USnail: 333 Whitmore Lab, Penn State Univ, University Park, PA 16802
pat@pyuxqq.UUCP (Pat M. Iurilli) (03/04/84)
There is a sure way to severely lessen the effects of hangovers, besided not
drinking in the first place. If you take a strong B-complex vitamin that is
high in B-12, it counteracts many of the effects of hangovers, and reduces
others. It seems that drinking depletes some of the body's supply of B
vitamins, so taking one a few hours before drinking will be a big help.
Pat Iurilli Bell Communications Research Poscataway, NJ
{ihnp4,harpo}!pyuxqq!pat
NO FLAMES PLEASE!!!!!!!!ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP (Dave Ihnat, Chicago, IL) (03/05/84)
Subject: Re: Hangover Cure Wanted! ... There is one very simple cure for hangovers, guaranteed to work: Don't drink. -- Bob Giansiracusa (Dept of Computer Science, Penn State Univ, 814-865-9507) What a Disgusting Notion!!!! Dave Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz
clark@sdcsla.UUCP (03/08/84)
One other thing that I find to help is to replenish not just the
water content of my poor dehydrated body, but the electrolyte level
(that has been trashed as well). This is not news, but the way I do it
(besides massive doses of fruit juice) is massive doses of one of the
sport electrolyte replacement drinks. Specifically, I use Gatorade
because I can get the cans of the powder and mix up a liter on demand.
Seems to help.
>From the shaky hands of -- Clark (Quinn)jdb@qubix.UUCP (Jeff Bulf) (03/09/84)
from: Bob Giansiracusa (Dept of Computer Science, Penn State Univ, 814-865-9507) > There is one very simple cure for hangovers, guaranteed to work: > > Don't drink. As we all know "Virtue is *it's own* reward. :-) -- Dr Memory ...{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!qubix!jdb
hans@log-hb.UUCP (Hans Albertsson) (03/09/84)
<My Humble Sacrifice.. What's small, green, lives 3 nodes down the net and
eats lines? Why, the little green line-eater 3 nodes down the net, of
course! >
As far as I know, vitamin B12 affects the nervous system
activity indirectly, through lechitine & stuff.
Also, some vitamins affect metabolism, and may increase
ones burning rate for alcohol.
It costs a bit too, obviously, since the effect goes away
third or fourth time around in a single month.
I'm presently staying sober, as a better way. Goes better
with driving, too.
{philabs,decvax}!mcvax!enea!log-hb!hans