I'm NEVER drinking again...no really....really... (Hangover Prevention, Cures & Advice)

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Product:	Hangover Prevention, Cures & Advice
Date:	29/12/01 (49 review reads)
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Advantages: prevention's better than cure

Disadvantages: If you've ever had a hangover you KNOW the pain!!

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day". Frank Sinatra


The trouble with drinking to excess is that you get a lovely after effect known as a hangover. The feeling that several small leprechauns have been doing an entire performance of "Riverdance" in your head all night and have bolted blinds shut over your eyes before they left. Apart from the obvious toxic effects, you're suffering the effects of a mild overdose of a depressant drug and your nerves are reacting accordingly. On top of that you've also flushed a significant quantity of vitamins and nutrients from your system causing a degree of metabolic shock that your body is struggling to compensate against. This is why hangover symptoms often include disorientation and "the jitters".

There are a few different stages and ferociousness to hangovers, let's see if you recognise yourself here :o).....


Hangover no 1. You have no real pain, however you only managed a catnap last night, when you awaken you think you can leap right up out of bed, that, you will discover is a HUGE mistake. You also have the inevitable dry "bottom of a birdcage" mouth and a desperate urge to stick your head under the tap and drink until water gushes from your ears. This is usually accompanied by the craving for greasy food.

Hangover no 2. Again no real pain but you know something's not right. You look OK on the outside but your attention span is that of a peanut. You'd be useless at work; even reading "The Sun" would be a major feat. You gulp down cup after cup of coffee usually accompanied by a McDonalds breakfast, which does nothing to appease your churning, gurgling stomach, which is complaining so loudly you reckon the neighbours are going to complain to noise abatement.

Hangover no 3. Slight headache. Stoma
ch feels crappy. You'd prefer to stay huddled up in bed. The slightest whiff of aftershave or perfume reminds you of the 27 gin shots that seemed such a good idea at the time. Boy are you dehydrated - you've had 6 cups of coffee, a gallon of water, and a litre of coke - yet you haven't peed once.

Hangover no 4. Life sucks. Your head is throbbing and you can't speak too quickly or else you might throw up. Your boss has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze. You wanted to look normal so wore nice clothes, but it looks like you put your make-up on while riding the big dipper, guys usually give their state away by only managing to shave half their face. Your teeth have sweaters, your eyes look like p***holes in the snow and your hair style makes you look like a reject from Vidal Sassoon's junior school of backcombing. You would shoot your mother for one or both of the following:
 The clock to strike 5pm
 A time machine so you could go back and NOT have gone out the night before.


Hangover no 5. Death seems pretty good right now but instead you're in Hell. There's a strange second heartbeat in your head, which is actually annoying the employee who sits at the next desk. Alcohol vapour is seeping out of every pore of your skin and is making you dizzy. Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva so your tongue is suffocating you. You'd cry but there?s no moisture left in your body. Your boss doesn't even get mad at you and your co-workers think that your dog just died because you look so pathetic. You should have called in sick because, let's face it, all you can manage to do is gripe about how ill you feel. How you feel is actually a mystery to you because you definitely don't remember who you were with, where you were, what you drank and why there was a stranger sleeping in your bed in the morning.


Hangover no
6. Now you're wading into serious waters. You partied in style Friday night, got an early start Saturday lunchtime but managed to still go the distance into Sunday. Now it's Monday and you're no longer able to speak. Your eyes are bright red, well as far as you can tell through the remaining slits. Invisible drummers pound your skull like a bongo. You can't eat, and sleep doesn't help. You have no concept of time. Day, night, all you know is that you are conscious, and that occasionally comes into question. You pass out on the bathroom floor and wake up to somebody whispering your name, but you can't turn around to see them.



++Prevention's Better than cure++

You could try not drinking (ha,ha,ha..!!). Ok, seriously..........

You've heard this before but don't drink on an empty stomach. Food slows down the absorption of alcohol by diluting the contents of the stomach. Drinking milk beforehand works the same way, by lining the stomach (just like Mum always told you). Drinking on an empty stomach causes huge swings in blood sugar levels, meaning that you'll get drunk quickly. Best things to eat are slow energy releasing foods such as vegetable soup, marmite on toast (wholemeal), yoghurt and the good old banana, which is full of slow releasing sugars. Try peeling a banana place in a buttered dish, sprinkle with any spices you have (nutmeg or cinnamon left from Christmas?), squirt with lemon juice and microwave for 2 minutes or bake for 15 minutes.
If you forgot to eat before you started, nibble as you drink! Also try the 3am pig-out. Pizza or pasta is usually best since cheese and carbohydrates are a good source of amino acids. Actually food is a good idea all round - before, during and immediately after drinking. Food doesn't absorb alcohol, but it does increase metabolism, activates alcohol absorption, and increases the speed with which the body processes alcohol.


I k
now it's dull, to just drink one type of drink all night. But if you mix, you're in for trouble. Usually you start with champagne or cocktails, have wine with dinner, then after-dinner drinks, then shots of tequila and God-knows-what else. The hangover is roughly proportional to the number of drinks you've mixed. Try and drink a glass of water before you cross to a different kind of liquor. Avoid late-night shots of strange liqueurs that drunken out-of-towners try to coerce you into trying (especially ones you set light to first!!). Remember the golden rule, stick to one type of drink, mixing drinks causes them all to curdle in the stomach, resulting in that familiar green complexion, usually swiftly followed by a fluorescent green vomit!


Some drinks give you worse hangovers than others due to the actions of impurities called "congeners" the concentration of these congeners will go a long way to determining the severity of your hangover. Relatively pure spirits such as vodka and gin (clear liquors) are generally lower in congeners than whisky, rum and bourbon, due to the filtering process involved, and hence usually give a less intense hangover. The worst offender for giving you a doozey of a hangover is port, red wine is next but port is not just wine its "fortified wine". It started life as wine but has the lovely addition of spirit, usually brandy (so you get 2 dark coloured drinks for the price of one). Apparently the least likely to give you a hangover is white wine (hmmm.....personally I think I'd question that, although the best hangover I ever had was caused by red wine followed by champagne. I must have had a death wish that night, in retrospect I deserved it!). Final warning; be aware that the bubbles in carbonated drinks such as beer and champagne cause quicker absorption of alcohol.


Another contributor to the hangover is the "freshness" of the alcohol. Finishing off an already op
en bottle of red, or drinking beer that's been in the boot of your car for a week, will ensure you have a really good hangover.


Think ahead; leave out a vitamin pill to pop before you fall into bed. Vitamin C helps the liver detoxify the blood, while Vitamin B complex contains Thiamine (vitamin B1), which actually breaks down the alcohol. Wash the little dear down with as much water as you can to rehydrate yourself, but leave the painkillers for the next day. Aspirin irritates the stomach even further and some other painkillers can actually cause liver damage when combined with excessive alcohol consumption (always read the packet).


If you?re in the habit of getting into this state on a regular basis invest in Jane Scrivener's book "Quick-fix Hangover Detox" (£4.99 Piatkus), it's packed with lots of tips including what to stock in your fridge and drug free cures.




++Aggghhhh stop the clog dancing in my head++

Most hangover "remedies" simply attend to one or more of the symptoms and don't really provide a cure as such. The hangover won't stop until the alcohol is out of your system; in the meantime you could try some of these:


The oldest/weirdest hangover cures?? - The Assyrians blended ground-up swallow's beaks with myrrh; bitter almonds and raw eel were favoured during the middle ages. Haitian voodoo people recommend sticking 13 pins in the cork of the offending bottle! In the Wild West the cowboys used to swear by a cup of rabbit-poo tea (and you thought your morning breath was pleasant!). In the Middle Ages drinkers used to wolf down a plate of bitter almonds and eel. In Puerto Rica today, people rub lemon juice under their drinking arm?.


When pain, nausea and regret has firmly set in, become your own personal nurse. Grant yourself lots of refreshing sleep so your cells have a chance to recover from the onslaught. Alcohol is a d
epressive drug, so your nerves will appreciate the soothing effects of some good old stodgy comfort food. Avoid nibbling on sugary Danish pastries as you will get an instant high but be left feeling shaky. Eggs are great as they contain vitamins A, B, D and E as well as minerals such as iron. Milkshakes are also a good idea because they are alkaline and combat the acidity of the alcohol. Bananas are great (told yah!!). Sugar in the form of fructose, and potassium, which is one of the things you lose lots of when you drink. Bananas are also a natural antacid to help with the nausea, and are high in magnesium which can help relax those pounding blood vessels causing that hangover headache. For a variety of reasons try a peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich on white bread. You could also try cold pizza, heaven knows why but it seems to work!


Your body might have been 90% water before you went out but it feels like 10% now. Drag your dried up prune body over to the tap and drink, drink, drink. Drink until your stomachs so full it hurts, then wait. 5 minutes later your mouth will be parch dry again and ready for more. If you drink mineral rich water such as my favourite, San Pellegrino, you can boost your magnesium and calcium levels too!


Feeling queasy?? Yes of course you are! Try sipping mint or ginger tea. Ginger tea will calm an upset stomach and nausea. Fresh is best, add a 3cm piece of ginger, 4 cardamom pods and half a stick of cinnamon to a pint of water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil; simmer for 3 minutes, strain and serve.


Most people take aspirin but it simply attends to the headache and does nothing for the level of alcohol in your system. Don't take them before you go to bed, as mentioned previously.


If you can still be bothered to be health conscious, try a homeopathic remedy such as the appropriately named Nux Vomica, available from Health Food shops or go Ayuredic with a cure of fresh ora
nge juice laced with a teaspoon of lime juice and a pinch of cumin. Or try vitamin C, another thing the alcohol takes out that you're advised to put back in as soon as possible. Orange juice, tomato, a 600mg Vitamin C tablet - doesn't matter which, just do it.


Have a hot bath, the heat will sweat out the toxins you may feel a bit woozy at first but much better afterwards. For the truly brave, sweating the toxins out through exercise or a long sauna works (allegedly!).


There is, of course, that famous Hair of the Dog! If you're still in party mode, Bloody Marys are highly recommended and do contain restorative ingredients. Try one, what doesn't kill you might cure you :o)


**Bloody Mary**

 1.5 oz vodka
 Dash of lemon (or lime) juice
 Worcestershire sauce
 2 or 3 drops Tabasco sauce
 Pepper, salt and celery salt
 5 oz tomato juice
Over ice in a tall glass add spices, then vodka.
Fill with tomato juice and stir.
Garnish with celery stick and lime wedge


**Poor Man's Bloody Mary**

 5oz Tomato Juice
 3oz Light Beer
 Salt
 Pepper
 Lots and lots of lime juice
 Dash of Tabasco sauce
Mix and drink.


And for the TRULY desperate??..

**Prairie Oyster**

 Olive oil
 Tablespoon tomato ketchup
 1 egg yolk
 Salt and pepper
 Tabasco
 Worcestershire sauce
 Vinegar or lemon juice

Rinse a cocktail glass with the olive oil and discard oil
Mix all ingredients except egg yolk.
Place the egg yolk in carefully.
Serve with a small spoon and a glass of ice water.


They say finish on a laugh so here's one of my favourite drinking jokes!!????


A Texan walks into a pub in Irelan
d and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish are damn good drinkers. I'll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back." The room is quiet and no one takes up the Texan's offer. One man even leaves. Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. "Is your bet still good?", asks the Irishman.
The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses drinking them all back-to-back.
The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement.
The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, "If ya don't mind me askin' where did you go for the past 30 minutes?". The Irishman replies, "Oh...I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first".


Have a happy (and hangover free) New Year!!!!! Angie x

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