hang-overs anyone?

Tried Doctor Z's prevention method at Viva Las Vegas / Mondo Tiki and it worked! I tend to drink like a fish in Las Vegas (I think they pump extra oxygen in the casino's to keep people from passing out) and I had only slight hangovers this time. The only side affect was a bit of acid reflux so I had to chomp down some Tums.

On 2002-12-22 18:16, Tiki_Bong wrote:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the only 'cure' for a hangover, is the same as for a broken heart -

You mean Hookers cure a hangover too!!??

On 2002-12-22 17:14, atomictonytiki wrote:
try "Milk Thistle" its a herbal supliment that apparently gives you the ability to drink like you were 17 again.

Just a quick question. Do you take the milk thistle after a heavy night of boozin, or as a daily supplement?

Good old aspirin?

From what has been said previously it is interesting to notice that aspirin and lots of water before going partying seems to give good protection for many posters. It also works for me, I take 2 or 3 aspirin tablets before drinking with lots of water and even a tablespoon of olive oil on top. Don't ask me why but it works. Prevention, I think, is the secret.

I believe in the hydration theory... a drink... a glass of water... a drink... a glass of water... if you get full of liquids and can't drink much more, than you're approaching your limits for the night, day, morning... whatever...

Always works for me... and no, ice in the drink doesn't count as water... :)

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer on 2003-04-27 01:53 ]

I ran across a book in my vast library of self-help literature the other day called "Drink As Much As You Want And Live Longer - The Intelligent Person's Guide To Drinking" by Frederick M. Beyerlein. That title really caught my attention. In the book he covers such subjects as:
Chapter 1 - How Alcohol Depletes Your Life-Force Nutrients
Chapter 4 - Liver Protection: The Use Of Herbs, Lipotropic Factors, Anti-oxidants, Protein & Water
Chapter 5 - How To Prepare Your Body for It's Meeting With Alcohol
Chapter 10 - Drink Recipes: How to Make 21st Century Drinks
I,m not going to read it cover to cover, but there are some helpful facts.

Slightly OT, but does anyone here subscibe to Modern Drunkard magazine? It looks damn good, and they did have a story about Shag not too long ago.

-martin

On 2003-04-28 12:02, martiki6 wrote:
Slightly OT, but does anyone here subscibe to Modern Drunkard magazine? It looks damn good, and they did have a story about Shag not too long ago.

-martin

I have one issue that I cherish but I have not seen it around much lately. I believe it's printed in Denver. I found their web site where you can subscribe:

http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/

Martin, I've got a few issues of Modern Drunkard. Remind me to dig em up if you come down to Belmont sometime for some tippling.

-Randy

Thanks, Randy- I'd love to take a look. Based on their site, which I have been reading, I think it's amusing enough to warrant a subscription. Now I just have to live with the guilt of letting my Foreign Affairs, Economist, and Le Monde Diplomatique subscriptions run out, while I add Modern Drunkard. My god, what does that say about me?

-martin

I did a test this weekend with a new hangover pill called "Chaser". I took Chaser on friday as directed, drank a case of beer and felt great yesterday (sat.). Went downtown H.B. yesterday afternoon to Freds (a loud mexi place) drank plenty without Chaser and today (monday) I'm suffering. Check it out people, maybe there is a cure!!! Chaser it's in a red box. I'm going back to bed now.

The Red Eye. Half beer, half tomato juice and in extreme cases a raw egg dropped in.

Hey, Ben - I just saw a commercial for that "Chaser" remedy. They seemed pretty confident that their product would do the job. Here's a website:

http://www.doublechaser.com/

I haven't had a drink since New Year's. Thought I'd detox for a while, condition the liver for Oasis... It's really novel living without hangovers. I like it. But it seems pointless to go out to Tiki bars unless there's a mia tai at the end of the road. :(

...then again, the ones at Hala Kahiki don't have an appriciable quantity of booze in them anyway. :(
(for newbies: that's the only factor keeping HK from being a perfect 10 on the Tiki bar scale).

That's it I just convinced myself. I'm going to HK tonight.

Happy Wagon Falling, JT!
(Have a mai tai or three for me :wink: )

On 2004-02-23 13:57, Formikahini wrote:
Happy Wagon Falling, JT!
(Have a mai tai or three for me :wink: )

I didn't go.

Stayed home and watched "The Man With The Golden Arm", and "Lost Weekend"!

Decided not to drink until the Aku Hall party (date still TBA - some time in March)

Chaser is on your side.

Chaser wants good things for you.

Chaser only seeks to make your world better (especially the morningy parts).

Hanford & I have been trying to use Chaser consistently... anecdotally, we've definitely both experienced a difference between morning-after-with & morning-after-without, and we curse ourselves when we forget to bring it out with us. I was very skeptical at first myself. We still get a wee hangover, but it feels much more mild.

Do not fight the Chaser.

get pregnant, the first 3 months are like a low grade hangover, without the drinking, the middle months are great, no hangovers, cause no drinking, and the last 3 months are like a freak show in your belly! arms and legs poking out, makes you really want a drink....

seriously - WATER before bed. The hangover is mostly dehydration, in college we used to force oursleves to drink 4 glasses of water before bed (hopefully you weren't so trashed you wet the bed, but usually if you were remembering to drink the water, you could usually get up to pee...) Mr. Bot always took a handfull of multi-vitamins and a few advils, with a big glass of water. He doesn't drink that much these days, but he always alternates his cocktails with a big glass of water.

It doesn't look like there's 2 more "cures" listed- apologies if I missed them while scanning...

While drinking:
Drinks mixed with Tonic- Scientifically proven to reduce the hangover effect.

The morning after:
It's pretty much too late to do anything, but I heard that eating chicken helps... Maybe hence the egg in many morning after drinks?

Tomato-based foods and drinks help get your stomach digesting and replace needed vitamins, hence the popularity of Bloody Marys on Sunday mornings.

Regarding Chasers, I used to use them until I found a much cheaper product that works just as good called Sob'r-K. I buy them 3 bottles at a time, which costs only $24 plus shipping because if you buy 2 bottles you get one free. Each bottle has 60 pills while Chasers costs $25 for a bottle of 40 pills on their web site. In the drug store I've only seen Chasers in 10-pill packs that cost around $7!

http://www.hangoverstopper.com

Recently the drug stores around here are only carrying "Chasers Plus", which is Chasers with a bunch of herbal ingredients that have no proven benefit, may actually harm you, and they charge you more money for them. The only active ingredient that is needed is activated carbon, which helps your liver filter the alchohol from your blood. Sob'r-K pills have only organic activated carbon with no added ingredients.

Also, one should always drink a lot of water with the Chaser-type pills.

:music: Tiki and Chasers make the world go round :music:

I try to drink water between drinks and definitely before bed. The next day, a good greasy breakfast, a weak Ceasar (Canadian version of a Bloody Mary), multi-vitamin and comfortable place to lounge (and more water). But ultimately, I'll still be a suffering bastard. :(
My friend takes a Gravol tablet before bed with lots of water and swears by it (personlly, I think knowing your limit is the best cure...easier said...) :wink:

Oooh, thanks for the tip, jab!

Hrm, it's been a very long time since I've drunk to excess...

But I do remember that the "old advice" about drinking plenty of water and taking an aspirin or two before bed seems to avoid most of the badness of the next day. In New Orleans, the locals swear by a mid-day meal of "Red Beans and Rice" after a hard evening's drink (and if any place in the US knows about hard drinking, it'd be there).

I think most of the "hangover" effect is due to dehydration and vasoconstriction... so vasodilators like aspirin (note, this means ASPIRIN, not "Advil" or "Panadol/Tylenol") seem to do the trick.

I don't think these "Chasers" offer anything substantial in their ingredients. Maybe some multi-vitamins, but you can get that in bulk for much less. I doubt the multi-vitamins do much.

=Kukoae=

Put my vote for Chasers. They work.

There is the potential of "cognitive consanance" at work here. When you take the "chaser," perhaps you are being more diligent in general regarding hangover avoidance. You eat more in advance. You drink more water to counteract the alcohol. Etc. Those occasions when you don't take it likely correspond to those times when you didn't expect to drink as much as you did, didn't eat as much beforehand, etc. Regarding "cognitive consonance," it's the desire to avoid feeling that you've invested in something bogus. So, even if you feel crappy the day after taking it, maybe you mentally minimize those feelings, or attribute them to such things as lack of sleep or whatever rather than overindulgence in alcohol. After all, you put faith and money into that product, so surely that wasn't a mistake, for if it was, you were acting unwisely!...

The above pontifications notwithstanding, my conclusion on the matter is "I don't know." I haven't tried "Chaser" but as the advocates of it on this site strike me as being alarmingly sagacious, I am willing to contemplate that there is some value to the product. Still, I find that voracious sexual activity is a cheaper way to work one's way through a hangover. (Woops -- did I say that? If so, I was only kidding!)

I wrote:

alarmingly sagacious

Seems a bit smart-alecky on a reread. I did learn from the thread though, is actually what I meant. My antennae went up when acetominophen (sp?) was mentioned too, but others have explained that matter pretty thoroughly.

I notice that some folks advocate tomato juice/sauces. For me there is some kind of reaction sometimes after drinking (even, I suspect, the next morning). I've come home and (prudently, I thought) eaten something tomato-ey, like spaghetti, before bed, and at times had a dramatic reaction, like acid reflux times ten. Like, grab the bottle of Tums and go outside and pace nervously while popping about 20 of them in a minute's time before matters get, you know, out of hand so to speak. Hard to explain (and maybe too much info. already -- sorry!) but it's pretty dramatic and so I tend to bear it in mind.

On 2005-06-02 19:10, Kukoae wrote:
I don't think these "Chasers" offer anything substantial in their ingredients. Maybe some multi-vitamins, but you can get that in bulk for much less. I doubt the multi-vitamins do much.

No, there are no vitamins in Chasers, it's just activated carbon, which is claimed to help your liver filter out the alcohol (with the exception of Chaser's Plus - see above post).

I always try to take a super-B complex before drinking, preferably with a meal. Dr. Z's hangover preventative of taking them at bedtime caused me too much stomach discomfort in the night.

I notice that some folks advocate tomato juice/sauces. For me there is some kind of reaction sometimes after drinking (even, I suspect, the next morning). I've come home and (prudently, I thought) eaten something tomato-ey, like spaghetti, before bed, and at times had a dramatic reaction, like acid reflux times ten.

Never eat spicy or acidy foods before bed if you've been drinking a lot! Your stomach stops digesting when you drink a lot so the food will just sit there in an alcohol stew and fester causing you to "drive the porcelain bus".

I suggest tomato-based foods only for the morning after when you're stomach is totally empty. It helps jump start your stomach into digesting normally again and replenishes vitamins.

The placebo effect is really amazingly strong--my ex-husband was a doctor & researcher, and researchers have to factor in the placebo effect when determining if a treatment is actually effective -- patients given placebo during blind trials will respond up to 30% of the time!

Whether my positive experience with Chaser is the placebo effect or the real deal doesn't matter to me... magic feather or no, I feel significantly better in the morning.

Honestly, though, I always have to be "good" about getting food in me and pacing myself -- my scant 92 pounds don't allow me to drink multiple drinks in a night without good drinking habits. I didn't seek to start taking Chasers myself, Hanford started taking them, and I absent-mindedly started heeding his offers of them through the night. So in my case, it wasn't a concerted effort.

Here's what's always worked for me:

Before you begin your drunk, take a vitamin B and a full glass of water. Something about how it coats the stomach lining, or something.

Then, after hell has been raised to your satisfaction, take a couple of aspirin and a full glass of water before collapsing into the arms of a complete stranger.

It always works.

On 2005-06-03 10:34, thejab wrote:
No, there are no vitamins in Chasers, it's just activated carbon, which is claimed to help your liver filter out the alcohol (with the exception of Chaser's Plus - see above post).

Oh dear, that's even less effective. Charcoal (the carbon you spoke of), being completely indigestible, basically just does some roto-rooter through the colon.

I think it's very much wishful thinking to believe that the charcoal makes its way into your bloodstream and "helps the liver" do anything.

I've been around to have seen all kinds of crazy things advocated to help alcohol dissipate faster, etc, etc. Nothing ever works but time.

Weathering a hangover isn't the same thing of course, this being a post-binge recovery phase event which takes however long it takes.

It's well known that alcohol metabolism dehydrates the body, and probably messes a bit with the mineral/electrolytic balance as an indirect result.

So, I guess mixing your Mai Tais with Gatorade may be the best compromise...

... then again ...

But seriously, I think being well hydrated is most of the "hangover prevention", aside from not overdoing it to begin with.

=Kukoae=

PS: Yes, I completely agree about the placebo effect being a significant medical phenomenon. So here's a trick for ya. Buy one small bottle of "Chasers" and ten bottles of empty pill capsules (or sugartabs if they aren't capsules), and toss the lot into some food colouring of choice to erase all labelling. Spread 'em out to dry. Agitate thoroughly to mix them all up, and then voila! Instant 10 for the price of 1!

A Green Burrito from Del Taco will cure you everytime. Woo Hoo! :)

On 2005-06-02 19:10, Kukoae wrote:
I don't think these "Chasers" offer anything substantial in their ingredients. Maybe some multi-vitamins, but you can get that in bulk for much less. I doubt the multi-vitamins do much.
=Kukoae=

Hi Kukoae,
Don't knock it till you've tried it.

cliff diving!

First off, all that stuff everyone else says about drinking water and eating and taking aspirin and vitamins and drinking water while drinking rings true, but I add the element of STAYING AWAKE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. This can be difficult, but a hangover doesn't happen for me if I go to bed more or less sober. So play with the cat, watch the sun rise, make yourself some bacon and eggs, take a shower, watch cartoons, etc. When you can't possibly stay awake any longer, drink another big ass glass of water and go to sleep.