The Hangover Thread

[Daojia]

It had to happen. In fact I'm surprised it hasn't! I did a search, but no joy. At any rate, welcome to the ugly twin to the drunk thread! Share hangover cures, stories, anecdotes and general sympathy.

[Bobber]

People generally frown upon the creation of threads with a subject, where the opening post contains no relevant information or question about the subject but just the equivalent of a "Discuss."

Maybe your thread would go better if you started it off with any actual "hangover cures, stories, anecdotes and general sympathy.". Just saying.

[Amarantha]

Eggs. Any way, so long as the yolk is still soft.

And water, which can also help to prevent hangovers in the first place.

Maybe Berocca.

[Daojia]

Quite right, too. Specifics, then!
My morning after ritual is a red bull with two berocca added. Tastes horrible and makes you sicker than the drink itself, but then you perk up. Or Hungry Jack's; Burger King to anyone outside Australia.

[Quadropus]

People generally frown upon the creation of threads with a subject, where the opening post contains no relevant information or question about the subject but just the equivalent of a "Discuss."

Maybe your thread would go better if you started it off with any actual "hangover cures, stories, anecdotes and general sympathy.". Just saying.

To be honest, evidence on these fora is largely to the contrary.... (i.e. Woman thread, boy thread, drunk thread, confession thread)
I think this one goes hand in hand with the drunk thread and is (as Daojia said originally) the drunk threads evil twin.

I am luckily not hung over at the time, but here is my cure:

Mango chunks blended together with ice. It makes a really thick paste thing, not a world away for a sorbet. It is generally delicious, hydrates you and refreshes all at the same time!

[tgjensen]

Drinking a beer the day after generally helps.

Though one often has to lie around for a few hours, feeling incredibly sorry for one self and wanting to die and oh god end the pain right there, before the very thought of it doesn't make one comppletely nauseous.

But it helps.

[wing]

Oddly enough I don't get hangovers - there's no pain, sickness, or discomfort. After my epic loss in a drinking contest (33 shots, detailed elsewhere on the fora) I still did not have a hangover per the standard definition, but my mind was cloudy for DAYS. It was Friday (and the drinking had occured on Saturday night) before I could function at 100%.

It wasn't even a headache, just this kind of general slowness. I didn't even perceive it as an abnormal condition at the time.


But that's probably more braindamage and less hangover.

[smw543]

HEY GUYS, WHAT'S UP?

Everyone has their own cures, and they'll usually insist that everyone else's are nonsense. Eating a couple slices of bread throughout the night and drinking a tall glass of water works for me, but ymmv. Also, waking your rommate up at 8AM after he had a night of drinking is punishable by castration with a rusty butter knife.

[SDIX]

Oddly enough I don't get hangovers - there's no pain, sickness, or discomfort. After my epic loss in a drinking contest (33 shots, detailed elsewhere on the fora) I still did not have a hangover per the standard definition, but my mind was cloudy for DAYS. It was Friday (and the drinking had occured on Saturday night) before I could function at 100%.
[...]But that's probably more braindamage and less hangover.

I am exactly the same way. My body does not metabolize alcohol like most. I stay drunk, until I am just not drunk anymore. I stay drunk for days sometimes, especially if I have been in a drinking binge for a while. It makes getting drunk the next day even easier, but makes going to work difficult sometimes.

Cures for this(after the fact): LOTS of diet coke and empty carbs to help me sober up.

[elminster]

Just remember to drink 1 pint of water before going to sleep and leave 1 pint next to you for the morning. I find drinking water just after waking makes you absorb it much quicker and more of it. Most things in the body don't work as well or as fast without water and hangovers are largely due to dehydration. Vitamin/mineral supplements should help, but I've not noticed any substantial difference when taking them with a hangover (I still do, just based on the theory part).
Caffeine does help in a number of ways (e.g. Improves mental clarity, raises metabolism), but it's a diuretic so you need extra water to balance it.

[suffer-cait]

hey guys!
i don't get hangovers
/me hides from the hate
i hear that salts are good though, no idea why that may be. my cure for everything tends to be a twix bar and some root beer. but yes, no hangovers, even when i'm black out drunk. though i hear that the types of drinks involved (and the order) effects it. so, maybe...you're doing it wrong?

[Quadropus]

hey guys!
i don't get hangovers
/me hides from the hate
i hear that salts are good though, no idea why that may be. my cure for everything tends to be a twix bar and some root beer. but yes, no hangovers, even when i'm black out drunk. though i hear that the types of drinks involved (and the order) effects it. so, maybe...you're doing it wrong?

I believe the darkness of the drink affects it (as read in "Do polar bears get lonely" (I think)). So Guinness gives bad hangovers as it is black, whereas cider or something reasonably clear wouldn't give a hang over nearly as bad.
I can also state this is true from experience.

[suffer-cait]

that would make sense as i've never had anything darker than whiskey

[Simbera]

The thing I find with hangovers is that your body is just very picky. It wants strange things and changes its mind often, but provided you stay with it and let it drink when it wants, eat grease when it wants and healthy when it wants, sleep when it wants, sit still when it wants, etc, you will probably feel mostly fine. This includes "throw up when it wants" too though, which is obviously unpleasant at the time but makes you feel better after.

My other theory, which makes you feel un-hungover quicker (but not necessarily any good while it lasts) is some combination of saline, gatorade and McDonald's coke (the first two for the electrolytes, the third for the sugar and the fact that I have had Macca's coke suggested to me by my doctor for when I had gastro, something about the watered-down flatness of it), and Salt & Vinegar chips early in the day, and something homecooked and moderately wholesome (ie including veggies), with gravy, for dinner. Under no circumstances consume any dairy products, and try to avoid even thinking about them (exception: small amount of butter on toast).

My other theory is to rid yourself of as many bodily fluids as you reasonably can. Use your imaginations for that one, but keep it to the ones that are expelled from the body under normal circumstances; no cutting yourself.

The 'hair of the dog' theory is also one I have found to be very effective, but it's not always possible, as I have found that the first 3 or so won't go down well and often make you feel worse, but once you get a few more in you you'll feel much better...but you can't really do this if you need to work that night or whatever. Of course, the trick basically is to get yourself drunk enough to not notice the hangover (which due to some liver functions I don't fully understand and therefore won't try to explain is not very much; it's not like a 'I'm so drunk I can't feel pain' thing, it's some kind of 'my liver is back to the easier task of ethanol rather than struggling with last night's methanol' thing [I don't know which is which but yeah {I parenthesise way too much}]) but not so drunk as to give yourself a hangover the next day.

Disclaimer: not a professional of any kind, but a seasoned drinker. Your mileage may vary

<^>

[wing]

hey guys!
i don't get hangovers
/me hides from the hate
i hear that salts are good though, no idea why that may be. my cure for everything tends to be a twix bar and some root beer. but yes, no hangovers, even when i'm black out drunk. though i hear that the types of drinks involved (and the order) effects it. so, maybe...you're doing it wrong?

I believe the darkness of the drink affects it (as read in "Do polar bears get lonely" (I think)). So Guinness gives bad hangovers as it is black, whereas cider or something reasonably clear wouldn't give a hang over nearly as bad.
I can also state this is true from experience.

This rule does not work for me.

I regularly drink beers that absorb all light. Seriously. One of them is the blackest substance I have ever encountered in my life.

[Grop]

I don't have hangovers. I had them all in my late teens and early twenties.

Now, I know my limits; I am often drunk but only up to a point. Also, I always drink a lot of water at the end of the night.

(I haven't noticed anything about dark drinks).

[icanus]

I like a good hangover (provided I don't have to work or do anything). That moment at about 3pm when it finally clears is just so good. Kinda like banging your head on the wall for an hour because it feels so nice when you finally stop. Generally water helps me - fizzy drinks more so, and greasy food as long as I can keep it down.

Different drinks certainly give me very different hangovers, but I've not noticed anything with the colour.

Spirits: The full "someone is stabbing me in the eyes from the inside" experience, with a side order of gutache.
Beer: more of a gentle throbbing behind the eyes and total intolerance for daylight.
Cider/that stuff the barmaid said was made from "Apples. Mostly.": yearning for the sweet release of death.

as of this morning, I can also add

absinthe: no physical pain, but a deep sense of confusion and an inexplicable aroma of aluminium.

[iscrewupCOPPAquestions]

God I hope nobody remembers last night's game of "Settlers of Catan"...

[black rook in rainy weather]

Something that has become drunken ritual because of its goodly anti-hangover effects is a bag of popcorn after drinking / before bed (which is pretty much always the same thing for me) and bringing up a liter of milk and a bottle of water to have next to the bed, cos I wake several times throughout any given night, and so by the time I wake up proper in the morning I've made my way through the milk and I have the water.

So basically lots o hydration preceded by lovely saltiness.

[Felstaff]

Morning all.

*grump*

[SurgicalSteel]

Yea! Time for work!

[Plasma Man]

I'd recommend drinking water (or something else non-alcoholic) before going to bed to reduce the hangover in the morning. When I do get one, I usually cope by using some combination of toast, bacon, pastry and chilled cola. I can also testify from personal experience that codeine-based painkillers do an excellent job of curing hangover headaches.

[the.coding.eye]

This includes "throw up when it wants" too though

^^ This. Unpleasant, but cures nausea. Just like everyone is saying, drink water before you go to bed. And for me, the best hangover cure is
fried chicken + a banana + lots of Gatorade.

[Amarantha]

I can also testify from personal experience that codeine-based painkillers do an excellent job of curing hangover headaches.

Allow me to add a caution from my own personal experience, that this can depend on the dosage of the codeine and the patient's sensitivity to same. I can take 16-20mg no problem (flu meds), can get usually get away with 30mg if I really need it (surgery), but 60mg causes severe nausea and vomiting. YMMV.

[Felstaff]

autsch. meinem kopf.

[Vicariously-Kaiser]

As others have said, a lot of water before going to sleep usually works. Also a glass of orange juice, strong coffee and a bacon sandwich in the morning. And lots of sleep.

[Mumpy]

It's Freshers week....

[SlyReaper]

Drank too much last night, spent most of today recovering. Now that it's gone 7pm, I feel like I'm ready to start the day.

Whoo.

[ArgonV]

As others have said, a lot of water before going to sleep usually works. Also a glass of orange juice, strong coffee and a bacon sandwich in the morning. And lots of sleep.

No coffee. Caffeine is a diuretic, but you need to replenish fluids ASAP when hung over.

[icanus]

FFS last-night-me, Snakebite? really? I thought we'd reached an understanding about that stuff the last time. Oh well, that's a whole saturday wasted...

[RollingHead]

Aggh

[Evengeduld]

Aggh

24 hours later it still is Aggh

[mercutio_stencil]

I'm always a fan of a sandwich containing bacon, fried eggs, chili paste, and a nice bitter leafy green the night after a lot of drinking. Then again, I'm usually a fan of that sandwich. I don't get hung over too badly, and a bit of food usually sets me right up.

[RollingHead]

I eventually found, through trial and error, that black tea without sugar helps, especially when it's hot.

[Odd_nonposter]

Rules about hangovers:

Prevention:
Don't drink! /me ducks

Alright, you've run out of things to throw at me? good, I can continue then.

Plan on having only a certain level of drunkenness.
Learn your tolerances and the effects that coincide with them, e.g. when you can't feel your face, when swaying becomes fun, etc. I can escape a hangover if I stop when my ears pop.
Never drink on an empty stomach.
Eat something salty while you're drinking.
Match every drink with a glass of water.
Chug a pint of water before bed.
Try not to go to bed while still very drunk.

Cures:

General:
Sleep it off in a dark, quiet room if you can.
A hot shower can break you out of that miserable funk you get when you first wake up.
Be able to recognize if you're still dehydrated. Drink fruit juices as soon as you can stomach them.
Go out and get some fresh air when you're ready.

Specific:

Gastrointestinal:
If last night (or this morning) involved emesis, then eat anything that will sit on your stomach. Apples and oranges are well-tolerated.
If nausea and gastrointestinal upset persist, try some bismuth (Pepto-Bismol), or cannabis, for those who are so inclined.

Headaches unrelated to dehydration:
Acetaminophen won't irritate your stomach, but puts an extra load on your liver. NSAIDs are irritating, but ibuprofen is the most well-tolerated. Eat something first.
If you're caffeine dependent, then tea or coffee may or may not be advised.

[lucrezaborgia]

Club soda or any mineral water with sodium in it works wonders for me.

[Whelan]

I find that a bottle of water before bed, and another waiting for when I wake up is a good start. Then, depending on the species of hangover, either energy drink (I like lucozade sport) or a fry up. Most days a fry up sounds like heaven, but there's other days when it sounds like hell.

[Apparently Anonymous]

Ugh, I hate hangovers. On those days all of me just feels icky and I don't want to do anything and I pretty much lose my sense of meaning in life. Luckily I don't get them that often though.

One hangover-preventing thing I've learnt in Austria is mixing wine with sparkling water. Might sound like blasphemy (I was very skeptical of mixing wine with anything at all), but it's actually really nice and refreshing and also provides you with water while you're drinking, to help prevent dehydration.

[roband]

The worst kind I have experienced is the tequila hangover. A complete different beast to the beer hangover. An uglier, eviller, nasty relation.

[mr_pathetic]

I'll echo the sentiment that sleep always helps.... whether or not you've had anything to drink..... oy.