Re: [CH] Hangovers and Hangover Cures
Art Pierce (pierces@cruzio.com)
Tue, 08 Dec 1998 10:42:12 -0800
I did an http://infind.com/ search on " hangover cures."
The results can be grouped into four types:
A) The rest of us
B) El Sud
C) Alternative medicine
D) Marketing
~~~
A) The rest of us
Blur of Insanity sez:
Hangover cures (Post-fetal alcohol syndrome)
NOTE: This is practical advice given by one who has spent years upon
years surviving brutal hangovers.
One thing is key. Prevention will save you better than any other thing.
There is not enough to be said about this. Proper prevention
will save you from the worst symptoms. Before you go to bed take 2 Advil
(or any headache pill that is made of Ibuprofen). This will save you
every time. Do not even waste your time with Aspirin. And do not take
Tylenol. Dear Sir: In your list of hangover cures you mention taking
aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetominophen. HOWEVER. one thing you REALLY
ought to be aware of --- if you plan on living very long --- is that
acetominophen in combination with alcohol does HORRENDOUS liver damage.
Alcohol alone damages the liver; and acetominophen (e.g., Tylenol) does
a little damage to the liver; but if you mix the two, the damage you
incur is EXPONENTIAL. You can literally wreck your liver in a very short
time if you mix Tylenol with alcohol. Again: Tylenol/acetominophen will
destroy your liver if combined with alcohol- no lie! Tylenol sucks
anyway. Ibuprofen is the best. Case closed.
NOTE: If you forget to take the Advil the night before you will wake up
in a state where anything you swallow (especially pills) will
make you puke, then you'll never be able get that blessed Advil relief.
You will have suffer through at least 2-3 hours of shakes, cold sweats
and piledriver headaches, and possibly puking up bile. And that is no
way to spend your weekend.
Afterwards, for me, the best hangover combo is a three-parter:
1. New England Clam Chowder. If you haven't already made your own
before starting to drink and can't get out to a place that makes this
stuff, just buy the Campbell's Chunky Soup version. Add some chiles. Eat
it.
2. The Greasy Cheeseburger. I know the very thought is enough to make
you puke, but this works like a charm for most people. It also tastes
really good (if that means anything to you at that point). We aren't
going to tell you how to prepare this because it should be pretty
self-explanatory. Even to the stupid. Your easiest and best choice is to
go out to a "Diner" for this.
3. Chocolate Milkshake. This the really amazing final touch. It will
calm the stomach and relax you.
There are many stories of success with this combo. Remember that thick
cream soup, beef and chocolate shakes (no not that kind) are your
friends. Then fall back asleep. You will awake in an hour or so feeling
better than you could have possibly imagined. It works - in fact - it
saved my derelict college career (in drinking).
~~~
B) El Sud
Barcillo's Food Zone sez:
1) Hangover and Drinking Food
In this page I'm Including a list of food I personally find great to eat
when I have a Hangover or after I drink before going to sleep. This food
has proven to me to be the best way to lessen the effect of drinking.
Seafood is the main category, but you will find other type of food that
work well too. I divided it into Hangover Food ( what to eat when you
wake up with a Hangover) and Drinking Food (what to eat after you finish
drinking before going to sleep). Buen Provecho! (Bon apetite).
Hangover Food
Caldo de Manguera.- A delicious soup made of pig intestines stuffed with
blood and rice.
Ceviche.- We Ecuadorians say ceviche for a number of seafood dishes
prepared in a similar way, usually it consists of raw (or lightly
cooked) shellfish with lemon. Altough there is also a Peruvian food
called "ceviche", this is a totally different food. Ecuadorian Ceviche
is different and is original from here; the only thing they have in
common is the name. My favorites are Concha Prieta (Black clam, Anadara
tuberculosa), Mussel (Mytilus spp.), Ostión (a small oyster, Crassostrea
columbiensis), Ostra (a big oyster, C. iridescens), Shrimp (Penaeus
vannamei), Fish (white fleshed preferably), Lobster (Panilurus spp.),
Squid (Loligo spp.), Octopus (Octupus spp.), Churo (a sea - snail), Red
Mangrove Crab (Ulcides occidentalis), etc.
Encebollado.- Also known as Languriango, this is a delicious soup made
of yellow fin Tuna (Tunus albacares) and Yuca. May be the world's best
pick me up for a Hangover.
Bollos de pescado.- Verde (the same banana but green), Peanut and fish,
wrapped in a banana leaf.
Cazuela.- A dish made with verdes, peanuts and fish (or seafood), served
in a clay pot.
Caldo de Pata.- A soup made with Pig foot and mote (a kind of white
corn).
Caldo de Bola de verde.- Ball soup, made with Verde balls stuffed with
meat and peanut. Difficult to prepare but VERY GOOD.
Caldo de Cabeza de Bagre.- A Catfish soup, made with catfish, peanut,
yuca and verde.
Caldo de Burra.- Literally it means "Donkey soup", but it really is
fresh water shrimp (Machrobracbium spp.) soup, with Yuca, verde and
peanut. A good Aphrodisiac.
Sopa de Ostiones.- Oyster soup
Ostiones.- Small Manrove oysters, raw with lemon.
Chupe de Pescado.- A fish soup
Sopa Marinera.- A seafood soup
Drinking Food
Guatita.- This is cow stomach (librillo, guatita, panza, callos) with
potatoes and peanut sauce. Mmmm! Sounds delicious, well maybe not, but
it sure tastes that way.
Cangrejo Criollo.- Red Mangrove crab Ulcides occidentalis, prepared with
a special seasoning, and you eat it with some really good extras and a
lot of beer. This crab doesn't taste a bit like the blue crab (Jaiba or
Callinectis sapidus) most of you know. The taste isn't as delicate, it's
more savory. The best thing in a cangrejada is to eat it with your
friends and start fighting over who gets the crabs with the biggest
claws.
Arroz con Menestra y carne Asada.- Rice with beans and meat. Eat it with
patacones (thickly sliced green bananas, taken out smashed and fried
again) or chifles (thinly sliced fried green
banana).
Bandera.- This is not a dish per se but more a free style combination of
several dishes and rice;
my favorite bandera is Guatita, Ceviche de concha, ceviche de camaron
and ensalada de
cangrejo (crab salad).
Banderin.- A small bandera with just 2 dishes (ex: Guata and Concha or
Cazuela y Camaron)
Fritada.- Pork fired in it's own grease with mote, the recipe is a
little different and the taste is
WOW!
Concha Asada.- Black clam (Anadara tuberculosa), broiled over charcoal.
Pescado Frito.- Fried Fish with Rice and Patacones.
Aguado de Gallina.- A stew made with chicken and rice.
Arroz con Pollo.- Rice with chicken, a traditional dish on parties,
It's easy to make and not expensive, and it gives mass to your stomach
so you can puke easily.
Seco de Pollo.- A stew-like chicken. Served with rice.
Caldo de Gallina Criolla.- Country chicken soup. WOW!, if this doesen't
takes the alcohol out of your body, nothing will.
The recipes are available on his site at
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/1155/food00.html
2) Hang-over suggestions
So, you had a really good time last night and now you are regretting
it?. No problem! You are not alone, and if you want a cure you came to
the right place to learn that THERE ISN'T ONE!!.
I'll try to give you some suggestions that have worked for me, but
chances are they won't work as well on everybody.:
Thiamin.- Vitamin B1. After you drink your liver starts transforming
ethanol into para-formaldehyde and then it burns it down to CO2 and
water. If you drink too much, your liver can't finish what it began and
you get intoxicated. It isn't the alcohol that gives you the hangover,
it's the by-product. So if you want to help your liver help you then B1
is the number-one choice for an overworked liver. I prefer Roche's
Benerva ® 500 mg., but almost any half a gram of B1 will do fine. It's
not a bad idea to also take a B complex t give your liver some B6 and
B12 to work with.
Buffer solution.- During heavy drinking (>2 lt.) your gut's pH drops
down radically. That is what makes you feel heartburn. A good idea is to
take a good buffer solution before you start drinking, before you pass
out, and as soon as you come out of coma. I prefer Andrews Salt ®
(Sterling Products Intl.);, but if you can't find it in your country,
all you need is a mild base and a mild acid, e.g. sodium bicarbonate
2.18g and citric acid 1.84 g with magnesium sulfate 0.88g and sodium
carbonate 0.1g. If you have problems with chemistry you can take an Alka
Seltzer ®, it would work fine and the aspirin that it contains may even
help you with your headache.
Food.- Not any food but The Right Food. The food will depend on you
because it has psychological implications. Seafood is the No. 1 choice.
I prefer Encebollado, that's a Yellow Fin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) soup
with Yucca. Or Ceviche, that's raw mollusks or fish in lemon (but don't
forget the buffer). I prefer black clam (Anadara tuberculosa) or Oysters
(Crassostrea sp.). A soup of Pig intestines filled with rice and blood
(Caldo de Manguera or hose soup) is a good pick-me-up! too. If you don't
like that try whatever you feel like having (see my Hangover Food
recipes).
Rehydratation.- Alcohol has diuretic properties (this is the reason you
pee so much when you drink). Usually when you stop drinking your body
will be dehydrated. Water is the most frequent choice for rehydratation,
but it's not the best one, you also need to replenish some electrolytes
lost during the drinking. A good habit is to drink Gatorade®, or any
oral rehydratation salt sold in drug stores (like Pedialite®). A more
classic approach is tomato juice or V-8®, which are both high in
Potassium.
More Alcohol.- One of the problems of a hangover is that your body gets
used to alcohol, so when the levels go down you can bring them up again
and forget about the pain. The problem with this method is that sooner
or later you must stop drinking, and the hangover will be even worst.
This method is recommended for vacations or weekends. The choice of what
to drink depends on you but I recommend one of the following: Ice-cold
beer, Bloody Mary (it has potassium), Tom Collins, Rum and Pineapple or
Screwdriver. Try to avoid drinking the same drink you were drinking the
night before.
Throwing up.- Puking is a another great way to get better from your
hangover. When you throw up, you get rid of some of the alcohol you
still have in your stomach, and that way it's as if you would have drunk
less (some may say it's cheating, but Bah!). Also, you get rid of a lot
of stomach acid and anything you may have eaten without noticing that
may have been rotten or poisonous. I also recommend having a bowel
movement, which enables the insides to be cleansed from both ends.
~~~
C) Alternative medicine
Dr. Weil sez:
Alcohol is a strong toxin to both the liver* and the nervous system, and
it irritates the upper digestive tract and urinary system as well. The
morning after a binge, you also feel the effects of dehydration. It
certainly seems that everyone has a cure for a hangover: Sailors claim
saltwater is the antidote; the Egyptians ate boiled cabbage as a
preventive; today, many folks claim it's the "hair of the dog" that'll
stop the hammering. Believe what you will.
I probably don't need to say that moderation is the best way to avoid
hangovers. Since alcohol is a diuretic, it makes sense to imbibe as much
water as possible while you're drinking alcohol, to avoid dehydration.
Taking aspirin before drinking, though popular, doesn't help. The best
and only sure-fire remedy is time: As your body metabolizes the toxic
overdose, symptoms subside. If you have access to pure oxygen in a
canister you can try inhaling some to see if it speeds recovery, but I
doubt this is practical for most people. I recommend taking a B-complex
vitamin supplement plus extra thiamine (100 mgs) to counter the
B-vitamin depletion caused by alcohol. But I really don't know of any
hangover treatment that works as well as putting time between yourself
and the night before.
Be aware that you should pick your poison wisely. Since alcohol is
exempt from most labeling requirements, it may contain additives
(sulfites)** that can trigger asthma, migraines, and other reactions.
Whenever possible, choose quality brands. The extra money you pour out
for a premium cocktail may tax your wallet, but will help your liver
love you.
Some distilled beverages are rich in substances called congeners, toxic
impurities that can greatly add to your woes. Bourbon, rum, and cognac
are particularly "dirty." Champagne and some sweet wines are also
notorious causes of hangovers***. Vodka, being just pure alcohol and
water, is the cleanest. It's always a good idea to pace yourself, and to
eat if you have more than a drink or two.
My drink of choice is sake, which seems pretty clean to me. I don't get
a hangover from it, even when I drink more than normal. Kampai!
* http://sadieo.ucsf.edu/alf/alffinal/infoalcmyths.html
** http://www.fmi.org/media/bg/sulfites.html
*** http://www.hotwired.com/cocktail/96/19/alchemist.html
~~~
D) Marketing
Sob'r-K, a carbon "preventative," for sale.
http://www.hangovercure.com/showme.shtml
Take two pills prior to drinking and two pills each hour while drinking.
Sob'r-K is absorbed into your lower stomach and small intestines and as
the liquor works it way through your body, Sob'r-K works as a filter
taking out all the impurities in the alcohol. Studies show it is not the
alcohol that causes all the adverse side effects but the impurities
(congeners) found in the alcohol. [Actually, congeners just make it that
much worse.] If you are not completely satisfied with Sob'r-K we will
refund your money, guaranteed.
~~~
Maybe (or not) this puts the hangover thread to rest and we can keep on
(knuckle)draggin'.
Art