Hang over Cures

Nevyn

Surpised we have not had a thread on this already.
I am rather sub par this morning due to some rather lovely wine
and my traditional hangover cure seems not to be working.

So what combinations gets you sorted and feeling like a fuctioning human again ?

Karl Hungus

Lots of water before bed, then in the morning, alka selzer, shower, and something good to eat is my usual if I'm feeling like a monkey is throwing fecaes around in my skull. Other than that, I've really got nothing special.

whiskeyman

prevention is better than cure tbh.
Eat plenty of soakage and get a sneeky waters in during the session if you feel things are going a bit too fast.
Time is usually the only healer when a bad hangover hits.... but luzozade, tea and toast help the pain

steveland?

That orange Lucozade stuff always works wonders. Pricey but worth it the night after.

Have 2 bottles beside your bed at all times!

Ag marbh

If you remember nothing beats 2 painkillers and pints of what before bed. Oh and I forgot to mention more drink actually gets you going I find!

Crucifix

Water with telly, followed by fruit juice and food, followed by Pepsi and PC. If I have to go to college or somesuch, I usually make do with water and constant complaining.
Edit: Also, seeing someone else who looks more hungover than I do; good old fashioned schadenfreude really does help.

billy the squid

It is best to make a mental note of which drinks cause the worst hangovers for you and go easy on them. Different drinks cause different effects for different people.

I have found that having a bottle (2 litre) of lucozade in the house is always a good idea. it helps to hydrate you and replaces blood sugar.

I wouldnt subscribe to either using more alcohol, (the curer, hair of the dog) or using painkillers as hangover cures.

WhiteWashMan

2 pints of water before going to bed, and then another pint when you need to get up at 4 oclock to have a wee, and then an extra hour in bed.

should be good to go.

steveland?

whiskeyman wrote:

Actually, I'm not sure if this thread will be allowed here.
It's supposed to be for enjoyment of finer alcoholic beverages, and enjoying them responsibly.
Having a hangover, usually indicates an abuse of said products.
Can be in same realm of mentioning that cheap lager from Holland with a gilt appearance....

Why?

I only had 4 pints last night, wasn't drunk but still woke up with a killer headache (which I still have , despite the two bottles of lucozade...)

I don't see why hangover cure/prevention should be banned

direbadger

This stuff apparently works on the typical hangover headache. I'm still not sure if I think homeopathy is witchdoctery or not yet though!

Things that actually do work are Milk Thistle and Vitamin C. Or another two pints of Beamish...

Ravage1616

Big fry up the next morning does the trick for me!

monkeyfudge

billy the squid wrote:

I wouldnt subscribe to either using more alcohol, (the curer, hair of the dog) or using painkillers as hangover cures.

I agree. More alcohol is just prolonging the inevitable and painkillers is going to put even more strain on your poor liver.

Lots of water and sleep does me the best. Or just keeping really busy... nothing worse than wallowing in a hangover and not doing anything.

stevenmu

A couple of bannanas the day before does wonders, I think it's the potassium in them helps keep you hydrated, or helps detox or something, not too sure really. They're not as effective the day after, but they do help a bit. They really come into their own though at times when you're going to be drinking fairly regularly (such as christmas), a couple of bannanas a day really makes a huge difference.

noby

I remember reading a great post on hangovers, what they are, etc. on another beer board. I must try and dig it out.

Anyway, bananas are good. But for me it's vitamin B. I'm not normally one for taking painkillers, but I do always have some vitamin B tablets on hand (or multi-vitamin). Take one or two before you head out. Some of the symptoms of a hangover are caused by a defficiency of vit.B. (and pottassium), so you're stocking up beforehand.
Here's the catch 22: any unfiltered beers (hefeweizen, real ale etc.) have yeast in them, which is rich in vitamin B. So when you drink these beers, you are replacing your vitamin B as you go.

xzanti

Has anyone tried those Life Line thingys??? They might be worth a try, I keep meaning to buy them but I never do :rolleyes:

Peace

I find that switching beers gives me god awful hangovers... take saturday night:
x pints hoegarden
y bottle budvar
z pints erdinger (exact figure is unknown)

The next day.... the horrible taste dry mouth, terrible headache, vommitting.

Doesn't seem to be so bad if i stayon a single beer all night.

I've never tried more beer the next day as a cure... but was very tempted on sunday. Typically i go for the rehydration with pints of (1/3 orange juice and 2/3 water). Often a 2hour nap mid afternoon helps settle everything down.

x/y/z are all integers greater than zero and less than infinity.

xzanti

The next day.... the horrible taste dry mouth, terrible headache, vommitting.


That has to be the worst feeling in the world.. and when your jaw gets all tingly and just know your going to barf your guts up any minute

*shudder*

rubadub

Peace wrote:

I find that switching beers gives me god awful hangovers... take saturday night:
3 pints hoegarden
1 bottle budvar
5-10 pints erdinger (exact figure is unknown)

14 pints will tend to do you no good!, you remind me of my mate "I am sick as a dog, must've been a bad burger I ate" yeah could'nt be anything to do with the 3 pints of whiskey!

Drink decent alcohol free from cogeners, ethyl acetate and methanol. I recommend skyy vodka, and of course stay hydrated

Nevyn

Hey the thread wasn't what gave you the hang over and MAJD the mod willl close it with such posts in it.

Aside from pain killers and water and juice, soup and salty crackers seem to help.

merlinsmerryman

Scrammbled egg and toast for breakfast and a Dominos pizza for lunch with plenty of Lucozade sport in between. A great one is actually just to have another drink, fantastic.

p~b

plenty of milk

Peace

Thaedydal wrote:

Hey the thread wasn't what gave you the hang over and MAJD the mod willl close it with such posts in it.

Yeah point taken there. I've edited my original post to exclude quantities of beers consumed but left in the names of the offending articles.

I would imagine discussing which beers give worse after effects is allowed.

Nevyn

Too much of anything will leave you in a heap tbh.

[nicK]

banana malt from eddie rockets..
failing that, a homemade banana milkshake also works wonders..

sound_wave

Heres what usually brings me around (after a while):
two vitamin c tabs, multi vitamin tab, can of pepsi, couple pints of water and two banannas!

Oh yeah and some metal just to sooth my head!!

Freelancer

A doctor friend of mine has the world's primo hangover cure.

500ml Saline in a wide open IV drip.

2 Of the tablets they give people undergoing kemo (before you get morally outraged at doctors squandering Health Board resources, Pharmaceutial reps (think that ep of Scrubs with Heather Lockery) and they get them free off them)

Two kick ass painkillers.

No matter how bad your hangover is half an hour of this and you are capable of a glass of wine and a nice salad.

---

She's settled down now with a kid so most of it is not available anymore, but the cheap ass version is.

Any pharmacy will sell you rehydration salts (wot they give to people suffering cronic runs) this is essentially everything you've pumped out of your liver. One or two of these (you put them in water) and it goes along way to restorting your well being.

That and a few pints of water before you go to bed and the presence of mind to keep another by the bed for the morning.

rubadub

Freelancer wrote:

500ml Saline in a wide open IV drip.

2 Of the tablets they give people undergoing kemo

If your comedown is that bad its time to find a new drug :v:

PJG

Vitamin B Complex, Vit C, milk thistle and water before you go out and again when you get in. Eat some thing with protein and fat before going to bed.

Alcohol depletes the body of all of the above that’s why we crave the fry in the morning (protein and fat).

noby

As promised. Originally posted by Wino1 on the homewinemaking.co.uk message board.


Alcohol is a potent solvent, and has the ability to dissolve most vitamins, but particularly water-soluble ones such as vitamins C, A and the B's. Because alcohol's also a diuretic (it makes you pee) it dehydrates you.

Keep yourself hydrated through the night and you'll be unlikely to feel bad in the morning. What's more, you'll minimise damage to your kidneys and liver. Add a good multivitamin pill before bed too.

In fact the vast majority of damage done to your liver and kidneys is done because your body is forced to operate through all the hours you sleep in a state of severe dehydration. Many of the perfectly ordinary chemical reactions that go on in your body and require water can still go on without water present, but they then tend to produce more toxic products. The job of your kidneys is to keep in the water whilst getting rid of the toxins; hence you put them under enormous strain by drinking a mild toxin and then being in a state of moderate dehydration.

You also have to remember that nearly all alcoholic drinks also have methanol (let's call it the bad alcohol) in them. Your liver is responsible for getting rid of methanol. When it does so it produces some really nasty chemicals that don't do your body any good at all. Whilst there's still some ethanol (normal, good alcohol) in your body, your liver only processes the methanol very slowly -- slowly enough that you can get rid of the toxic products. When there's no more ethanol (good) left though, your liver goes to work on the methanol (bad) at full speed and produces toxins so rapidly that they build up in your liver and damage it.

Stay with me...

This is the reason why "hair of the dog" or "the bloody Mary cure" works. By ingesting more ethanol you force your liver slow down its processing of methanol, reducing liver damage. Now you're not gonna believe this, but how does your body tell you you're damaging your liver? Headache and nausea.

Eggs contain an enzyme that helps to cleanse your system of the nasty methanol, which is why some old-fashioned hangover remedies include eggs. However, like all enzymes (including pectic enzyme as you wine makers know), it is denatured by high temperatures. Hence, cooked eggs work considerably less well, and well-cooked eggs don't work at all.

NECESSARY WARNINGS....

1. Drinking the morning after is the perfect way to become an alcoholic. Don't do it.
2. Eating raw or undercooked eggs can be seriously hazardous. You should look for ones certified salmonella-free.
3. Vitamin pills which contain many vitamins (especially vitamin A) can be dangerous if taken at a dose above the recommended.

SUMMARY OF ADVICE....

1. Don't drink too much in the first place!
2. Drink plenty of water before bed and take a vitamin tab or eat some fruit.
3. If the dreaded happens, consider eating lightly poached eggs, with vitamins, plenty of water ... and, if you can stand it, Marmite to replace the vitamin B.


This is the first time I've been able to give real advice on this board! As you can tell, I've done a little research on this topic. A friend (a forensic scientist) and I designed the perfect hangover cure, a fully-fledged two-part, night before, morning after, all-singing, all-dancing hangover cure. Unfortunately, when you put together vitamins, salt, sugar (to replace the electrolytes you've lost), egg, marmite ...... The result is less than palatable.

BTW, I forgot to mention that drinks differ massively in the amount of methanol they contain. Fortunately for those of us who don't like memorising things for the heck of it, the level of methanol is correlated fairly well with colour. The darker the drink, the more methanol. Don't ask me why, but as a rule of thumb it works pretty well.

Hence, if you follow ebooks's advice about making sure there's plenty of water, and make a white wine (or even better, posh vodka like Sputnik) your tipple, to reduce your methanol intake, hangovers will be forever banished.

Alcohol in your blood stream seeps into the fluid in the semi-circular canals in your inner ear. They are responsible for balance, and because alcohol is less dense (it has a lower SG) than water, it causes turbulence. This gives the impression that you're in constant movement. Hence, the spins.

If you ever get stupidly drunk and find that your head is spinning when you put it on the pillow, force yourself to sit up and read a magazine or book. Your eyes have a much more powerful influence over your brain and will confirm that you are definitely not spinning round. The sensation will go so long as you keep your eyes fixed on something. If you're drunk enough to cause the spins you'll probably read as far as "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." before you fall asleep.

You may not feel like your head is spinning in the morning but the same inner-ear effect may still be going on. This contributes to the nausea. Answer? Don't sit around waiting for your body to sort itself out! You caused this, get up off your backside and fix it! Buy a sports drink with vitamins (e.g. Lucozade Sport or Powerade) and go for a long walk. The feeling from your body as you walk (kinaesthesia) and visual information about your body's orientation from your eyes (visual streaming) overpower other contradictory information from your inner ear.

By the time you've walked a few miles and drunk the drink, you've sweated out most of the alcohol (go home and shower now, you stink), given your body some vitamins and water, and hopefully stopped your brain thinking you're in a tumble dryer.

bringitdown

Super post noby, excellent stuff....

The Sweeper

/me considers stickyfying this just for noby's poached post...

rubadub

There was a supplement mentioned in new scientist before. I will try and find it. Heres a link with some info, doesn't mention the herb/supplement
http://www.exn.ca/Stories/2002/12/19/51.asp

like I said before the best way is to avoid alcohol with contains methanol and other cogeners and other alcohols. I have made my own vodka, read any distilling site and they talk about making the perfect vodka, you know you have separated the alcohols correctly when you have no hangover, that is the very sign you have no crap in it. It takes far longer to distill this way, if done properly you get a very pure alcohol with no taste or smell. All these vodka distillers have this marketing about being triple charcoal filtered etc, they think it sounds good but really they are admitting that they produce such a poor product that filtration is essential to remove the unpalatable smell and tastes while leaving many of the cogeners and other alcohols in there. Avoid scottish "vodka" like the plague, scotch whiskey is made in continuous stills (bad) pumping out vile waste all day, this crap is then sold on and filtered to remove taste and then sold as "vodka".
cheap cider, brandy, whiskey, red wine are the worst for hangovers. Pectin turns to methanol. Unfermented apple juice contains high amounts of methanol naturally, when fermented it has even more. If you ferment pure sugar you get only bare trace amounts of methanol and some ethylacetate. The methanol is easily separated out but the ethylacetate is harder to do (it really just smells, doesnt give much hangover effect).

I would recommend skyy vodka, or make your own from sugar!


edit found a new scientist link, I have read another with a different supplement though
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/drugs-alcohol/dn6083

The Sweeper

Distillation makes baby prohibition cry...

rubadub

http://www.easystill.com/
great for distilling water for a nice whiskey, of course you need a licence to distil alcohol with it.

Freelancer

rubadub wrote:

If your comedown is that bad its time to find a new drug :v:

Not really as noby said it's just a matter of getting water back into your system ASAP, this way you circumnagivate the whole digestive system, it's basically das uber isotonic.

I'm not saying you head over to your local medical pharmacy and stock up on IV needles and salty watery packs, just giving what I consider to be the most staggeringly impressive hangover cure in the world. Half an hour and volia hangover be gone!

steveland?

noby wrote:

The darker the drink, the more methanol.

Does that mean that a light coloured lager such as Budweiser would contain less Methanol than a darker lager like Heinekin or Carlsberg?

Or does the lighter effect of Budweiser come as a result of the ridiculous amounts of chemicals it contains...

stevenmu

stevenmu wrote:

A couple of bannanas the day before does wonders, I think it's the potassium in them helps keep you hydrated, or helps detox or something, not too sure really. They're not as effective the day after, but they do help a bit. They really come into their own though at times when you're going to be drinking fairly regularly (such as christmas), a couple of bannanas a day really makes a huge difference.

*takes note*

Before going to sleep i'll try and drink a pint of water and a glass of orange juice with a load of sugar in it. Some peanuts too.

Usually reasonably effective.

SouperComputer

I remember reading into the causes a while back. Its part dehydration and part salt\sugar deficiancy.

sooo.......

Before I go to bed I try to get as much water in as possible, eat somthing sweet like jellies and eat somthing salty.

Works most of the time, but as ever if you way overdo it nothing is going to help!

Freelancer

steveland? wrote:

Does that mean that a light coloured lager such as Budweiser would contain less Methanol than a darker lager like Heinekin or Carlsberg?

Or does the lighter effect of Budweiser come as a result of the ridiculous amounts of chemicals it contains...

I think that piece of advise holds more significance for spirits not beers. The chemical additives of horsepiss like bud adds to the brutal hangover.

rubadub

steveland? wrote:

Does that mean that a light coloured lager such as Budweiser would contain less Methanol than a darker lager like Heinekin or Carlsberg?
Or does the lighter effect of Budweiser come as a result of the ridiculous amounts of chemicals it contains...

Budweiser is brewed from a disgraceful recipie including rice and potato waste. Both rice and potato will produce a high amount of cogeners and nasty alcohols. They also brew it quickly at high temperature which leads to more nasties, then it is matured for no time at all. A cocktail of overpriced crap.

noby

Freelancer wrote:

I think that piece of advise holds more significance for spirits not beers. The chemical additives of horsepiss like bud adds to the brutal hangover.

I would tend to agre with that. The darkness of beers is primarily from roasting the grains.
Even the likes of Heineken/Carlsberg probably have a lot of chemical additives. A fairer comparison would be, perhaps, Porterhouse brews, or German beers. Anything that sticks to the basic malt, hops, water and yeast will lessen the hangover, IMO.
Also, alot of "American Lagers" have a high rice content in the grain bill (cheaper, lighter coloured, higher conversion) which does tend to give some people more of a headache.

skywalker

WhiteWashMan wrote:

2 pints of water before going to bed, and then another pint when you need to get up at 4 oclock to have a wee, and then an extra hour in bed.

should be good to go.

This is my personal cure of choice too. If you force down the water before you go to bed you should be fine. If you put a little salt/suger into it too (if you can stomach it) Its even better for the hangover, as these are exactly the things the body needs when processing alchohol.

Brainaic did a bit on the best hangover cures a while back, involving hair o the dog, fry up, doing nothing,& water & came to the conclusion a fry up is good short term but the water was the best in the long term.

ruprect

If you were drinking spirits on an empty stomach your stomach is probably full of bile the next day, milk is a no-no, it coagulates and goes sort of sour in your stomach. I think the greasy food neutralises the bile.

cashback

Is there anything worse than that feeling when you hit the bed and you open your eyes and the room is spinning? You know you're gonna be running for the bathroom any minute.
I generally find it hard to drink pints of water after drinking.
Usually have a lucozade sport or something the next day.

johnnyrotten

Berocca Vit C Drink before drinking and One the next morning
Also a Good Smoothie when the stomach settles

stevenmu

cashback wrote:

Is there anything worse than that feeling when you hit the bed and you open your eyes and the room is spinning?

I loved that feeling, almost like a free rollercoaster :v: