Hangover "cures?"

[thujone]

a hangover is one of those times when the best medicine you can possibly use is mary jane!

 

[tripmonkey505]

mountain dew something greasy and a nice joint. then just relax for the day.

 

[LoveAlways]

The best cure for a hangover is to avoid them in the first place

Drink lots of water, eat something with protein, and take a tylenol BEFORE you go to bed. I swear by this. It doesn't matter how fucked up I get, after I learned how well this works I never forget to do it before bed. I also *force* my boyfriend to do these things when he is really really trashed.

If you do happen to forget and wake up with a nasty hangover MY favorite cure is a blood mary--more alcohol always does the trick

 

[Dave]

Drinking lots of water is good-- but what I've found works a charm is to add a tiny amount of salt to the water. On the order of a couple of very fine crystals for a tall glass. If you can taste it, you've added way too much.

Having the ions in the water helps the body absorb it more quickly, and will reduce the amount of it that gets pissed out. If I'm being responsible, I'll alternate a double with a water, followed by a water when I get home (and a b-vitamin), and another water in the morning. If I'm not being responsible (such as last night), then I basically have to play catch up all the next day.

Just be sure not to take any acetaminophen. It's hard enough on your liver as is, but if you have any alcohol still in your system it does much more damage than either one alone.

 

[The Chemist]

Keep Drinking.

you'll never have a hangover then.

don't take my advice.

 

[Lysis]

Drinking lots of water is good-- but what I've found works a charm is to add a tiny amount of salt to the water. On the order of a couple of very fine crystals for a tall glass. If you can taste it, you've added way too much.

Having the ions in the water helps the body absorb it more quickly, and will reduce the amount of it that gets pissed out. If I'm being responsible, I'll alternate a double with a water, followed by a water when I get home (and a b-vitamin), and another water in the morning. If I'm not being responsible (such as last night), then I basically have to play catch up all the next day.

Just be sure not to take any acetaminophen. It's hard enough on your liver as is, but if you have any alcohol still in your system it does much more damage than either one alone.

I do not understand. Wouldn't adding salt to solution lower the equilibrium between the body's tissue and the solution you are drinking? If your body works off of diffusion because of its sodium content in the tissue, wouldn't straight water with NO ions be better? Isn't this why drinking salt water dehydrates you faster than with no water at all? I know you said a tiny amount, but then, as I understand it, you would reach equilibrium faster and actually limit the amount of water intake.

 

[Dave]

I don't understand exactly how it works, something to do with ordered solvation spheres around the ions being easier to process than the normal state of liquid water where there are randomly oriented and highly transient groupings of interacting water molecules. It's what makes sport drinks more effective for re-hydration than plain water. I think that sports drinks use a combination of salts, but they're all in very low concentration.

All I know is that it works. Firsthand experience. If I alternate straight water and alcohol, I spend half the night pissing. If I alternate 'electrolyte' water and alcohol, I might go to the bathroom once before heading home. I'm seriously talking about maybe 5-8 mg of salt in a large glass of water. A 'shake' from a salt shaker is on the order of 75-100 mg. You can taste very small amounts of salt easily, so if you can taste it you've put in WAY too much-- which is detrimental for exactly the reasons that you pointed out. You don't want to drink saline, you just want to drink water with an ionic activity that's greater than 0.

 

[Lysis]

Dave, I'm gonna try that next time. I hate drinking lots of water while drinking alcohol too - I have to pee all night. That's why I do an excedrine migraine and drink water when I wake up.

 

[Dave]

Great! It's also a great way to weird out waitresses/bartenders. I've gotten all kinds of odd looks when I ask for a salt shaker with my water.

 

[cramdogg]

Eggs have worked wonders for me! They contain cysteine which negates the acetadelhyde(sp?) which alcohol converts to. So before bed drink as much water as possible and consume some form of egg whether it be scrambled,boiled etc and then again upon waking with even more water. Ginger reduces nausea when so severely hungover that you cant keep anything down,I normally make some ginger tea and it quite literally saved me from a trip to the hospital on a number of occasions.

 

[cocamatic]

Interesting suggestions folks. Keep em comin if u have em

Another thing I forgot to mention is that I also consumed some raw fruit... would have never thought but it helped a lot... compared to other times anyway.

 

[Dave]

Raw fruit is always good, whether you're hung over or not. Lots of water, a quick hit of sugar but mitigated somewhat through the fibre content. All good stuff.

Cram-- yeah, if you're past the point of prevention then ginger works well to settle the stomach. I really like using candied ginger, especially if I've already vomited once. It's pretty intense, so it washes out any nasty aftertaste, and the little bit of sugar helps to feel less miserable after getting sick. But then again, I really like candied ginger to begin with

 

[L2R]

My bf says lots of green tea lol

your boyfriend is a wise man



i use chinese green tea. 100% foolproof and delicious. not since insufflating meth have i been able to sober up as fast. i can be fucking blind, and after a couple of cups and a nice 7 hour sleep, it is like it never happened.

 

[L2R]

All I know is that it works. Firsthand experience. If I alternate straight water and alcohol, I spend half the night pissing. If I alternate 'electrolyte' water and alcohol, I might go to the bathroom once before heading home. I'm seriously talking about maybe 5-8 mg of salt in a large glass of water. A 'shake' from a salt shaker is on the order of 75-100 mg. You can taste very small amounts of salt easily, so if you can taste it you've put in WAY too much-- which is detrimental for exactly the reasons that you pointed out. You don't want to drink saline, you just want to drink water with an ionic activity that's greater than 0.

wow, so how do you measure it? do you put one shake into your hand and then sprinkle 2-3 crystals in?

 

[Dave]

Pretty much. It's tricky if you're completely loaded, but if you're not planning on alternating drinks then it's a good idea to have some ready-made for when you get home. Plus then you can keep it in your fridge and it's ice cold.

 

[Bedhead]

I find that ice cold apple juice in the morning is really nice. It doesn't necessarily cure the hangover, but it taste damn good. It's a nice alternative to orange juice, as orange juice is acidic and tends to upset my stomach if I'm already nauseous.

Gatorade + water before you go to bed.

 

[Pingu]

caffeine also will dehydrate the shit out of you, which is about the last thing you want.

yeah but it's a vasodilator, so will lessen your headache if you drink plenty of water with it

 

[Lysis]

yeah but it's a vasodilator, so will lessen your headache if you drink plenty of water with it

I'm about to make a fool of myself because I'm too lazy to look it up, but I believe caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. Alcohol is a vasodilator. If caffeine were a vasodilator, then your BP would go down but caffeine increases BP.

Go ahead and slam me if I'm wrong. I'm too lazy to get my textbook lol.

 

[Morphling]

Milk thistle, a small amount of NAC(200-400mgs), vitamin C, and B vitamins the night before.

Morning after, lots of gatorade, fresh fruit, maybe more NAC and B vitamins. If shit really hits the fan; benzos, muscle relaxers, and/or opiates.

 

[Pingu]

I'm about to make a fool of myself because I'm too lazy to look it up, but I believe caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. Alcohol is a vasodilator. If caffeine were a vasodilator, then your BP would go down but caffeine increases BP.

Go ahead and slam me if I'm wrong. I'm too lazy to get my textbook lol.

According to a link on google "Caffeine is broken down by the liver into three different compounds, 12% of which is theobromine. Theobromine dilates the blood vessels...."

But having said that there's 112,000 hits for "caffeine vasodilator" and 118,000 for "caffeine vasoconstrictor", anyone care to shed some light on this?