Hungover? Fuzzy? Head aching?

[Gifted Gourmet]

possible solutions from iVillage.com

Almost everyone has heard about the medical benefits of a glass or two of wine, but new research indicates that drinking beer and spirits may also be good for you. In fact, it seems that drinking to be better for you than abstaining.

The new Spanish study suggests that people who drink alcohol - wines, spirits or beers - are less likely to have medical problems than teetotallers. But while this is something to cheer, the researchers appear to have forgotten one painful medical side effect of boozing: the hangover.

Very favorite hangover cures?

Special surefire solutions you know work (for you)?

Recipes? (as if anyone wants to actually prepare anything in this state!)

Talk quietly and let me go back to sleep?

[Jason Perlow]

Salt Bagels with cream cheese, tomato, and raw red onion. A glass of tomato juice and then some good French pressed black coffee.

Eaten in blissful silence.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Apparently getting water into one's system in some form is good ... and salt ...

Assuming you've survived the night, you'll now be feeling the full after-effects of an evening on the tiles. Now's the time to drink more... water, that is..

As well as water, you suggest milkshakes, flat Coca-cola, McDonald's cola, peppermint tea, Lucozade, honey tea, strong black coffee, milk and peach juice (not all at once, of course). Those of you who opted for caffeine-based drinks obviously found that the 'hit' outweighed the diuretic effect (which makes your dehydration worse).By far the most popular morning after remedy is food. And lots of it.

Other items on the drinker's menu du jour are fried egg bagels, salt and vinegar crisps, gherkins with black tea ...

source: iVillage.com

[petite tête de chou]

Pho with lots of sriracha.

Sweet, creamy, iced-coffee.

[glossyp]

Too late for some but the best way is to prevent it by drinking at least a quart of water (more if you can handle it) and taking two aspirins BEFORE going to bed. The water is the key as it prevents dehydration.

Before I learned this I would eat a bowl of Yook Gae Jang (very spicy Korean beef soup) to take the edge off.

[JAZ]

Yes, and if you can remember to drink a glass of water for every cocktail you drink, you'll thank yourself in the morning.

[maggiethecat]

Pepsi and poutine for breakfast.

[highchef]

water...lots and lots and lots.

food...lots

nap.

[bloviatrix]

The key to hangover avoidance is drinking about 32 ounces of water before bed and taking two tylenol.

And all, a hangover is just another term for dehydration so you need to re-hydrate yourself.

And if you forget to drink water, have someone bring you a strong Bloody Mary in bed when you awake and just stay buzzed the whole day.

[slkinsey]

As I suspect we all know, there is no cure for a hangover once you have one. The only solution is to take prophylactic measures before you get a hangover:

• Dehydration is a major cause of hangover symptoms. Drink lots of water. JAZ's recommendation to alternate drinks with water is a very good one, as is glossyp's recommendation for a big glass of water before bed.
  
• Give your body the best chance to break down the alcohol before it gets into your bloodstream. There is an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase that breaks down alcohol. Some people have more of this than other people, which is one reason some people have a greater alcohol tolerance than other similar people. The best way to give your alcohol dehydrogenase a chance to break down the alcohol before it gets into your bloodstream is to dilute it. Water is a good idea, but food is even better. When JAZ and I went on a NYC bar crawl a while back we consumed an incredible number of cocktails with no ill effects, a stop at the burger joint in the Parker Meridien was crucial.
  
• Take a vitamin before bed. Alcohol depletes the body of certain vitamins, so making sure the tank is full is always a good idea.
  
• If you're going to get falling-down drunk (something I don't recommend) there may be some minor benefit to consuming low congener alcohols like vodka instead of high congener alcohols like bourbon.
  

Once you have a hangover, though... just take some analgesics, drink plenty of water, maybe eat some food, if you can hold it down, and wait until you feel better.

[Pan]

I'm not understanding high or low congener. Here are some definitions of "congener":

Merriam-Webster:

One entry found for congener.

Main Entry: con·ge·ner

Pronunciation: 'kän-j&-n&r, k&n-'jE-

Function: noun

Etymology: Latin, of the same kind, from com- + gener-, genus kind -- more at KIN

1 : a member of the same taxonomic genus as another plant or animal

2 : a person or thing resembling another in nature or action <the New England private schools and their congeners west of the Alleghenies -- Oliver La Farge>

- con·ge·ner·ic /"kän-j&-'ner-ik/ adjective

- con·ge·ner·ous /k&n-'jE-n&-r&s, -'je-n&-, (")kän-/ adjective

GreenFacts.org Glossary:

Congener

Definition:

Congener is a term in chemistry that refers to one of many variants or configurations of a common chemical structure.

Online Chemistry Dictionary/Glossary:

Definition for  Congener :

A congener is a substance literally con- (with) generated or synthesized by essentially the same synthetic chemical reactions and the same procedures. Analogs are substances that are analogous in some respect to the prototype agent in chemical structure. Clearly congeners may be analogs or vice versa but not necessarily. The term congener, while most often a synonym for homologue, has become somewhat more diffuse in meaning so that the terms congener and analog are frequently used interchangeably in the literature.

[jackal10]

The word cogener has many uses meaning similar, for example elements from the same group of the periodic table, or homologues - chemicals with the same structure but differing groups , like methanol and ethanol.

In this context it means chemicals made by the same process (your last definition above), in this case fermentation, and maybe distillation. It refers to all the other junk, like fusel oils and other alcohols, ketones aldehydes and esters that come along with the alcohol. Some contribute flavour, most are mild poisons.

Low and high refer to the relative amounts of these. Traditionally they are removed by more careful distillation, and by leaviing the booze to mature in barrels for some years. Clear sprits tend to have less, but it critically depends on their quality. Good reasons to drink more expensive and older wines or brandies...

Edited January 2, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[oneidaone]

a nice glass of Pomegranate juice, a vitamin B complex and plenty of water. I always liked

a good cheeseburger as well. a hui ho

[NulloModo]

And if you forget to drink water, have someone bring you a strong Bloody Mary in bed when you awake and just stay buzzed the whole day.

←

The Romans had it right, hair of the dog all the way.

[Gifted Gourmet]

The key to hangover avoidance is drinking about 32 ounces of water before bed and taking two tylenol. 

And all, a hangover is just another term for dehydration so you need to re-hydrate yourself.

←

Interesting! This is exactly what you said to do before Yom Kippur!

[MaxH]

The key to hangover avoidance is drinking about 32 ounces of water before bed and taking two tylenol. 

←

Interesting! This is exactly what you said to do before Yom Kippur!

←

I missed that original suggestion but on the guess that it was serious and well intended, and not ironic, safety suggests pointing out something if no one else has done so yet here. If you will check just a little, you may find that the advice above is seriously obsolete and dangerous. Here for example is a link to an exchange preserved on the Google newsgroup archive about "the liver toxicity issues with alcohol/acetaminophen". You may wish to view the adjacent postings also. Lipton teaches chemistry at Purdue University and responded to an original poster, who proposed a therapy like that above. Or you may wish to search on your own (spelling acetaminophen carefully). That is what the original poster did, in the exchange I linked, and here was the follow-up:

"I must apologize for my lack of awareness on this. I just did a quick Google search and had enough material in 5 seconds to read for a week. No more acetaminophen 'therapy' for this wine drinker. Ibuprofen does not usually help me, but I will definitely be trying it again."

To my understanding by the way, the physiology of hangover is a mixture of simple dehydration with slow release of toxic products from the liver. I have seen one mild herbal medication that seems to offer some help with this, milk-thistle seed or its extract. It's the active ingredient in some newer commercial hangover cures also. It's said to support liver function, and first-person reports I know of were positive. You do need to start taking it while drinking, I believe. It's the first thing I've seen that stands out from the rehashing of old notions on the subject, which you can find expressed with conviction on any beverages forum this time of year.

Hope this is useful. -- MaxH

Edit to remove a spurioius linefeed.

Edited January 2, 2005 by MaxH (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Wow! MaxH, I do appreciate your followup on this! Thanks!

[Syrah]

1. Always drink water before bed and take some with you.

2. Take a vitamin B before you start drinking and after.

3. Also have a fry up for breakfast if you still feel seedy. (not always required if you follow rules 1 and 2.)

[Ed Hamilton]

The word cogener has many uses meaning similar, for example elements from the same group of the periodic table, or homologues - chemicals with the same structure but differing groups , like methanol and ethanol.

In this context it means chemicals made by the same process (your last definition above), in this case fermentation, and maybe distillation.  It refers to all the other junk, like fusel oils and other alcohols, ketones aldehydes and esters that come along with the alcohol. Some contribute flavour, most are mild poisons.

Low and high refer to the relative amounts of these. Traditionally they are removed by more careful distillation, and by leaviing the booze to mature in barrels for some years. Clear sprits tend to have less, but it critically depends on their quality. Good reasons to drink more expensive and older wines or brandies...

←

Clear spirits don't necessarily contain fewer congeners - poisons other than the ethanol that we want to drink. Most congeners are formed during the fermentation process and removed during the distillation process, though aging helps change the chemical form of some congeners through oxidation.

But the important thing that jackal wrote "it critically depends on their quality." There are vodkas that contain much higher congener levels than some good rums.

I've taken to drinking at least one glass of water between every drink and I've been enjoying the morning a lot more than I used to.

[KatieLoeb]

BIG glass of water before bed. Unfortunately that usually requires being sober enough to remember to drink it.

Enormous mugs of strong coffee and very disgustingly fatty food for breakfast (i.e. Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast) will usually take the edge off the next day. The theory that the greasy food somehow "sucks up" the excess alcohol in one's system is like any rationalization. Sounds good and makes you feel better. But it gives you an excuse to eat something you know you shouldn't. Just like that fourth and fifth cocktail that got you to this point.

[bergerka]

Most of this is "what they all said," but this is a combination of Sam's and Dr. Dad's sure-fire hangover preventative/remedy.

For every alcoholic drink you consume, empty one eight-ounce glass of water. No exceptions or excuses.

Make sure you EAT a substantial meal, either before you drink or while you're drinking (not after! It's too late by then!). Dr. Dad recommends you include plenty of "long" foods; that is, foods high in protein (and probably also high in fat - a steak or a burger is perfect, with baked potato or fries, or a huge helping of beans & rice or something) as opposed to only "short" (simple carbs high in refined sugar) or "medium" (complex carbs) ones, as "long" foods keep you going and going like the Energizer bunny.

Take a multivitamin (or at least a B complex) and two ibuprofen or naproxen sodium (Aleve) before bed, and drink a couple more big glasses of water. Then, just before you lie down (this is MOST important), chew a couple of Tums or Gaviscon (I prefer the taste of Gaviscon...Tums are icky and will make me throw up even if I wasn't already feeling sick ) or other antacid.

If, in the morning, you are nauseated, sip a glass of carbonated, full-sugar soda. Slowly. The sugar and the bubbles will help to soothe your stomach.

As soon as you feel a little steadier, eat something substantial and drink some coffee with it (for the caffeine, which will help eliminate leftover headache. Don't drink the coffee alone, though - too acidic and will aggravate your already sensitive stomach). Blander, filling food like oatmeal, cheerios, toast, scrambled (or poached or hard or soft-boiled) eggs, waffles or polenta will feel better on your stomach than will fruit, fruit juice, FRIED eggs, bacon or other highly greasy or acidic foods.

K

[Basilgirl]

Alka Seltzer Morning Relief (two tablets) works for me

I bought Chaser 2 but haven't tried it yet - you take the pills before and during drinking, and who's going to remember to do that?

I just read in a magazine that a raw red bell pepper helps - no dip. I tried that on New Year's morning and it really did seem to help.

I've also read that fruit juices are good.

A Bloody Mary, heavy on the Old Bay, and a cheeseburger also works for me.

My old cure was an Egg McMuffin and a large Coke, but that was long ago...

[bacchant036]

hangover cures.

1) a martini - gin or vodka - for those days when you get the 'slows' from drinking, you know that feeling when your brain does'nt quite work properly, you walk into a room and can't remember why...........

2) a beer - for when you feel a bit queasy, don't think you'll actually be sick but definitely regretting the night before, lager works best, the least flavour the better, a budweiser perhaps?

3) a shandy - and to be fair this is the only time there appropriate, really, ever. - for when your actually throwing up, curled up on the bathroom floor and wishing that someone had stitched your mouth shut the night before.

some fool once told me that a hangover is part 'withdrawal symptom' that is you've been feeding your body this stuff which makes it feel great then all of a sudden for no apparent reasoin you decide to go cold turkey.

don't know how true this is but do know that one of the worst hangovers i've ever had, ever, was cured by half a shandy, 1/2 hr lying down, half a shandy, another half hour lying down then back working behind the bar feeling fine.

however, in balance, also remember reading an article about binge drinking and alcoholism written by a doctor with a questiopnairre attached and one of the questions was.....'do you ever drink to get over the effects of a hangover'.

what would he know anyway he's only a doctor

[bacchant036]

and besides, was'nt it one of the three wise men who said

'i feel sorry for people who don't drink........when they wake up in the morning thats as good as there going to feel all day'

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[chromedome]

Step one: run a bathtub full of icy-cold water.

Step two: drink it.