Before You
Call the Doctor
HANGOVER
Called “the moaning after” by one wit, hangovers are caused
by overindulgence in alcohol. Symptoms include headaches,
nausea, vomiting, thirst, and feeling like “death warmed
over.”
What’s Going On? Alcohol is a powerful drug. For most
people, very low doses (one beer, glass of wine, or mixed
drink) feel relaxing, but after the second or third drink,
giddiness becomes drunkenness, and alcohol becomes toxic.
Hangover is a mild version of alcohol withdrawal syndrome,
which causes delerium tremens (DTs) in alcoholics. The
headache of hangover is caused, in part, by alcohol’s
relaxing effect on the blood vessels. As they relax, they
open up (“dilate”), and accommodate more blood, which
causes the sensation of warmth people associate with
drinking. But if the blood vessels of the head open too
much, they trigger nerve activity we experience as pain.
Alcohol is also a diuretic. It increases urination and can
lead to moderate dehydration, which causes powerful
morning-after thirst, and head pain.
The nausea and vomiting are a combination of alcohol’s
irritating effect on the stomach and its many effects on
the central nervous system. The fatigue and general
lousy-all-over feeling result from alcohol’s depressant
effect and a build-up of acids in the blood (“acidosis”).
Additives and impurities in alcohol (“congeners”) also
contribute to hangovers. The general rule is the darker the
alcohol, the worse the hangover. Vodka and white wine
contain few congeners, but bourbon, scotch, and red wine
are loaded with them.
Byproducts formed as the body metabolizes alcohol
contribute to the morning-after blahs, too. Normally, the
liver can metabolize one ounce of alcohol an hour and
produce few byproducts. Any more and the byproducts build
up, compounding hangover misery.
Before You Call The Doctor. You don’t have to get sloppy
drunk to suffer a hangover the morning after. For people of
average weight, the hangover-risk threshold is consumption
of more than one drink per hour. If you drink at all, nurse
your drinks. Alternate them with water or fruit juice to
prevent alcohol-related dehydration.
If you have one too many (or more than one), drink lots of
water before you go to bed. It won’t prevent a hangover
entirely, but it can help minimize the misery of
alcohol-induced dehydration. Some studied suggest that
regular vitamin C supplementation may help, too, by
increasing the rate of alcohol breakdown in the body.
If you develop a full-blown hangover, rest. Take
acetaminophen (Tylenol) to relieve headache pain. Aspirin
and ibuprofen (Advil, Nuprin) also relieve headache, but
they are more likely to cause stomach upset, which only
adds to hangover misery. However, if you want to take
aspirin or ibuprofen, take an “enteric coated” brand, which
dissolves in the intestine, not in the stomach.
Ice packs also help relieve headache pain. Wrap a few ice
cubes in a plastic bag, then wrap the bag in a clean cloth
and apply the ice pack to the forehead for 20 minutes, then
remove it for 10 before reapplying. An ice-substitute may
be used instead of ice cubes. Do not apply ice directly to
the skin. This can cause the equivalent of frostbite.
Drink plenty of liquids to replace lost fluids, relieve
acidosis, and soothe the stomach until the body eliminates
the alcohol. Mint tea is especially soothing to the
stomach. Coffee and other stimulants don’t help. Neither do
Valium and other tranquilizers; in fact, they interfere
with the body’s ability to eliminate alcohol.
Of course, bartenders the world over are fountainheads of
folk hangover remedies. One venerable remedy is honey in
hot water. The water certainly helps, and honey soothes the
throat and digestive tract. But never take “some hair of
the dog that bit you,” that is, more alcohol. It simply
compounds the problem.