'Hangovers are acquired by drinking too much, and are worsened by mixing drinks; if you do those things you will have a hangover, and let no one persuade you to the contrary. Some people seem momentarily to be able to over-drink with impunity, but they are almost certainly laying up for themselves worse trouble later. The worst form of mixing drinks is to “cross malt and grape” by taking wine or brandy after beer or whisky, or the other way round.
The violence of the hangover can be diminished by the following devices:
By taking aspirin, veganin, codeine or any such drug before you fall into bed,
By drinking a great quantity of water as often as you can, since your body is partially dehydrated,
By taking alia-seltzer,
By visiting the chemist and asking him to mix you a draught,
In some cases by taking a nasty Italian aperitif called Fernet Branca, or by drinking a raw egg with milk and Worcester sauce,
By eating such food, particularly fruits, as in your opinion contain vitamins B and C and whose sight does not make you sick at once,
By taking a walk in the open air and resolving not to be a fool again.
A 'hair of the dog that bit you" will not help, and your hangover will be less violent if you have been sick the night before. It is also likely to be less if you have taken a large spoonful of oil - olive oil, cod liver oil or what you please - before exceeding, as that retards drunkenness. But if you have taken advantage of that fact to drink even more, then your hangover will be worse than ever. ’
Quoted from “Choosing and Serving Wine”, by Raymond Postgate, pp 47 - 48. Published in 1955, third impression in 1961.
If it’s been a wine deabauch, I try to match water intake to wine intake, perhaps a bit higher on the water.
800mg Motrin at bedtime.
Several snorts of Afrin at bedtime.
I have a BAC meter, and if I feel tipsy, I will check the meter and stop if I get up to 0.04%. (I got to 0.07% once and barfed.)
Over the course of a five hour evening, I bet I could drink a bottle’s worth of wine and survive. Food has to be involved.
Well, a whole 750cc sounds high. Maybe, though. One 4 oz glass per hour seems achievable.
On a wild night at home, my wife and I can kill a bottle while cooking and eating dinner and then conversating, with me drinking 60%. Say, 3 1/2 hours.
Aspirin & water seem to be the best bet for me. Nothing too fancy. If I still feel crappy the next day a greasy burger for lunch seems to work (don’t know the medical reason behind this) lol
Alcohol inhibits the production of anti-diuretic hormone, so there is a slight shift in fluid balance.
Small fluid shifts, even slight pressure differentials, can be notable headache triggers, for some.
Alcohol also increases platelet activating factor levels, which is partly modulated via an arachidonic acid pathway, which may be diminished by NSAID drugs, like aspirin, Alleve, Motrin, etc. Hence, those medications may somewhat mitigate platelet factor derived hangover symptoms.
I think the most important thing about hangovers is keeping in mind the alcohol “Laffer Curve of betterness” paradox of imbibing. There is not an infinite linear progression of betterness associated with rising alcohol intake. There is an obvious asymptote, followed by a decline in betterness with further alcohol intake. The shape of this curve is what we learned in high school and college! Learn the curve, avoid the consequences!
I guess I am lucky, I never get a hangover from mixing wine, beer, and whisky (mostly). I can go back and forth at my pleasure with no effects. The only effects are simply…if I drink too much of it.
My wife’s approach to drinking wine is a glass of water per glass of wine. I’ve taken to this with really good results.
Don’t remember. You can listen to the interview in the NPR link. IIRC, it is a medication that effectively controls swelling of the brain. What I do remember is that the fermentation process often creates as a by-product of ETOH formation, formation of non-ETOH chains such as 1-Proponol (chemists-be nice-I took it and forgot everything I ever learned). It is these non-ETOH compounds that cause the brain to swell and cause us to feel “hungover”.
Only equiviliant of 1 bottle over 5 hOurs? Geez I must be a lush, 6-8 glasses easy over that time period if it’s just sitting around, eating, drinking and bs’ing.
Several of my winemaking friends have recently started taking it, and I do as well before (and during) a big night. It doesn’t eliminate a hangover, but it definitely ‘turns the volume down’ the next day.