The woozy feeling left by last night’s three-martini dinner
persists, and it’s impossible to ignore the pounding in the back of
your head or the nausea that creeps into your mouth at the mere
thought of food. But it’s 7:20am, and it’s time to roll out of bed
and get to work.
The woozy feeling left by last night’s three-martini dinner persists, and it’s impossible to ignore the pounding in the back of your head or the nausea that creeps into your mouth at the mere thought of food. But it’s 7:20am, and it’s time to roll out of bed and get to work.
Before you pull on those shades and head out the door for a day of utter torment, stop and find something around the house to dull the pain.
From menudo – and, no, not the band – to raw eggs, chaser pills and Bloody Mary’s, there are thousands of purported hangover cures, but few of them actually work. That’s because, many of them don’t attack the real problem, or they temporarily stave off the inevitable jolt of pain.
Last night, when you were busy enjoying the last tasty drop of vodka trapped in the martini’s olive, your body was working overtime.
“Alcohol has a diuretic effect, and what that means is it causes your kidneys to
excrete extra water,” said Dr. Marni Friedman, a family medicine physician in Hollister. “That pulls water from your body and from your blood stream. It will pull water out of your brain, so basically it will dehydrate your brain.”
Moreover, the process your body uses to break down the alcohol creates toxins known as aldehydes, which make a person feel sick, said Friedman. It’s not so surprising when you consider alcohol’s properties.
It’s directly toxic to cells, which is why pure alcohol is such a great choice for, say, preserving laboratory specimens or why the worm in the bottom of a mescal bottle is still perfectly preserved, she said.
Drink for drink, women are more likely to be affected by hangovers, said Friedman. Not only do they typically weigh less than men, but they have smaller livers that produce fewer alcohol-metabolizing enzymes than men. When the pain does come along, both sexes have some pretty interesting ways of dealing with the morning aftershock.
Hangover sufferers swear by such varied cures as icy baths, sex and even rabbit-poop tea, according to Internet posting boards soliciting hangover cures.
“My favorite is Angostura Bitters,” said Lesley, a bartender at The Claddagh in Gilroy who preferred not to share her last name. “You mix that either with some soda water or tonic water; just six or seven drops. I put it on lemon with some sugar, but this cures everything. You just sip that and drink a little soda water.”
Deeanna Haygood, bartender at M & H Tavern in Morgan Hill, swears by an alcoholic fix.
“I would say they start off with Bloody Mary’s,” said Haygood. “Start off with a little bit of alcohol to get rid of the shakes. Usually, the hair of the dog is basically it. Nothing gross like I’ve heard, like eggs or anything.”
This approach doesn’t actually cure a hangover, said Friedman, who noted that most people who experience hangover symptoms do go through some form of alcohol withdrawal. By drinking something that contains the substance the next morning, they stave off the symptoms of the withdrawal, or can sometimes eliminate it by slowly weaning themselves from the previous night’s party, drinking less and less throughout the day, she said.
Menudo is another popular cure, according to Gina Arballo of Hollister. The Johnny’s bartender said her customers swear by the healing effects of the stuff, a blend of tripe, hominy and chile that stews for hours.
It turns out, they may be on to something. Fatty foods help to absorb alcohol, according to Friedman, helping them to be passed out of the body through the digestive system rather than filtered through the blood.
While many bars now sell hangover preventing pills like First Call, their effects are generally psychological, according to local barkeeps.
The real relief they offer comes from the water they direct users to consume after a night of heavy drinking. Rehydrating their bodies before bed helps to dampen the effects of the next morning’s agony … if you’re sober enough to remember them.
In the end, there’s only one sure-fire way to avoid a bad morning after, according to Rita, a bartender at Whiskey Creek in Hollister who preferred not to share her last name.
“Yeah! Don’t get drunk the night before,” said Rita. “I don’t believe there’s a cure for it. Your system has to work the booze through it, that’s all. A lot of people say ‘the hair of the dog that bit you’ or even a beer with a raw egg, but I don’t believe that.”
If it’s already too late to reconsider last night’s imbibing, stay in bed, drink lots of water and eat something fatty, said Friedman. Avoid acidic foods and drinks like orange juice, which will irritate the lining of the stomach, especially if your excessive imbibing has led to vomiting. Regular drinking can create a minor case of gastritis, but throwing up will irritate both your stomach lining and esophagus.
In other words, be kind to your body or it won’t be kind to you. Until next time, say cheers with a glass of Alhambra instead.
